How to forward a request to other endpoint in node.js - node.js

Question

In my scenario I need forward get request to another end point. In my machine there are two servers php and node.js server. Node.js is like a "man in the middle", PHP server must work in the same way.
Node.js server code
var express = require('express');
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');
var http = require('http');
var https = require('https');
var app = express();
var HTTP_PORT = 3000;
// Create an HTTP service
http.createServer(app).listen(HTTP_PORT,function() {
console.log('Listening HTTP on port ' + HTTP_PORT);
});
//endpoint for tracking
app.get('/track', function(req, res) {
sendRequestToOtherEndPoint(req);
processRequest(req);
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
res.send('Req OK');
});
function processRequest(req){
console.log("request processed");
}
function sendRequestToOtherEndPoint(req){
//magic here :)
}
When this server receive a get request in port 3000, it process request information and it must forward the same requesto to another end point.
For example:
Get localhost:3000/track?param1=1&param2=2
Server process get request
Server forward get request to localhost/final-endpoint?param1=1&param2=2

Answer 1

Depending on what you're trying to do, you can create a new request to the end-point:
//endpoint for tracking
app.get('/track', function(req, res) {
req.get({url: 'http://end-point', headers: req.headers});
processRequest(req);
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
res.send('Req OK');
});
More info: https://github.com/request/request

Answer 2

There are a couple of useful libraries that one could use:
http-proxy-middleware:
const proxy = require('http-proxy-middleware')
var apiProxy = proxy('/track', {target: 'http://end-point'});
app.use(apiProxy)
axios-express-proxy
import express from 'express';
import { Proxy } from 'axios-express-proxy';
const app = express();
const port = 3000;
app.get('/track', (req, res) => Proxy('http://end-point', req, res));

Answer 3

In you case res.redirect might help.
app.get('/track', function(req, res) {
// process the request
// then redirect
res.redirect('/final-endpoint');
});
Then catch the redirected request in final endpont.
app.get('/final-endpoint', function(req, res) {
// proceess redirected request here.
});
See the Express docs

Answer 4

If your second endpoint is on a different server, (e.g. PHP) then you're going to need to either redirect the client (as in sohel's answer), or spoof a request from Node to the PHP server and then send the response back to the client. This latter option is definitely non-trivial so I would question whether it's crucial not to use a client redirect.
If you're talking about two express endpoints, then I think the simplest answer might be not to actually forward at all, but just use the endpoint callback directly instead:
app.get('/track', trackCallback);
app.get('/otherendpoint', otherendpointCallback);
function otherendpointCallback(req, res) {
// do your thing
}
function trackCallback(req, res) {
otherendpointCallback(req, res);
processRequest(req);
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
res.send('Req OK');
};
Depending on exactly what you want to do at the other end point, you might need to spoof some of req's fields (e.g. req.url)