no req.params sent in the requests - node.js

Question

In a practice example, i'm trying to create a restfull API, very simple. The plain GET and POST methods works well, but the GET, PUT and DELETE method pointing to /api/bears/:bear_id just stay there, waiting...
// CONFIGURACION INICIAL //
// ===================== //
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var db = mongoose.connection;
// CONFIGURANDO APP //
// ================ //
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }))
app.use(bodyParser.json())
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/bears');
db.on('error', console.error.bind(console, 'connection error:'));
db.once('open', function cb () {
console.log('conexion establecida');
})
var Bear = require('./models/bear_model.js');
var port = process.env.PORT || 8080; // seteo del puerto
var router = express.Router(); // instancia del ruteador
Above, the simple config, below, the snippet that is causing me problems:
router.use(function (req, res, next) { // simple logger
if (req.method === 'GET')
console.log('executing query on id %s', JSON.stringify(req.params));
else if (req.method === 'PUT')
console.log('executing query on id %s', JSON.stringify(req.params));
else
console.log('executing query on id %s', JSON.stringify(req.params));
});
router.route('/bears/:bear_id')
.get(function (req, res) {
Bear.findById(req.params.bear_id, function (err, bear) {
if (err)
res.send(err);
res.json(bear);
});
}) // end GET /bears/:bear_id
.put(function (req, res) {
Bear.findById(req.params.bear_id, function (err, bear) {
if (err)
res.send(err)
bear.name = req.body.name; // Update bear_id of Bear
bear.save(function (err) {
if (err)
res.send(err);
res.json({msg: 'Bear actualizado!'});
});
});
}) // end PUT /bears/:bear_id
.delete(function (req, res) {
Bear.remove({
_id: req.params.bear_id
}, function (err, bear) {
if (err)
res.send(err);
res.json({ msg: 'Bear eliminado' });
});
}); // end DELETE /bears/:id && router /bears/:id
app.use('/api', router); // la api usará como base el prefijo /api
Executing one route with a param log me: executing query on {}, so, the req.params.bear_id simply is not captured, and if i change req.params by req.params.bears_id, obviously i get an undefined log, so i read de docs and think i'm doing generally well the process but don't catch the issue.

Answer 1

You are not calling next() in your logger, so you're never getting to your router, which results in no response.
router.use(function (req, res, next) { // simple logger
if (req.method === 'GET')
console.log('executing query on id %s', JSON.stringify(req.params));
else if (req.method === 'PUT')
console.log('executing query on id %s', JSON.stringify(req.params));
else
console.log('executing query on id %s', JSON.stringify(req.params));
next();
});
Now the reason you are not seeing params in your logger is because params are only visible if the route definition has params. Your logger middleware doesn't define a specific route, therefore there are no params. A solution to this would be to use Router.param
router.param('bear_id', function(req, res, next, bear_id) {
if (req.method === 'GET')
console.log('executing query on id ' + bear_id);
else if (req.method === 'PUT')
console.log('executing query on id ' + bear_id);
else
console.log('executing query on id ' + bear_id);
next();
});
More simply:
router.param('bear_id', function(req, res, next, bear_id) {
console.log(req.method + ' with id ' + bear_id);
next();
});
This works this way by design, you can find more information on github:
https://github.com/strongloop/express/issues/2088