Node.js continuation-local-storage usage - node.js

server.js
var Session = require('continuation-local-storage').createNamespace('session')
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
// create a new context and store request object
Session.run(function() {
Session.set('req', req);
next()
})
});
other-module.js
var Session = require('continuation-local-storage').getNamespace('session')
Session.get('req') // returns 'undefined'
How to get data from continuation-local-storage when to context is already not active?

I know it's been long time but I am adding the answer for the benefit of people coming accross this question.
This is the way I am using it:
to set
var session = require('continuation-local-storage').createNamespace('session')
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
session.bindEmitter(req);
session.bindEmitter(res);
session.run(function() {
session.set('req', req);
next();
});
});
to get is the same as in the question
var session = require('continuation-local-storage').getNamespace('session')
session.get('req')

Related

Getting body content from request in node-mitm

I have the following node-mitm code.
mitm = Mitm();
mitm.on("request", function(req, res) {
const body = req.body; //body is null
})
I feel this has to do with reading node's IncomingMessage events, but I don't know how to do it.
Mitm.js's request handler is just like the one you're used to on Node's side. That is, it doesn't do anything special with req.body and leaves it as a ReadableStream.
You could either get its contents with the classical on("data") pattern:
mitm.on("request", function(req, res) {
req.on("data", function(data) { data == "Hello" })
})
If you want to fake a larger service, I've sometimes used Express to create routes and then pass Express's route handler to Mitm:
var Router = require("express").Router
var router = Router().use(require("body-parser").text())
router.get("/", function(req, res) { req.end() })
mitm.on("request", route.bind(null, router))
function route(router, req, res) {
router(req, res, function(err) {
if (err == null) return
res.writeHead(502)
throw err
})
}
The last example is a summary of the pattern I've also got publicly visible at the Rahvaalgatus open source repository: https://github.com/rahvaalgatus/rahvaalgatus.
Specifically, look at the controller test of https://github.com/rahvaalgatus/rahvaalgatus/blob/6dc91b026d75879cdc552bd2e63f220235b786c0/test/controllers/home_controller_test.js and see the this.router definition at https://github.com/rahvaalgatus/rahvaalgatus/blob/6dc91b026d75879cdc552bd2e63f220235b786c0/test/mitm.js.

ExpressJS: Append header to incoming request object

I'm trying to append additional header to an incoming request, it can't seem to work.
server.get('/', function md1(req, res, next) {
req.setHeader('px-test-header', 1234); // Error - "req.setHeader is not a function"
req.headers['px-test-header'] = 1234; // nothing happens
}, function (req, res, next) {
console.log(req.get('px-test-header')); // always undefined
}, handler);
What am I doing wrong? Is it even possible?
Note - I do not want to modify the request object with additional parameter instead.
setHeader is a function for response type of objects not requests as from the documentation
But if you still want to set the headers in request then you could do something like
app.get('/', function(req,res){
req.headers.abc ='xyz';
console.log(req);
});
req are stored in req.headers so you could add your custom headers here for application middle wares to use later.
You can set header before routing.
Check this code
var router = express.Router();
router.use(function(req, res, next) {
// set the header you wish to append
req.headers('px-test-header', 1234);
next();
});
router.get('/', function(req, res){
console.log(req.headers)
});

Cannot pass params between middlewares

I've searched for a way to pass data between middlewares in Express, and I've found this. Basically, the solution given is to create req.somevariable = variable1;.
As is told in the comments, req.somevariable throws undefined and the possible solution cosists on creating a previous middleware to initialize that variable.
Is there any simplier solution? I've also tried to do:
req.body.myVar = myVar;
But I still have the error about the var is undefined.
Thanks.
You can pass it easily. Just store it req object.
app.get('/user', function(req, res, next) {
req.id = "123456789";
next();
}, function (req, res, next) {
var id = req.id;
// do your working
});

How do I combine Connect middleware into one middleware?

I have a few middlewares that I want to combine into one middleware. How do I do that?
For example...
// I want to shorten this...
app.use(connect.urlencoded())
app.use(connect.json())
// ...into this:
app.use(combineMiddleware([connect.urlencoded, connect.json]))
// ...without doing this:
app.use(connect.urlencoded()).use(connect.json())
I want it to work dynamically -- I don't want to depend on which middleware I use.
I feel like there's an elegant solution other than a confusing for loop.
Express accepts arrays for app.use if you have a path:
var middleware = [connect.urlencoded(), connect.json()];
app.use('/', middleware)
However, if you want a generic combineMiddleware function, you can build a helper easily without any additional libraries. This basically takes advantage of the fact that next is simply a function which takes an optional error:
/**
* Combine multiple middleware together.
*
* #param {Function[]} mids functions of form:
* function(req, res, next) { ... }
* #return {Function} single combined middleware
*/
function combineMiddleware(mids) {
return mids.reduce(function(a, b) {
return function(req, res, next) {
a(req, res, function(err) {
if (err) {
return next(err);
}
b(req, res, next);
});
};
});
}
If you like fancy stuff, here is one of possible solutions:
var connect = require('connect')
var app = connect()
function compose(middleware) {
return function (req, res, next) {
connect.apply(null, middleware.concat(next.bind(null, null))).call(null, req, res)
}
}
function a (req, res, next) {
console.log('a')
next()
}
function b (req, res, next) {
console.log('b')
next()
}
app.use(compose([a,b]))
app.use(function (req, res) {
res.end('Hello!')
})
app.listen(3000)
Here is what it does: compose function takes array of middleware and return composed middleware. connect itself is basically a middleware composer, so you can create another connect app with middlewares you want: connect.apply(null, middleware). Connect app is itself a middleware, the only problem is that it doesn't have a next() call in the end, so subsequent middleware will be unreachable. To solve that, we need another last middleware, which will call next : connect.apply(null, middleware.concat(last)). As last only calls next we can use next.bind(null, null) instead. Finally, we call resulting function with req and res.
Old question, but the need is still frequent for all the things using middlewares, like connect, express or custom made req/res/next patterns.
This is a very elegant and purely functional solution:
File ./utils/compose-middleware.js:
function compose(middleware) {
if (!middleware.length) {
return function(_req, _res, next) { next(); };
}
var head = middleware[0];
var tail = middleware.slice(1);
return function(req, res, next) {
head(req, res, function(err) {
if (err) return next(err);
compose(tail)(req, res, next);
});
};
}
module.exports = compose;
The final result of the compose(middlewareList) is a single middleware that encapsulates the whole chain of middleware initially provided.
Then simply import it and use like this:
File app.js:
var connect = require('connect');
var compose = require('./utils/compose-middleware');
var middleware = compose([
connect.urlencoded(),
connect.json()
]);
var app = connect();
app.use(middleware);
A simple and native way, and you don't need to install anything.
const {Router} = require('express')
const combinedMiddleware = Router().use([middleware1, middleware2, middleware3])
Then you can use the combinedMiddleware where you want. For example, you may want to run different set of middlewares/handlers for the same route depending on some conditions (a request attributes, for example):
app.get('/some-route', (req, res, next) => {
req.query.someParam === 'someValue'
? combinedMiddleware1(req, res, next)
: combinedMiddleware2(req, res, next)
})
If you're willing to use a library:
https://www.npmjs.org/package/middleware-flow
var series = require('middleware-flow').series;
var app = require('express')();
app.use(series(mw1, mw2, mw2)); // equivalent to app.use(mw1, mw2, mw3);
Make a list and use a loop.
const connect = require('connect')
const { urlencoded, json } = require('body-parser')
const app = connect()
[ urlencoded(), json() ].forEach(app.use, app)
The second argument of .forEach is used for this, but if you like you can also do the same with:
[ urlencoded(), json() ].forEach(app.use.bind(app))

How do I redirect in expressjs while passing some context?

I am using express to make a web app in node.js. This is a simplification of what I have:
var express = require('express');
var jade = require('jade');
var http = require("http");
var app = express();
var server = http.createServer(app);
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
// Prepare the context
res.render('home.jade', context);
});
app.post('/category', function(req, res) {
// Process the data received in req.body
res.redirect('/');
});
My problem is the following:
If I find that the data sent in /category doesn't validate, I would like pass some additional context to the / page. How could I do this? Redirect doesn't seem to allow any kind of extra parameter.
There are a few ways of passing data around to different routes. The most correct answer is, of course, query strings. You'll need to ensure that the values are properly encodeURIComponent and decodeURIComponent.
app.get('/category', function(req, res) {
var string = encodeURIComponent('something that would break');
res.redirect('/?valid=' + string);
});
You can snag that in your other route by getting the parameters sent by using req.query.
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
var passedVariable = req.query.valid;
// Do something with variable
});
For more dynamic way you can use the url core module to generate the query string for you:
const url = require('url');
app.get('/category', function(req, res) {
res.redirect(url.format({
pathname:"/",
query: {
"a": 1,
"b": 2,
"valid":"your string here"
}
}));
});
So if you want to redirect all req query string variables you can simply do
res.redirect(url.format({
pathname:"/",
query:req.query,
});
});
And if you are using Node >= 7.x you can also use the querystring core module
const querystring = require('querystring');
app.get('/category', function(req, res) {
const query = querystring.stringify({
"a": 1,
"b": 2,
"valid":"your string here"
});
res.redirect('/?' + query);
});
Another way of doing it is by setting something up in the session. You can read how to set it up here, but to set and access variables is something like this:
app.get('/category', function(req, res) {
req.session.valid = true;
res.redirect('/');
});
And later on after the redirect...
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
var passedVariable = req.session.valid;
req.session.valid = null; // resets session variable
// Do something
});
There is also the option of using an old feature of Express, req.flash. Doing so in newer versions of Express will require you to use another library. Essentially it allows you to set up variables that will show up and reset the next time you go to a page. It's handy for showing errors to users, but again it's been removed by default. EDIT: Found a library that adds this functionality.
Hopefully that will give you a general idea how to pass information around in an Express application.
The easiest way I have found to pass data between routeHandlers to use next() no need to mess with redirect or sessions.
Optionally you could just call your homeCtrl(req,res) instead of next() and just pass the req and res
var express = require('express');
var jade = require('jade');
var http = require("http");
var app = express();
var server = http.createServer(app);
/////////////
// Routing //
/////////////
// Move route middleware into named
// functions
function homeCtrl(req, res) {
// Prepare the context
var context = req.dataProcessed;
res.render('home.jade', context);
}
function categoryCtrl(req, res, next) {
// Process the data received in req.body
// instead of res.redirect('/');
req.dataProcessed = somethingYouDid;
return next();
// optionally - Same effect
// accept no need to define homeCtrl
// as the last piece of middleware
// return homeCtrl(req, res, next);
}
app.get('/', homeCtrl);
app.post('/category', categoryCtrl, homeCtrl);
I had to find another solution because none of the provided solutions actually met my requirements, for the following reasons:
Query strings: You may not want to use query strings because the URLs could be shared by your users, and sometimes the query parameters do not make sense for a different user. For example, an error such as ?error=sessionExpired should never be displayed to another user by accident.
req.session: You may not want to use req.session because you need the express-session dependency for this, which includes setting up a session store (such as MongoDB), which you may not need at all, or maybe you are already using a custom session store solution.
next(): You may not want to use next() or next("router") because this essentially just renders your new page under the original URL, it's not really a redirect to the new URL, more like a forward/rewrite, which may not be acceptable.
So this is my fourth solution that doesn't suffer from any of the previous issues. Basically it involves using a temporary cookie, for which you will have to first install cookie-parser. Obviously this means it will only work where cookies are enabled, and with a limited amount of data.
Implementation example:
var cookieParser = require("cookie-parser");
app.use(cookieParser());
app.get("/", function(req, res) {
var context = req.cookies["context"];
res.clearCookie("context", { httpOnly: true });
res.render("home.jade", context); // Here context is just a string, you will have to provide a valid context for your template engine
});
app.post("/category", function(req, res) {
res.cookie("context", "myContext", { httpOnly: true });
res.redirect("/");
}
use app.set & app.get
Setting data
router.get(
"/facebook/callback",
passport.authenticate("facebook"),
(req, res) => {
req.app.set('user', res.req.user)
return res.redirect("/sign");
}
);
Getting data
router.get("/sign", (req, res) => {
console.log('sign', req.app.get('user'))
});
we can use express-session to send the required data
when you initialise the app
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const session = require('express-session');
app.use(session({secret: 'mySecret', resave: false, saveUninitialized: false}));
so before redirection just save the context for the session
app.post('/category', function(req, res) {
// add your context here
req.session.context ='your context here' ;
res.redirect('/');
});
Now you can get the context anywhere for the session. it can get just by req.session.context
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
// So prepare the context
var context=req.session.context;
res.render('home.jade', context);
});
Here s what I suggest without using any other dependency , just node and express, use app.locals, here s an example :
app.get("/", function(req, res) {
var context = req.app.locals.specialContext;
req.app.locals.specialContext = null;
res.render("home.jade", context);
// or if you are using ejs
res.render("home", {context: context});
});
function middleware(req, res, next) {
req.app.locals.specialContext = * your context goes here *
res.redirect("/");
}
You can pass small bits of key/value pair data via the query string:
res.redirect('/?error=denied');
And javascript on the home page can access that and adjust its behavior accordingly.
Note that if you don't mind /category staying as the URL in the browser address bar, you can just render directly instead of redirecting. IMHO many times people use redirects because older web frameworks made directly responding difficult, but it's easy in express:
app.post('/category', function(req, res) {
// Process the data received in req.body
res.render('home.jade', {error: 'denied'});
});
As #Dropped.on.Caprica commented, using AJAX eliminates the URL changing concern.
Update 2021:
i tried url.format and querystring and both of them are deprecated, instead we can use URLSearchParams
const {URLSearchParams} = require('url')
app.get('/category', (req, res) =>{
const pathname = '/?'
const components ={
a:"a",
b:"b"
}
const urlParameters = new URLSearchParams(components)
res.redirect(pathname + urlParameters)
})
I use a very simple but efficient technique
in my app.js ( my entry point )
I define a variable like
let authUser = {};
Then I assign to it from my route page ( like after successful login )
authUser = matchedUser
It May be not the best approach but it fits my needs.
app.get('/category', function(req, res) {
var string = query
res.redirect('/?valid=' + string);
});
in the ejs you can directly use valid:
<% var k = valid %>

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