Query MongoDB with Custom URL filters

Question

Creating an API for various different displays. Would like to retrieve all the displays in the database and then pass custom query strings to then filter down further. Been researching all day on how to do this and nothing has made complete sense or wasn't able to get it to work completely as expected.

A Sample URL: localhost:3000/api/v1/displays?hdmi=true&hdmi_version=1.2. In theory these custom queries could range from all different specifications displays have that include different values (strings, booleans, and integers).

Technologies

Express: 4.13.4
Node: 5.6.0
MongoDB (local): 3.2.4
Angular: 1.5, will be eventual front end but just trying to build the API and use POSTman

Database:

[
  {
    "_id": "572be4122847a355994a07d9",
    "series": "meh-monitor",
    "hdmi": false,
    "hdmi_version": "",
    "vga": true,
    "resolution": "1366x768"
  },
  {
    "_id": "572be4122847a355994a07da",
    "series": "ok-monitor",
    "hdmi": true,
    "hdmi_version": "1.0",
    "vga": true,
    "resolution": "1920x1080"
  },
  {
    "_id": "572be4122847a355994a07db",
    "series": "good-monitor",
    "hdmi": true,
    "hdmi_version": "1.2",
    "vga": false,
    "resolution": "2560x1440"
  }
]

Express - server.js

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var path = require('path');
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

var mongojs = require('mongojs');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var db = mongojs('products', ['displays']);
var apiVersion = "v1";

So I can get all the displays with:

app.get('/'+apiVersion+'/displays', function(req, res){
  db.displays.find(function(err,docs){
    if(err){
      res.send(err);
    }
    else{
      return res.json(docs);
    }
  });
});

OR get specific displays with id parameter:

// GET ONE ENTRY
app.get('/'+apiVersion+'/displays/:id', function(req,res){
  db.displays.findOne({_id:mongojs.ObjectID(req.params.id)},function(err,doc){
    if(err){
      res.send(err);
    }
    else{
      return res.json(doc);
    }
  });
});

The issue is just passing custom parameters. Tried to use mongo-querystring which kind of worked but, was unable to filter by hdmi_version=#.# or resolution=####x####. Also the documentation examples weren't completely clear to me.

Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Rahat Mahbub · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-06 06:14:20Z

1

You can get parameters via req.query.paramName. Query the db as shown.

So, for something like: localhost:3000/api/v1/displays?hdmi=true&hdmi_version=1.2&resolution=1920x1080

Since the URL parameters, may or may not exist, you also have to check first.

app.get('/'+apiVersion+'/displays', function(req,res){

  //To print the parameters
  console.log(req.query.hdmi);
  console.log(req.query.resolution);

  //Remember to sanitize the query before passing it to db
  var query = {};
  if (req.query.resolution) query.resolution = req.query.resolution;
  if (req.query.resolution) query.hdmi = req.query.hdmi;

  db.displays.find(query, function(err, displays){
    if (err) {
      res.send(err);
    }
    else {
      return res.json(displays);
    }
  });
});

edited May 6, 2016 at 6:14

answered May 6, 2016 at 6:05

Rahat Mahbub

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3 Comments

wsfuller Over a year ago

Thanks for getting me pointed in the right direction this is extremely helpful. Noticed that this doesn't parse booleans correctly. for http//...?hdmi=true it's looking to find the string value {hdmi: 'true'}, is that an accurate assumption?

Rahat Mahbub Over a year ago

yes, since it has no way of differentiating any data type from the url param. var myBool = Boolean(param); to convert

wsfuller Over a year ago

Thanks for clarifying, makes sense. Thanks again for the answer.

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