express & mongoose - Cannot call method 'get' of undefined - using res.json() - node.js

Question

and thanks to be there.
Issue :
I'm making a tiny mongoose "middleware" to handle a mongoose error :
// callback function called at each mongoDB response
var handleDbRes = function(callback) {
return function (err, entries) {
if (err) {
err.status = 500;
return next(err);
}
return callback(entries) // that line throw the exception
}
};
And so I'm using it into an api endpoint, e.g. :
someRouter.get('/', function(req, res) {
models.article.find(handleDbRes(res.json))
})
With that code, I encounter an error :
TypeError: Cannot call method 'get' of undefined
I followed the exception and looked at res.json() declaration, when debugging, I figured out :
var app = this.app;
var *** = app.get('***') // that line throw the exception
I guess that app is not defined cause app doesn't exists in "this".
Please can you help me to solve this problem ? I think that the reason is simple but I don't get it...
Thanks you for listening ;)
EDIT : I tried to res.json.bind(res) and it worked, as I thought, but that's really awful to bind this way for most api endpoint and I guess there is another way to do that kind of functionality without that.
EDIT : Thanks to Mscdex advices, I modified my code this way :
.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
models.article.find(handleDbRes(res.json.bind(res), next))
...
...
// callback function called at each mongoDB response
var handleDbRes = function(successCallback, errorCallback) {
return function (err, entries) {
if (err) {
err.status = 500;
return errorCallback(err);
}
return successCallback(entries)
}
};

Answer 1

When you pass res.json, the context for the json() function is lost (it no longer knows what this is because it is not bound). So here are a few possible solutions:
Use a bound version of the function so that this inside json() will always evaluate correctly:
someRouter.get('/', function(req, res) {
models.article.find(handleDbRes(res.json.bind(res)))
})
Or use a wrapper function instead:
someRouter.get('/', function(req, res) {
function respondJSON(val) {
res.json(val);
}
models.article.find(handleDbRes(respondJSON))
})
Or just pass in res and call res.json() inside handleDbRes():
someRouter.get('/', function(req, res) {
models.article.find(handleDbRes(res))
})
// callback function called at each mongoDB response
var handleDbRes = function(res) {
return function(err, entries) {
if (err) {
err.status = 500;
return next(err);
}
res.json(entries);
}
};
The other problem is that handleDbRes() doesn't have access to next, so you need to also pass that function in for when you run into an error.