We Keep Coding

My backend route is not behaving as it should and not posting anything to MongoDB

I am trying to create a simple CRUD app. I was trying to set up the first backend route but I am stuck and can't figure out what is wrong with my code or what I am missing.
If I try to test the route with Insomnia, it doesn't return any error, but it targets the basic "/" route and returns the console.log('OK') instead of creating an item in MongoDB. Here is my code:
// app.js file
require("./db");
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
require("./config")(app);
const backoffice = require('./routes/backoffice');
app.use('/api/backoffice', backoffice);
app.use('/', (req, res) => {
res.send('OK')
});
module.exports = app;
// route file backoffice.js
const router = require("express").Router();
const Item = require("../models/Item");
router.post('/backoffice', (req, res, next) => {
console.log(req.body);
const {title, description} = req.body;
Item.create({
title,
description
})
.then(response => {
console.log(response)
res.status(200).json({message: 'New item added succesfully'})
})
.catch(err => res.json(err))
})
module.exports = router;

receive 404 error from post request: postman

I am trying to make a post request from postman but I'm receiving a 404 error: SyntaxError: Unexpected token n in JSON at position 4<br> at JSON.parse.
I have added the Content-Type: application/json header and defined the json body in the raw tab.
This is the url: http://localhost:8000/api/signup.
I can't make this post request nor can I access the application in the browser as I receive cannot GET /api/signup.
How can I fix this?
controllers/user.js
const User = require('../models/user')
const { errorHandler } = require("../helpers/dbErrorHandler")
exports.signup = (req, res) => {
console.log("req.body", req.body)
// signs up new user
const user = new User(req.body)
user.save((err, user) => {
if(err) {
return res.status(400).json({
err: errorHandler(err)
})
}
res.json({
user
})
})
}
app.js
const express = require('express')
const mongoose = require('mongoose')
const morgan = require('morgan')
const bodyParser = require('body-parser')
const cookieParser = require('cookie-parser')
require('dotenv').config()
// import routes
const userRoutes = require('./routes/user')
// app
const app = express()
// connect db - first arg is url (specified in .env)
mongoose.connect(process.env.DATABASE, {
useNewUrlParser: true,
useCreateIndex: true
}).then(() => console.log('DB connected'))
// middlewares
app.use(morgan('dev'))
app.use(bodyParser.json())
// used to save users credentials
app.use(cookieParser())
// routes middleware
app.use('/api', userRoutes)
const port = process.env.PORT || 8000
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log(`Server is running on port ${port}`)
})
models/user.js
const mongoose = require('mongoose')
const crypto = require('crypto')
const uuidv1 = require('uuid/v1')
const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema ({
...
}, {timestamps: true})
userSchema.methods = {
encryptPassword: function(password) {
if (!password) return '';
// hashes password
try {
return crypto.createHmac('sha1', this.salt)
.update(password)
.digest('hex')
} catch (err) {
return ''
}
}
}
module.exports = mongoose.model("User", userSchema)
routes/user.js
const express = require('express')
const router = express.Router()
const { signup} = require('../controllers/user')
router.post('/signup', signup)
module.exports = router

404 means NOT Found,
May be your URL or Method is wrong
Here is what you can try to diagnose:
Check if server is running
Check the port and URL you are accessing.
Check the postman method POST and URL.
Check the route, routes file and match it with postman URL

This seems like two different issues, for the POST request, the error seems like there is an invalid string in your JSON payload that your application cannot read and parse.
The second one is mainly due to the route is not found, without looking at your ./routes/user file, it seems like there are two possibilities:
You have a nested route of /user/.... If that is the case, try accessing your api via /api/user/signup instead of /api/signup
You did not create a GET route for you signup path. Normally signup is a POST path instead of GET.
It would be best if you can provide the source code of ./routes/user.js for us to properly answer this.

404 error is an HTTP status code that means that the page you were trying to reach on a website couldn't be found on their server. To be clear, the 404 error indicates that while the server itself is reachable, the specific page showing the error is not.
Make sure that your indexing is correct and your local server is running properly.

How can we implement an admin panel in nodeJS with express?

I am making a Portfolio application with nodeJS and express. I want to implement an admin panel which I can create,delete, update and edit my skills,experience,about etc, but I don't know how can I keep those admin routes secret and what kind of authentication to make.If we can do by putting Basic authentication on post,patch,delete route then how will we implement basic authentication on routes.
index.js
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
var cors = require('cors');
require('./db/mongoose')
const menuRouter = require('./routers/menu')
const skillRouter = require('./routers/skill')
const aboutRouter = require('./routers/About')
const experienceRouter = require('./routers/Experience')
const resumerouter = require('./routers/Resume')
const userRouter = require('./routers/user')
const port = process.env.PORT || 4000;
app.use(express.json());
app.use(cors());
app.use(menuRouter);
app.use(skillRouter);
app.use(aboutRouter);
app.use(experienceRouter);
app.use(resumerouter);
app.use(userRouter)
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log("Server is runing on port" + port)
});
skill.js
const express = require('express');
const Skill = require('../model/skill');
const router = new express.Router();
router.post('/skill', async (req, res) => {
const skill = new Skill(req.body);
try {
await skill.save();
res.status(201).send(skill);
} catch (e) {
console.log(e);
res.status(400).send(e);
}
})
router.get('/skill', async (rq, res) => {
try {
const skill = await Skill.find({});
res.status(201).send(skill);
} catch (e) {
res.status(400).send(e);
}
})
module.exports = router;

As specified in the comments, I would refactor your code a bit, seems messy and you're kind'a repeating yourself every line you import a route, so, you should do it better as well...
have an index.js file in your /routers folder with the content of the demo repo I've made for other StackOverflow question
then, to separate things, I would do something like:
const routes = require('./routes')
...
const protectRouteWithApiKey = (req, res, next) => {
const auth = req.headers['x-apikey']
if (auth && auth === '<YOUR API KEY>') return next()
return next(new Error('403 | Authorization is missing or value is wrong'))
}
...
app.use('/api', protectRouteWithApiKey, routes) // point to your routes and protect access
app.use('/', defaultEngine) // your engine to render html
you would then have a protected route in /api/* and normal routes for everything else

A middleware where you detect if the logged user is the admin?
In this sample checking by the email, and you can save the adminemail as a global variable
ensureAdmin: function(req, res, next) {
if (req.isAuthenticated()) {
if (req.user.email === adminemail) {
return next();
} else {
return res.redirect('/adminsecretroute');
}
}
res.redirect('/');
}

.save() hanging and only receiving _id

problem with saving to MongoDB database
This is my second time trying to post to a database, still new to it. I am receiving string from a html form and trying to save into the database. I have connected to mongodb successfully, setup my post route, setup my model and now trying to send the http request to save it to db. before setting up the model, I was able to console.log the data I received from my form. but after setting up the model and trying to get the route to save it to db, it just hangs. If i comment out the main.save(), and console.log(main), alll I get back is an _id.
i cant figure out where im going wrong with it
index.js
const express = require('express')
const path = require('path')
const routes = require('../routes/routes')
const app = express()
const port = 3000
app.use(express.json())
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }))
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '../public')))
app.use(routes)
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log('Server is up on port ' + port)
})
routes
const express = require('express')
const Main = require('../src/model')
const router = new express.Router()
router.post('/', async (req, res) => {
const main = new Main(req.body)
console.log(main)
try{
await main.save()
res.status(201).send(main)
} catch (e) {
res.status(400).send(e)
console.log('Not working!')
}
})
module.exports = router
model
const mongoose = require('mongoose')
const Main = mongoose.model('Main', {
total_check: {
type: String
}
})
module.exports = Main
receiving an _id, but hanging on .save()

This is because you are passing whole req.body to the database. Change this const main = new Main(req.body) to this
let main= new Main({
total_check:req.body.total_check
});
Just make sure you are receiving correct data from your frontend end or Postman.
Also save returns a callback so handle that as well
main.save((err,main)=>{
if(err) {console.log(err) }
else { res.status(201).send(main) }
});

Rest with Express.js nested router

Suppose I want to have REST endpoints which look roughly like this:
/user/
/user/user_id
/user/user_id/items/
/user/user_id/items/item_id
CRUD on each if makes sense. For example, /user POST creates a new user, GET fetches all users. /user/user_id GET fetches just that one user.
Items are user specific so I put them under user_id, which is a particular user.
Now to make Express routing modular I made a few router instances. There is a router for user, and a router for the item.
var userRouter = require('express').Router();
userRouter.route('/')
.get(function() {})
.post(function() {})
userRouter.route('/:user_id')
.get(function() {})
var itemRouter = require('express').Router();
itemRouter.route('/')
.get(function() {})
.post(function() {})
itemRouter.route('/:item_id')
.get(function() {})
app.use('/users', userRouter);
// Now how to add the next router?
// app.use('/users/', itemRouter);
URL to item is descendents of the URL hierarchy of the user. Now how do I get URL with /users whatever to userRouter but the more specific route of /user/*user_id*/items/ to the itemRouter? And also, I would like user_id to be accessible to itemRouter as well, if possible.

You can nest routers by attaching them as middleware on an other router, with or without params.
You must pass {mergeParams: true} to the child router if you want to access the params from the parent router.
mergeParams was introduced in Express 4.5.0 (Jul 5 2014)
In this example the itemRouter gets attached to the userRouter on the /:userId/items route
This will result in following possible routes:
GET /user -> hello user
GET /user/5 -> hello user 5
GET /user/5/items -> hello items from user 5
GET /user/5/items/6 -> hello item 6 from user 5
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var userRouter = express.Router();
// you need to set mergeParams: true on the router,
// if you want to access params from the parent router
var itemRouter = express.Router({mergeParams: true});
// you can nest routers by attaching them as middleware:
userRouter.use('/:userId/items', itemRouter);
userRouter.route('/')
.get(function (req, res) {
res.status(200)
.send('hello users');
});
userRouter.route('/:userId')
.get(function (req, res) {
res.status(200)
.send('hello user ' + req.params.userId);
});
itemRouter.route('/')
.get(function (req, res) {
res.status(200)
.send('hello items from user ' + req.params.userId);
});
itemRouter.route('/:itemId')
.get(function (req, res) {
res.status(200)
.send('hello item ' + req.params.itemId + ' from user ' + req.params.userId);
});
app.use('/user', userRouter);
app.listen(3003);

manageable nested routes...
I wanted a specific example of doing nested routes in a very manageable way in express 4 and this was the top search result for "nested routes in express". Here's an API that would have many routes that would need to be broken up for example.
./index.js:
var app = require('express')();
// anything beginning with "/api" will go into this
app.use('/api', require('./routes/api'));
app.listen(3000);
./routes/api/index.js:
var router = require('express').Router();
// split up route handling
router.use('/products', require('./products'));
router.use('/categories', require('./categories'));
// etc.
module.exports = router;
./routes/api/products.js:
var router = require('express').Router();
// api/products
router.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.json({ products: [] });
});
// api/products/:id
router.get('/:id', function(req, res) {
res.json({ id: req.params.id });
});
module.exports = router;
Nesting example in folder structure
I noticed some comments on "nesting folder structure". It is implied in this however not obvious so I added the section below. Here's a specific example of a nested folder structure for routes.
index.js
/api
index.js
/admin
index.js
/users
index.js
list.js
/permissions
index.js
list.js
This is more a general example of how node works. If you use "index.js" in folders similarly to how "index.html" works in web pages for a directory default, this will be easy to scale your organization based off of recursion without changing your entry points to code. "index.js" is the default document accessed when using require in a directory.
contents of index.js
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
router.use('/api', require('./api'));
module.exports = router;
contents of /api/index.js
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
router.use('/admin', require('./admin'));
module.exports = router;
contents of /api/admin/index.js
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
router.use('/users', require('./users'));
router.use('/permissions', require('./permissions'));
module.exports = router;
contents of /api/admin/users/index.js
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
router.get('/', require('./list'));
module.exports = router;
There is some DRY issues here possibly but it does lend itself well to encapsulation of concerns.
FYI, recently I got into actionhero and have found it to be full featured w/sockets and tasks, more like a true framework all-in-one flipping the REST paradigm on its head. You should probably check it out over going naked w/ express.

var userRouter = require('express').Router();
var itemRouter = require('express').Router({ mergeParams: true });
userRouter.route('/')
.get(function(req, res) {})
.post(function(req, res) {})
userRouter.route('/:user_id')
.get(function() {})
itemRouter.route('/')
.get(function(req, res) {})
.post(function(req, res) {})
itemRouter.route('/:item_id')
.get(function(req, res) {
return res.send(req.params);
});
app.use('/user/', userRouter);
app.use('/user/:user_id/item', itemRouter);
The key to the second part of your question is the use of the mergeParams option
var itemRouter = require('express').Router({ mergeParams: true });
From /user/jordan/item/cat I get a reponse:
{"user_id":"jordan","item_id":"cat"}

Using #Jason Sebring solution, and adapting for Typescript.
server.ts
import Routes from './api/routes';
app.use('/api/', Routes);
/api/routes/index.ts
import { Router } from 'express';
import HomeRoutes from './home';
const router = Router();
router.use('/', HomeRoutes);
// add other routes...
export default router;
/api/routes/home.ts
import { Request, Response, Router } from 'express';
const router = Router();
router.get('/', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
res.json({
message: 'Welcome to API',
});
});
export default router;

In the spirit of Express modular routers, we should have a separate router for users and for items. That router isn't part of our top-level application logic. We can nest it in our users' router instead.
Users router
const users = require('express').Router();
const items = require('./items');
//...
// Our root route to /users
albums.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
// res.send() our response here
});
// A route to handle requests to any individual user, identified by an user id
users.get('/:userId', function(req, res, next) {
let userId = req.params.userId;
// retrieve user from database using userId
// res.send() response with user data
});
// Note, this route represents /users/:userId/items because our top-level router is already forwarding /users to our Users router!
users.use('/:userId/items', items);
//...
module.exports = users;
Items router
// We need to merge params to make userId available in our Items router
const items = require('express').Router({ mergeParams: true });
//...
// The root router for requests to our items path
items.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
let userId = req.params.userId; // Here is where mergeParams makes its magic
// retrieve user's track data and render items list page
});
// The route for handling a request to a specific item
items.get('/:itemId', function(req, res, next) {
let userId = req.params.userId; // <-- mergeParams magic
let itemId = req.params.itemId;
// retrieve individual item data and render on single item page
});
//...
module.exports = items;
Source

try to add { mergeParams: true } look to simple example which it middleware use it in controller file getUser at the same for postUser
const userRouter = require("express").Router({ mergeParams: true });
export default ()=>{
userRouter
.route("/")
.get(getUser)
.post(postUser);
userRouter.route("/:user_id").get(function () {});
}

Express router(express.Router()) keeps params seprate so you would explicitly have to tell express to merge these params.
eg:
express.Router({ mergeParams: true })
//above line is answer to your question.

You need only one router, and use it like this:
router.get('/users');
router.get('/users/:user_id');
router.get('/users/:user_id/items');
router.get('/users/:user_id/items/:item_id');
app.use('api/v1', router);