Wrap async await queries in try catch - node.js

Question

I originally had try...catch in my getAllUsers method for querying but ended up removing it because as far as I could tell it wasn't doing anything. I know the async function returns a promise so it should be fine and actually based on how the code is structured I think it's required otherwise the try...catch in the query would swallow the error. Is there anything I'm missing with this structure and use of async/await, try...catch, and .then .catch?
let getAllUsers = async () => {
let res = await models.users.findAll({
attributes: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
});
return res;
};
router.get(`${path}`, (req, res) => {
queries.users.getAllUsers()
.then(users => {
res.status(200).json(users);
})
.catch(error => {
res.status(500).send(error)
});
});

Answer 1

There's just no reason to use await at all in your function. Instead of this:
let getAllUsers = async () => {
let res = await models.users.findAll({
attributes: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
});
return res;
};
It can just be this:
let getAllUsers = () => {
return models.users.findAll({
attributes: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
});
};
You just return the promise directly and the caller uses the promise the same as you already were. Since you are not using the result within your getAllUsers() function or coordinating it with anything else, there's no reason to use await. And, since there's no use of await, there's no reason for the function to be declared async either.
If you wanted to use await, you could use it for the caller of getAllUsers() like this:
router.get(`${path}`, async (req, res) => {
try {
let users = await queries.users.getAllUsers();
res.status(200).json(users);
} catch(error => {
res.status(500).json(error);
}
});
And, here you would have to use try/catch in order to catch rejected promises. Personally, I don't see how this is particularly better than what you had originally with .then() and .catch() so for a situation as simple as this (with no coordination or serialization with other promises), it's really just a matter of personal preference whether to use .then() and .catch() or await with try/catch.

Answer 2

You would use async/await with the code that calls getAllUsers rather than using it in getAllUsers itself:
const getAllUsers = () => {
return models.users.findAll({
attributes: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
});
};
router.get(`${path}`, async (req, res) => {
try {
const users = await queries.users.getAllUsers();
res.status(200).json(users);
} catch (error) {
res.status(500).send(error)
}
});

Answer 3

The best way I have found to handle this is using middleware.
Here is the function:
// based upon this
// http://madole.xyz/error-handling-in-express-with-async-await-routes/
// https://github.com/madole/async-error-catcher
export default function asyncErrorCatcher(fn) {
if (!(fn instanceof Function)) {
throw new Error("Must supply a function");
}
return (request, response, next) => {
const promise = fn(request, response, next);
if (!promise.catch) {
return;
}
promise.catch((error) => {
console.log(error.message);
response.sendStatus(500);
});
};
}
Here is the usage:
router.get("/getSettings/", asyncErrorCatcher(async (request: Request, response: Response) => {
const settings = await database.getSettings();
response.json(settings);
}));