I'm working in a restful service using express.js and i want to enhance the req and res variables so for example you could write something like
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
res.Ok = function (data) {
res.status(200).send(data);
};
res.InternalError = function (err) {
res.status(500).send(err);
};
});
And later
router.get('/foo', function (req, res) {
res.Ok('foo');
})
This will send 'foo' in the body of the response and set the status code to 200 and is working perfectly.
My first question is if it is possible to add such functionality without a middleware function, lets say in a property or the prototype of the app variable?
The second question is if there are performance issues if you add many functionality with middleware functions at the app level. Are this functions attached to the request and response object per request or once on the application startup?
I know the Sails framework already do this but I'm wondering if they use middleware functions as well.
I keep digging and turns out that the request and response object are exposed in express using the __proto__ property.
var express = require('express'),
app = express();
app.response.__proto__.foo = function (data) {
this.status(200).send(data);
};
And later in the router
router.get('/foo', function (req, res, next) {
res.foo('test');
});
This will print test in your browser so it is possible to add functionality without using any middleware.
Note: I'm sure there are some drawbacks to this approach (overwriting express predefined properties, for example) but for testing purposes and adding very simple functionality I think is slightly better in terms of performance.
I'm not aware of any other way than using middleware. But in my opinion you could do the following to achieve nearly the same thing.
// Some Route
router.get('/foo', function(req, res, next) {
// ...
if(err) {
res.status(500);
return next(err);
}
return res.send('ok');
});
// Another route
router.get('/bar', function(req, res, next) {
// ...
if(badUserId) {
res.status(400);
return next('Invalid userId.');
}
req.result = 'hello';
return next();
});
router.use(function(req, res) {
// I prefer to send the result in the route but an
// approach like this could work
return res.send(req.result);
});
// Error Middleware
router.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
if(res.statusCode === 500) {
// Log the error here
return res.send('Internal server error');
} else {
return res.send(err);
}
});
Related
Here below there are two servers and two gqlServers. All combinations of them work.
The challenge is to extend express with some additional predefined code patterns shared across several apps, exposed through additional methods.
Which combination of a server and gqlServer is considered best practice and best for performance?
server:
server_A is a function that returns a class
server_B is a function that returns a function
gqlServer:
gqlServer_01 uses req.pipe
gqlServer_02 has the original express() passed into it
function gqlServer_01(options) {
let gqlApp = express();
gqlApp.use(options.route, function(req, res, next) {
res.send('gqlServer 01');
// next();
});
gqlApp.listen(8001, err => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(`>> GQL Server running on 8001`);
});
}
function gqlServer_02(app, options) {
app.use(options.route, function(req, res, next) {
res.send('gqlServer 02');
// next();
});
}
// THIS SERVER ?
function server_A(config = {}) {
config = deepmerge(def_opt, config);
let app = express();
app.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
res.send('root');
// next();
});
class Server {
constructor(opt) {
this.opt = opt;
}
gql(props = {}) {
// THIS GQL SERVER ?
gqlServer_01({ route: '/gql-01' });
app.use('/gql-01', function(req, res) {
req.pipe(request(`http://localhost:8001/gql-01`)).pipe(res);
});
// OR THIS GQL SERVER ?
gqlServer_02(app, { route: '/gql-02' });
}
}
app.listen(8000, err => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(`>> Server running on 8000`);
});
return new Server(app, config);
}
// OR THIS SERVER ?
function server_B(config = {}) {
config = deepmerge(def_opt, config);
let app = express();
app.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
res.send('root');
// next();
});
app.gql = function(props = {}) {
// THIS GQL SERVER ?
gqlServer_01({ route: '/gql-01' });
app.use('/gql-01', function(req, res) {
req.pipe(request(`http://localhost:8001/gql-01`)).pipe(res);
});
// OR THIS GQL SERVER ?
gqlServer_02(app, { route: '/gql-02' });
};
app.listen(8000, err => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(`>> Server running on 8000`);
});
return app;
}
The goal is to have the best solution in order to create an npm package out of this and reuse the methods over several projects easily. The project was highly simplified for the sake of clarity.
I don't think you will have performance issues in any of these examples, so the question remains which of them is more modular.
If you are willing to make an npm package out of these, you shouldn't be calling express() inside your server code. Instead you should be passing the app as a parameter. This will allow you to reuse existing express apps initialized elsewhere. For this reason I would go for gqlServer_02
You also want to create a new server each time you call the module function, so I'd go with server_A for this reason. However it needs to receive the express app as parameter, in order to reuse existing express objects. I would also put the app.listen call inside a function in the Server class.
I am trying to set up a securitycheck middleware that will run on the routes i add it to.
Middleware
function SecurityCheckHelper(req, res, next){
apiKey = req.query.apiKey;
security.securityCheck(apiKey).then(function(result) {
res.locals.Security = result.securitycheck;
console.log(res.locals.Security);
});
return next(); // go to routes
};
Route
app.get('/settings', SecurityCheckHelper,function(req, res, next) {
console.log(res.locals);
});
Its relatively straight forward I'm trying to pass result.securitycheck (which return true/false) into the /settings route. However res.locals is returning an empty object
Your calling next before you have run your securityCheck.
IOW: the next middleware is getting processed before you securityCheck has finished processing. securityCheck is async,.
Placing your next inside your then, will wait until the securityCheck has finished.
eg.
function SecurityCheckHelper(req, res, next){
apiKey = req.query.apiKey;
security.securityCheck(apiKey).then(function(result) {
res.locals.Security = result.securitycheck;
console.log(res.locals.Security);
next();
});
};
You need to interface security check promise with the callback.
function SecurityCheckHelper(req, res, next){
apiKey = req.query.apiKey;
security.securityCheck(apiKey)
.then(function(result) {
res.locals.Security = result.securitycheck;
console.log(res.locals.Security);
return next();
})
.catch(err => next(err));
};
I'm developing a rest server on Node JS with Express.
I'm trying to wrap all my endpoints in try\catch block, so a central point of error will response back to the sender with details.
My problem that response (res instance) is alive for each of the endpoints methods, but I don't know how to make it global.
try {
app.get('/webhook', function (req, res) {
webhook.register(req, res);
});
app.get('/send', function (req, res) {
sendAutoMessage('1004426036330995');
});
app.post('/webhook/subscribe', function (req, res) {
webhook.subscribe("test");
});
app.post('/webhook/unsubscribe', function (req, res) {
webhook.unsubscribe("test");
});
} catch (error) {
//response to user with 403 error and details
}
There is a library (express-async-errors) which could suit your needs.
This enables you to write async route handlers without wrapping the statements in try/catch blocks and catch them with global error handler.
To make this work you must:
1. Install the express-async-errors package
2. Import package (before the routes)
3. Set up global express error handler
4. Write async route handlers (More info about this)
Example usage:
import express from 'express';
import 'express-async-errors';
const app = express();
// route handlers must be async
app.get('/webhook', async (req, res) => {
webhook.register(req, res);
});
app.get('/send', async (req, res) => {
sendAutoMessage('1004426036330995');
});
app.post('/webhook/subscribe', async (req, res) => {
webhook.subscribe("test");
});
app.post('/webhook/unsubscribe', async (req, res) => {
webhook.unsubscribe("test");
});
// Global error handler - route handlers/middlewares which throw end up here
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
// response to user with 403 error and details
});
try catch can not catch error asynchronously.
This will work:
app.get('/webhook', function (req, res) {
try {
//enter code here
} catch (error) {
// something here
}
});
But it is local and not the best way.
Good way is make error-handling middleware function. It is global. You need to define it after all app.use() and routes calls.
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
// This is error handler
});
You can send the html page with details of error to client as usual.
Also, by default, Express have built-in error handler. The error will be written to the client with stack trace (It does not work in production mode).
this kind of try catch will not catch errors when some third function is called do the best solution will use global exception handler
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
res.status(err.status || 500);
res.end();
});
also you have to use promises in your end point handlers
that will catch errors in any scope
I'm new to Express and trying to use middleware to handle a POST request. If I expose the endpoint, and make a request to the API, everything works fine.
Working Correctly
api/index.js
app.post('/api/endpoint', (req, res, next) => {
next();
});
server.js
app.use(function() {
console.log('hello'); // => hello
});
But when I try to replace the middleware function with a module that exports a function, the function never gets invoked.
Not Working
api/index.js
app.post('/api/endpoint', (req, res, next) => {
next();
});
server.js
const makeExternalRequest = require('./server/makeExternalRequest');
...
console.log(makeExternalRequest, typeof makeExternalRequest);
// => [Function] 'function'
app.use(makeExternalRequest);
server/makeExternalRequest.js
module.exports = function(err, req, res, next) {
console.log('hello', err);
}
The function in server/makeExternalRequest.js is never invoked, and nothing logs... Am I using app.use(...) incorrectly?
Express middleware requires three arguments, the third of which is a function you call when you're done to move the request along to the next handler:
module.exports = function (req, res, next) {
console.log('hello');
next();
};
Without calling the third parameter, your request will just remain pending and a response will never be sent. Also, be sure you call app.use before any handler that would return the response. If the response is sent first, then your middleware will never be reached.
I currently use 2 middlewares:
Express-jwt which extracts/validates a JsonWebToken from a request and my own middleware that checks that the JWT contains specific information (permissions).
I want to conditionally use those middlewares together (based on whether there's a specific swagger attribute on a route).
I want to do something like this:
let expressjwt = function(req, res, next) { ... };
let jwtValidator = function(req, res, next) { ... };
app.use((res, req, next) => {
if(req.swagger.someAttribute) {
expressjwt(req, res, jwtValidator(req, res, next));
// The issue here is that jwtValidator will get called even if
// expressjwt produces an error
} else {
next();
}
});
It sounds like the question is - "how do you conditionally call service B only if service A succeeds."
This is one of main goals of promises - it allows you to chain together async calls and have them conditionally "resolve." I can post a code sample if needed.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Promise
I ended up wrapping my first middleware in a Promise using Promise.fromCallback, from memory, something like this:
if (req.swagger.someAttribute) {
Promise.fromCallback(cb => expressjwt(req, res, cb))
.then(() => {
return jwtValidator(req, res, next);
})
.catch(next); // Or deal with the rejection
} else {
next();
}
Promise.fromCallback is useful because next() is only called with arguments if the middleware failed and thus will become promise.reject