Avoiding callback hell - node.js

Question

I have this code that serves every markdown file in the './markdown' folder. At '/api/markdown/filename'.
var apiRouter = express.Router();
markdownFolder = './markdown/';
apiRouter.get('/:markdown_file_noext', function(req, res) {
fs.readdir(markdownFolder, function(err, markdown) {
if (err) throw err;
markdown.forEach(function(file) {
fs.readFile(markdownFolder + file, 'utf8', function(err, file_content) {
if (err) throw err;
fileNoExtension = file.slice(0, file.indexOf('.'));
if (req.params.markdown_file_noext == fileNoExtension) {
res.json({
'title': fileNoExtension,
'markdown': marked(file_content)
});
};
});
});
});
});
But i end having a ton of callbacks do the the nature of the 'fs' methods. How do i avoid this?

Answer 1

Using Q as promise library:
const Q = require('q');
const fs = require('fs');
const markdownFolder = './markdown/';
const readdir = Q.nfbind(fs.readdir);
const readFile = Q.nfbind(fs.readFile);
readdir(markdownFolder).then(markdown => {
const promises = [];
markdown.forEach(file => promises.push(readFile(markdownFolder + file, 'utf8')));
return Q.all(promises);
}).then(files => {
// Do your magic.
}).catch(error => {
// Do something with error.
});

Answer 2

You have different option.
Use named Function instead of anonymus functinos. It would make it a little bit more readable but you will still be using callbacks.
Use Promises, but you will need to use bluebird to wrap the fs module.
For a more advance option, you can use generators and Promises to make your code look more like a sync way. Take a look at co or bluebird.coroutine.

Answer 3

With Promises you could do like this:
const path = require('path');
var apiRouter = express.Router();
markdownFolder = './markdown/';
apiRouter.get('/:markdown_file_noext', function(req, res) {
readdir(markdownFolder)
.then((files) => {
const tasks = files.map((file) => {
const filePath = path.resolve(markdownFolder, file);
return readFile(filePath);
});
return Promise.all(tasks); // Read all files
})
.then((fileContents) => {
return fileContents.map((content) => {
fileNoExtension = file.slice(0, file.indexOf('.'));
if (req.params.markdown_file_noext == fileNoExtension) {
return {
'title': fileNoExtension,
'markdown': marked(content)
};
};
})
})
.then((results) => {
// It's better if you aggregate all results in one array and return it,
// instead of calling res.json for each result
res.json(results);
})
.catch((err) => {
// All errors are catched here
console.log(err);
})
});
function readdir(folderPath) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
fs.readdir(folderPath, (err, files) {
if (err) {
return reject(err);
}
resolve(files);
});
});
}
function readFile(filePath) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
fs.readFile(filePath, 'utf8', (err, file_content) => {
if (err) {
return reject(err);
}
resolve(file_content);
});
});
}