How to use values between various Express routes

Question

I am new to Express and writing an application in node js. I am having problem in using the same parameters. My code is:

app.get('/signin', function (req, res) {
  renderView(req, res, 'signin.jade');
});

app.get('/config', function (req, res) {
  addOrUpdateGroupConfig(req.query.group_name, req.query.webhook_url);
  renderView(req, res, 'config.jade');
});

app.post('/config', function (req, res) {
..
}
function renderView(req, res, view, locals) {
  if (locals === undefined) {
    locals = {};
  }
  res.render(view, locals);
}

The sign in jade redirects to app.get(/config) and i am getting webhook_url and group_name. Now I am rendering a config jade page which has form post, after submit the control comes to app.post(/config) now the problem is i want the webhook_url and group_name here to store in database. SO how to pass those values in a good way ?

Answer 1

If the webhook_url and group_name values can't be put into the web page for security reasons, then the usual solution would be to create a session object and store it for that specific user in their session. Then, on the POST, you could get it out of that user's session. The express-session module is available to help you create a session object for each user. This is breaking with the usual stateless design of web pages so there'd have to be a really good reason to go this way.

Otherwise, the value should probably just be inserted into the form in a hidden field (by your renderer) so that when the POST happens, the value will be sent back with the form and you'll have everything you need in the POST data. That keeps your system entirely stateless which is good for a lot of reasons (simplicity, scalability, reliability, etc...).