Pass Data from MongoDB to Bootstrap Modal Using EJS - node.js

Question

I'm building an express app which comprises ejs and bootstrap for rendering views, node and express for server side and mongodb for storage.
I have a form (contained in a modal) in which I can post data. After submitting the form, the values are saved to mongodb.
Here's the snippet for edit:
<td><%= cats.image %></td>
<td><a type="button" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#editCategory" href="#">Edit</a>
// without using the modal above, I'll have to create a new page to edit only one item
// I think it's a waste of page space and bad UX, so I am going with the modal
<!--<a href="/admin/categories/edit-category/<%= cats._id %>">--> // I want to get the values from this id and show in the modal
<!--<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Edit</button>-->
<!--</a>-->
</td>
When I click on the edit button, I want to get the id of the item and retrieve it's values to display in the modal.
Here's the full modal view:
<!-- Edit Category Modal -->
<div class="modal fade" id="editCategory" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="myModalLabel">
<div class="modal-dialog" role="document">
<div class="modal-content">
<form action="/admin/categories/edit-cateory/<%= %>" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<div class="modal-header">
<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"> <span aria-hidden="true">×</span> </button>
<h4 class="modal-title" id="myEditCategoryLabel">Edit Category</h4>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
<div class="form-group">
<label>Title</label>
// this value should come from the category id but don't know how to pass it
<input value="<%= %>" name="title" class="form-control" type="text" placeholder="Category Title"> <br>
<label>Upload Image</label>
<input class="form-control selImg" type="file" accept="image/*" onchange="showImage.call(this)">
<img src="#" class="imgPreview" style="display: none; height: 100px; width: 100px">
</div>
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Cancel</button>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Save Edits</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
How can I pass the data from mongodb to the modal using ejs?
Any help will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Store your ID somewhere: hidden inputs or data-attributes.
<tr data-id="<%= cats.id %>">
<td><%= cats.image %></td>
<td>
<a type="button" class="edit" href="#">Edit</a>
</td>
</tr>
Then, create an onclick event handler such that, upon clicking on the button,
it will fetch the extra data via AJAX and open the modal dynamically after you get a response.
$('a.edit').click(function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
var tr = $(this).closest('tr'),
modal = $('#editCategory');
// make AJAX call passing the ID
$.getJSON('/admin/categories/get-cateory/' + tr.data('id'), function (data) {
// set values in modal
modal.find('form').attr('action', '/admin/categories/get-cateory/' + tr.data('id') );
modal.find('[name=title]').val( data.title );
// open modal
modal.modal('show');
});
});
You will need to create a route for fetching a single object (I'll leave that to you)
app.get('/admin/categories/get-cateory/:id', function (req, res) {
// TODO: fetch data using passed ID
// once you have the data, simply send the JSON back
res.json(data);
});