res.render causes native err after call to fs.stat / fs.access - node.js

Question

I'm trying to build a catch-all route for a subset of my site that contains multiple directories/pages that need to be processed by ejs, but don't need specific routes.
[N.B., I included the sync version in the example below to remove any question of timing... the analogous implementation of fs.stat (and of fs.access) results in the same behavior]
router.get('/foobar/:page(*)', function(req, res, next) {
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');
var viewsPath = req.app.get('views');
try
{
// see if there's an ejs file corresponding to request
var stats = fs.statSync(path.join(viewsPath, 'foobar', req.params.page + '.ejs'));
console.log(stats); // stats object seems accurate
// THROWS WHEN CALLING openSync
res.render('foobar/' + req.params.page, {title: 'foo'});
}
catch (e)
{
var err = new Error();
err.status = 404;
next(err);
}
}
The 404 path works just fine, but when I request a page that actually exists, the render call throws:
Unexpected error code undefined has occurred. Please retry your request
at Error (native)
at Object.fs.openSync (fs.js:500:18)
at Object.fs.readFileSync (fs.js:352:15)
at includeSource (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:194:17)
at C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:528:26
at Array.forEach (native)
at Object.Template.generateSource (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:505:15)
at Object.Template.compile (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:427:12)
at Object.compile (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:288:16)
at handleCache (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:147:16)
at View.exports.renderFile [as engine] (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\ejs\lib\ejs.js:350:14)
at View.render (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\view.js:126:8)
at tryRender (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\application.js:639:10)
at EventEmitter.render (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\application.js:591:3)
at ServerResponse.render (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\response.js:961:7)
at C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\routes\power-essentials.js:32:7
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at next (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\router\route.js:131:13)
at Route.dispatch (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\router\route.js:112:3)
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:277:22
at param (C:\Users\Jim\Documents\myProject\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:349:14)
It's behaving almost like the fs.statSync call has placed a lock on the file that render chokes on when trying to open the view file.

Answer 1

occams razor: the test page I was working with had an invalid include path reference within it! It wasn't complaining about the template I was trying to load, but rather one referenced within it.