Express route not returning - node.js

Probably a silly mistake but I cannot see why I'm not getting a response from a GET request.
This is part of my server file located in the root:
//server.js
...
var serverRoutes = require('./server/routes');
app.use('/server', serverRoutes);
...
and my routes file:
//server/routes/index.js
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
module.exports = function() {
router.get('/test', function(req, res, next){
console.log("HIT");
res.status(200).send("OK");
});
return router;
}
Everytime I navigate to /server/test in my browser it just stalls. Nothing is logged in the terminal and no "OK" response is received in the browser - what am I missing?

Your serverRoutes module exports a function that returns a router. You need to invoke it in order to pass the Router instance it returns to app.use:
app.use('/server', serverRoutes());
Otherwise, express is going to treat your exported function as a middleware, which will cause the app to hang since it does nothing with the response passed to it.

Related

ExpressJS Router is not handling root routes

UPDATE 2: I just noticed that if on the app file I change the line:
app.use('/', home);
to:
app.use('/anything', home);
then all of the sub routes "roots" work fine.
UPDATE 3: I just realized something else. A method on the home.js file that I did not originally include below since I didn't think was relevant turns out to be the cause of the problem.
router.get('/:adventureId', (req, res) => {
var data;
//Irrelevant content that sets data as a JSON object.
res.json(data);
});
Turns out that every single sub route "root" is passing through here and since on the other routes adventureId is undefined then data is just an empty JSON object.
So the real question is: If this router bound to "/" and the other "roots" are bound to "/adventure" and "/test" why are all of them going through "/:adventrueId"?
I have a very simple ExpressJS application on which all of the "roots" in each and every single route other than home are not being handled and they always display an empty JSON object on the page.
In some posts it was mentioned that it could be a caching issue since these routes always return a 304 status, but I've tried doing an "Empty cach and hard reload" on Chrome and even with the 200 status I still get a blank page with an empty JSON object displayed on it. I tried it with MS Edge and got the exact same behavior.
Here's what I have:
On my app file
var app = express();
var home = require('./routes/home');
var adventure = require('./routes/adventure');
var test = require('./routes/test');
app.use('/', home);
app.use('/adventure', adventure);
app.use('/test', test);
On home.js file:
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
console.log("This works fine with http://localhost:3000.");
res.render('home');
});
router.get('/:adventureId', (req, res) => {
var data;
//Irrelevant content that sets data as a JSON object.
res.json(data);
});
module.exports = router;
On the adventure.js file:
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
router.use('/:id', (req, res) => {
console.log("This works fine with http://localhost:3000/adventure/5.");
next();
});
router.get('/:id', (req, res) => {
console.log("This works fine with http://localhost:3000/adventure/5.");
res.render('adventure');
});
//I've also tried putting this before the other routes and the result is the same.
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
console.log("This is never written in the console with http://localhost:3000/adventure.");
res.send("This is never rendered in the page.");
});
On the test.js file:
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
router.use('/', (req, res) => {
console.log("This is never written on the console with http://localhost:3000/test.");
res.send("Hello from the test root route");
});
module.exports = router;
In the ExpressJS Router documentation and every single blog and example I've found it says that this is how it should work so I am really at a loss here.
Thank you.
If this router bound to "/" and the other "roots" are bound to "/adventure" and "/test" why are all of them going through "/:adventrueId"?
Because Express doesn't match routes based on which one matches best, it matches on which one matches first.
In your case, the route /:advertureId was declared before the routes for /adventure or /test. And /adventure and /test both match /:advertureId, so the handler for that route is called.
If you want to prevent this, declare more specific routes first:
app.use('/adventure', adventure);
app.use('/test', test);
app.use('/', home);
After much going around, several updates on the question and banging my head against the keyboard I finally understood what the problem is:
By having the routers set up like this:
app.use('/', home);
app.use('/adventure', adventure);
app.use('/game', gameService);
app.use('/test', test);
and on the "home" router having this method signature:
router.get('/:adventureId', (req, res) => {
var data;
//Irrelevant content that sets data as a JSON object.
res.json(data);
});
Every single sub route "root" was being interpreted as the parameter of the previous method so:
/adventure
/test
/anything
would be handled as:
adventrueId = adventrue
adventureId = test
adventrueId = anything
The solution was to do this:
app.use('/adventure', adventure);
app.use('/game', gameService);
app.use('/test', test);
app.use('/', home);
And now everything works.

How can I still use a router in node express and still have a wildcard and params?

So basically I want my code being able to go mywebsite.com/username and itll take them to their profile.
My app.js has -
var user = require('./routes/user');
app.use('/*', user);
and then in my user.js I have
router.get('/:username', function(req, res) {
console.log('the user name', req.params.username);
})
If I change router.get to just router.get('/') my console.log logs out undefined and if I leave it as router.get('/:username') I get a 404.. I also tried doing app.use('/:username', user) as well but that still didn't work.
You should't need to have a wildcard like you do on app.use
Try something like this.
Also see the express router documentation http://expressjs.com/en/guide/routing.html
// Required Moduiles
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var app = express();
// Add route to get
router.get('/:username', function(req, res) {
res.status(200).send(req.params.username)
})
// Add username
app.use('/', router)
// Start express server
app.listen(3030);
Update -
Just using app.use(router) would do the same thing if all your routes are going to be contained in this new router instance / middleware you are creating in a separate file.

break routes out of Node/Express server, but router is undefined

I'm trying to break the routes out of my Node server because it's getting a little cluttered. I followed a pattern I saw in a tutorial server and made a file routes/routes.js which looks like this:
var router = require('express').Router()
// routes in here
module.exports = router
I added this line to my server
app.use(require('./routes/routes'))
but my server won't start and gives the error
router.get('/', function (req, res, next)) Cannot call method 'get' of undefined
I checked the express docs (version 3.16.3), but I couldn't figure out why router is undefined and can't call 'get'
I generally have a routes config and I just require that.
// config/routes.js
module.exports = function (app) {
app.get('/', get.stuff);
app.post('/api/:id', create.stuff);
}
Now in our server, we just require the routes.js file, and send app to it
// server.js
var app = express(),
server = http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function() {});
require('./config/routes.js')(app);

express 4 router with external file

I have the following files
lib/pub
lib/pub/index.js
app.js
On App.js
I have:
// app.js
var express = require("express")
, app = express()
, router = express.Router()
;
...
router.use('/pub',require('./pub'));
and then on index.js
// pub/index.js
var express = require('express')
, router = express.Router()
;
console.log("file loaded successfully")
module.exports = function(){
router.get('/',function(req,res){
console.log("got the get request")
})
}
The problem I have when I do localhost/pub request, I never get the got the get request, no matter whatever I try to change the code around, trying to add pub to the path.
router.get('/',...
router.get('/pub',...
router.get('./pub,...
router.get('./',...
router.get('pub',...
etc...
None of those or any other silly way I have attempted work... I can never get the log to say yes I got the request...
What am I doing wrong ! (expressjs changes so frequently and radically, any web tutorials become redundant or any previous help others got)
(edited to reflect comments)
If you want to move your routes to an external file, use the following pattern:
app.js
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
require('./routes')(app);
routes.js
module.exports = function(app) {
app.get('/pub', function(req, res) {
console.log('got the get!');
res.end();
});
};

Two apps in expressjs

I am building an app with express js which will have different clients like web and mobile. I didnt want to use one app for both as some middleware would be additional burden. For say like session middleware. So is it possible for one project to have two apps. And how would it work?
The app object that you make in express is a function(req,res,next) that is suitable for Express's own middleware chains. So you can use app.use to send requests matching a leading path fragment to an app defined elsewhere.
Docs: http://expressjs.com/api.html#app.use
$ npm install express
//mobile.js
var app = require('express')();
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.send('Mobile Route')
});
module.exports = app;
//desktopApp.js
var http = require('http');
var express = require('express');
var desktopApp = express();
var mobileApp = require('./mobile.js');
desktopApp.use('/mobile', mobileApp)
desktopApp.use(desktopApp.router);
desktopApp.use(express.errorHandler());
desktopApp.get('/', function(req, res){
res.send('Desktop Route')
});
desktopApp.get('/mobile', function(req, res){
// Because Express respects the order that you set up the middleware chain,
// the mobileApp `/mobile` route gets first dibs to send a response or next()
res.send('Inaccessible Desktop Route')
});
desktopApp.get('/mobile/foobar', function(req, res){
// When mobileApp can't find any suitable route matching this path, it gives
// up, and desktopApp continues to pass the request down the middleware stack.
// It ends up matching this route, where we send a response
res.send('Desktop Route')
});
http.createServer(desktopApp).listen(3000, function(){
console.log('Listening on 3000');
});
// Results
$ curl localhost:3000/
Desktop Route
$ curl localhost:3000/mobile/
Mobile Route
See the vhost example on the express github repository.
You can have a "main" app, which routes the requests to one app or another. You should write a middleware to establish the conditions where one app or another are requested. express.vhost is a good example, but maybe you need other checks than the domain one.
main-app.js
(The file called to start the server.)
// load dependencies
var main = express();
main.use( express.vhost( 'mobile', require( './the-mobile-app' ) );
main.use( express.vhost( '*', require( './the-web-app' ) );
main.listen( /*...*/ )
the-mobile-app and the-web-app.js
var app = express();
//
// setup your application conf, middleware, and routes
//
module.exports = app;
I wanted to share a different approach that I used in a project recently:
function renderAppropriate(template1, template2){
return function(req, res){
if(req.session && req.session.mobileOn){
res.render(template1);
} else {
res.render(template2);
}
};
};
app.get('/', function(req, res, next){
// do some stuff
next()
}, renderAppropriate('someMobileTemplate', 'someDesktopTemplate')
);

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