Node.js GET request

Question

I'm making an API and in one of my GET methods i need to make a GET request to another API. In order to do that first i need to select the url depending on a parameter in the route. My code is something like this:

const express = require('express');
const request = require('request');

const router = express.Router();

router.get('/get/:keyword?', (req,res) =>{

        let keyword = req.params.keyword;
        
        let url;
        if(keyword == ""){
            url = 'some string';
        }else{
            url = 'another string';
        }

        request(url, {json:true}, (error, response, body) => {
            if(error){
                res.send("Something went wrong");
            }else{
                res.send(body);
            }
        });

});

However, i'm getting an error like if the "if" block is being ignored. I read some sites and I believe it's because the request function is asynchronous, but I don't know how i can solve it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

As you've mentioned the request you are making is asynchronous you need to handle it within an async function because you don't know when it resolves.

router.get('/get/:keyword?', async (req,res) => {
    let keyword = req.params.keyword;
    
    let url;
    if(keyword === "") {
        url = 'some string';
    } else {
        url = 'another string';
    }

    try {
      const res = await request(url, {json:true});
      res.send(res)
    } catch(err) {
      console.log(err)
    }
});

or you can use .then() style to handle the promises if you don't want to use async..await syntax

router.get('/get/:keyword?', (req,res) => {

    let keyword = req.params.keyword;
    
    let url;
    if(keyword === ""){
        url = 'some string';
    }else{
        url = 'another string';
    }

    request(url, {json:true}).then(res => {
       // do something with the result
       res.send(res.json())
     }).then(err => console.log(err))
});

Answer 2

May it be because you forgot to close the function with the ')' at the end of the router.get? like

router.get('/get/:keyword?', (req,res) => {

        let keyword = req.params.keyword;
        
        let url;
        if(keyword == ""){
            url = 'some string';
        }else{
            url = 'another string';
        }

        request(url, {json:true}, (error, response, body) => {
            if(error){
                res.send("Something went wrong");
            }else{
                res.send(body);
            }
        });

}); // <--- here you missed the ')'