How to use Node.js to read data from a json file and display the read data into html?

Question

I am a complete newbie and just did something like this:

    var fs = require('fs');
    var file = __dirname + '/data.json';
    var http = require ('http');
    var server = http.createServer(function (req, res){
    res.writeHead(200);

    fs.readFile(file, 'utf8', function (err, data) {
            if (err) {
            console.log('Error: ' + err);
            return;
            }

    data = JSON.parse(data);

    res.end(data);
    });


    });
        server.listen(8000);

When I am doing:

    data = JSON.parse(data);
    console.dir(data);

Instead of

    data = JSON.parse(data);
    res.end(data);

It is able to display the data I have in .json on the console. However when I am trying to create a server and post the data using res.end, it doesn't really work.

Could someone offer some insights? Is it because the "data" I have here is only an object? How should I process the data I get from .json in order to use for my html?

It's already JSON on disk. No need to parse. res.end needs a buffer or a string, not an object. — generalhenry
– generalhenry, Commented Jul 9, 2014 at 23:25

Chad Scira · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-09 23:37:15Z

2

The http module doesn't support Objects as a response (it supports buffers or a strings) so you have to do this:

res.end(JSON.stringify(data));

however if used express you could do this

res.send(data);

edited Jul 9, 2014 at 23:37

answered Jul 9, 2014 at 23:25

Chad Scira

9,8893 gold badges59 silver badges51 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

generalhenry · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-09 23:27:13Z

2

Since the file is already in the right format, you can simply pipe it to the response.

var fs = require('fs');
var file = __dirname + '/data.json';
var http = require ('http');
var server = http.createServer(function (req, res){
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'application/json'});
  fs.createReadStream(file, 'utf8').pipe(res);
});
server.listen(8000);

answered Jul 9, 2014 at 23:27

generalhenry

17.3k4 gold badges51 silver badges63 bronze badges

2 Comments

user3669481 Over a year ago

This is great! But I was looking for the stringify function. Thank you still

Chad Scira Over a year ago

this is the correct way to do it if you wanted to simply output a file

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to use Node.js to read data from a json file and display the read data into html?

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related