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Node JS Express how can I send a 404 error if a bad request is made to third party API?

In my Node JS server I have this route handler that sends a request to a third party API to get a username:
app.get('/players/:player', apiLimiter, function(request, response) {
const player = request.params.player;
const api_url = `https://api.com/shards/steam/players?filter[playerNames]=${player}`;
var options = {
method: "GET",
observe: 'body',
};
let apiRequest = https.request(api_url, options, function (res) {
let data = "";
res.on("data", chunk => {
data += chunk;
})
res.on("end", () => {
let objectParsed = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(data));
response.send(objectParsed);
})
if(!player) {
res.status(404).send("Not found.");
}
})
apiRequest.end();
})
This works fine to get a user that exists. However, if I put in a fake username to my /players page, that page still loads with a 200 status instead of getting a 404 response. The page loads and looks broken because it's not actually getting any data from the API.
I feel like this is a dumb question .. In my research I have found how to handle errors if it's just the route, and not if it's the route dependent on the path parameter as in /players/:player
I found a question that was similar to mine (How to throw a 404 error in express.js?) and I tried using an If statement: if (!player){res.status(404).send("Not found."); } but no dice. Am I using this if statement in the wrong place?
How can I get my Node JS server to respond with a 404 if the user from the database doesn't exist?

You have to check the result of the API call and see if you got valid data back and send the 404 there. I also added a check to make sure something was passed for the player name and send back a 400 (bad request) if there's no player specified at all:
app.get('/players/:player', apiLimiter, function(request, response) {
const player = request.params.player;
if (!player) {
res.status(400).send("No player specified.");
return;
}
const api_url = `https://api.com/shards/steam/players?filter[playerNames]=${player}`;
var options = {
method: "GET",
observe: 'body',
};
let apiRequest = https.request(api_url, options, function(res) {
let data = "";
res.on("data", chunk => {
data += chunk;
})
res.on("end", () => {
let objectParsed = JSON.parse(data);
// test objectParsed here
if (!some condition in objectParsed) {
res.status(404).send("No data for that player name.");
} else {
response.send(objectParsed);
}
});
});
apiRequest.end();
});
Also, you don't want JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(data)) here. Your data is already a string. Just do JSON.parse(data).
FYI, if you use a small http request library such as got(), this code gets a lot simpler as it accumulates the response and parses the JSON for you in one line of code as in:
let data = await got(options).json()

Sent a POST request with JS, and handling the data with Node

I'm adding a contact me section to a website. I want to be able to send the data from the forms with JS, and then receive and do something with the data with Node. I understand that there are frameworks and libraries that can handle this stuff, but I would like to build it from scratch so that I have a better understanding of what is happening.
I currently have a section of JS (see below) that is taking the form data, and sending it as a POST request to the node script, but I can't seem to wrap my head around what is happening with node, or how to receive the data with the node script. Any help in pointing me in the right direction is greatly appreciated.
const name = $(".name");
const email = $(".email");
const message = $(".message");
const submitButton = $(".submitButton");
const nameRegex = /([a-zA-Z\s-])/g;
const emailRegex = /^(([^<>()\[\]\\.,;:\s#"]+(\.[^<>()\[\]\\.,;:\s#"]+)*)|(".+"))#((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$/g;
const messageRegex = /([a-zA-Z\s.,?!$%&])/gm;
const url = "../node/contactMeSubmissionHandler.js"
submitButton.click(function(){
let nameContents = name.val().match(nameRegex).join("");
let emailContents = email.val().match(emailRegex).join("");
let messageContents = message.val().match(messageRegex).join("");
// if (emailRegex.test(emailContents) == true) {
// let emailValid = emailContents;
// } else {
// console.log("Email is invalid");
// };
const data = {
email: emailContents,
name: nameContents,
message: messageContents
}
$.post(url, data, function(data, status){
console.log(`${data} and status is ${status}`);
})
})

I like to write from scratch too. Here is working code which is called from a command line to get a token.
// clientEx.js
var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');
const _SERVER = "dcsmail.net"; /* dcsmail.net */
// Callback function is used to deal with response
//
var callback = function (response)
{
// update stream with data
var body = '';
response.on('data', function(data) {
body += data;
});
response.on ('end', function()
{
// Data received completely.
fs.writeFileSync ("temp.lst", body, 'utf8');
// console.log ("clientEx.js received: " + body);
});
}
if ((process.argv[2] == null) || (process.argv[3] == null) || (process.argv[4] == null) || (process.argv[5] == null))
{
console.log ("clientEx.js usage:<user email> <user password> <destination> <GUID>");
}
else
{
var Ef_email = encodeURI (process.argv[2]);
var Ef_pass = encodeURI (process.argv[3]);
var Ef_dest = encodeURI (process.argv[4]);
var Ef_guid = encodeURI (process.argv[5]);
var post_data = ("f_email=" + Ef_email +
"\&" + "f_pass=" + Ef_pass +
"\&" + "f_dest=" + Ef_dest +
"\&" + "f_guid=" + Ef_guid);
// Options to be used by request
var options = {
host: _SERVER,
port: '80',
path: '/DCSM/tokenP10.php',
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength (post_data)
}
};
// console.log ("clientEx.js using " + _SERVER + ":" + options.port + options.path);
// request the token from the host
try
{
var req = http.request (options, callback);
req.write (post_data);
req.end();
}
catch (error)
{
fs.writeFileSync ("temp.lst", "Host access failed\n", 'utf8');
}
}
You should be able to adapt that to your needs.

Use this code to create a server and check the log in console for different request attributes.
const http = require('http');
http
.createServer((request, response) => {
console.log(request);
response.end();
})
.listen(3000);
Make GET and POST request to http://localhost:3000/ and look for method, headers etc.
See more here and here.

Angular with hapi js server jsonp

I have an endpoint defined at /api/profile which accepts post parameters.
var http = require('http');
var serverConfig = require('../server.config.js');
var request = require('request');
module.exports = function(server){
server.route({
method: 'POST',
path: '/api/profile',
handler: getProfileData
});
function getProfileData(request, reply){
var battleTag = request.payload.battleTag;
getProfileDataHttp(battleTag, function(err, data){
if(err){
reply(new Error(err));
}
reply(data);
});
}
function getProfileDataHttp(battleTag, callback){
var key = serverConfig.battleNet.apiKey;
var tag = encodeURIComponent(battleTag);
var url = 'https://eu.api.battle.net/d3/profile/'+ tag + '/?locale=en_GB&callback=JSON_CALLBACK&apikey=' + key;
console.log(url);
request(url,function(error, response, body){
if(error){
callback(err);
}
if(!error && response.statusCode ==200){
callback(null, body);
}
});
}
};
it is calling an api with a json callback, when I am receiving the data it is in format:
JSON_CALLBACK({ json data here})
how can I get this endpoint to return just the json data, I have tried JSON.parse() but it causes errors in the server.
the angular service that calls this endpoint is like below:
function getProfileData(battleTag){
var defer = $q.defer();
var tag = validTag(battleTag);
if(!tag){
defer.reject('Invalid Tag please use format 1[a-z]11[a-z0-9]#4[0-9]');
return defer.promise;
}
$http.post('/api/profile', {
battleTag: battleTag
})
.success(function(data){
if(data.reason){
defer.resolve(data.reason);
}
defer.resolve(data);
})
.error(function(err){
defer.reject(err);
});
return defer.promise;
}
the call would work when using $http.jsonp in angular however I had to create the server to hide the secret key from the client

Your question is a bit confusing. You are talking about JSONP, but you want to fetch the data directly.
The whole point of JSONP is to return the data encapsulated inside a function that you choose. You then simply have to execute it.
If you want the data in a direct way, don't use JSONP. Simply do a "normal" call.
After having a quick look at the Battle.net API, it seems that to get the data directly, you should simply omit the 'callback' parameter in the URL of your request.
Thus, your request URL would looks like that:
var url = 'https://eu.api.battle.net/d3/profile/'+ tag + '/?locale=en_GB&apikey=' + key;

Node Express pass variable from client to server

I am trying to return value from an input box to a variable in route, by taking this source as a reference but am stuck, in the example author is searching a keyword, constructing a url using this keyword, and returning a body response.
My use case is a little different I need user to provide a url as a string in search box, which I would then pass to my request function to spit response body
Current app.js (server-side)
app.get('/searching', function(req, res){
// input value from search
var url = req.query.search;
console.log(url); // prints value
request({ uri: url}, function (error, response, body) {
if (!error) {
content = body;
console.log(content);
} else {
console.log('Oops! Error when contacting slack.com');
}
});
res.send(content);
});
main.js (client-side)
$(function(){
$('#submit').on( 'click', function () {
var sSearch = $('#search').val();
var parameters = { search: sSearch };
$.get( '/searching',parameters, function(data) {
$('#results').html(data);
});
});
});
I realize /searching in both above files must be replaced because currently its trying to 'search' the user entered url value as a query string, so if I enter "https://google.com" in the text box the application tries to search:
http://localhost:3000/searching?search=https%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com
instead I need it to pass this url as is to the request function so that I can print the body response, which in this case would be the page's source code. But am not sure how should I proceed
index.jade (template)
extends layout
block content
input#search(type="search", placeholder="Enter Keyword")
button#submit(type='submit',class='btn btn-success') Search
h2#results
script(src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.3/jquery.min.js")
script(src="/javascripts/main.js")
How should I format so that I can pass the variable from client to server and then send it back to client after processing? Any help is appreciated.

In the app.js you are making a async http call, but the response is sent before the http callback is invoked. Just move the res.send(content); inside the call back
app.get('/searching', function(req, res){
// input value from search
var url = req.query.search;
console.log(url); // prints value
request({ uri: url}, function (error, response, body) {
if (!error) {
content = body;
console.log(content);
} else {
console.log('Oops! Error when contacting slack.com');
}
res.send(content);
});
});

i see ajax request in your client code , so in your server code, try to response something like this :
res.status(200).json(content)
in your client code ,check if the content is there (console.log(data) before $().html(data)... )
PD : request is async , so you have to response inside request callback.

How do I know which request belongs to what partial data in node.js

I have the node.js server below. Suppose that multiple clients make a POST request. But these will share the same variable body and the final string will become meaningless. Is is possible to identify a request by id or something? All I have is request.headers, but that does not contain any unique information.
var http = require("http");
var server = http.createServer();
server.on("request", onRequest);
server.listen(8001, "127.0.0.1");
function onRequest(request, response) // assuming "POST"
{
var body = "";
request.on("data", function (data) { body = body + data; });
request.on("end", function () { console.log(body); });
}

Functions in general inherit scopes (from their parents), so each body variable will be correctly concatenated for each request.