variable is not defined inside http request in node and express

Question

In my express action get('items') I'm calling an external JSON-API and would like to render the API response in my local response.

Currently I get an error that my items variable is not defined inside of the http request. It seems this is a scope issue but I didn't find a solution.

What is the best way to accomplish this?

var http = require('http');

router.get('/items', function (req, res, next) {
    var items;

    var RemoteRequest = http.request({
        method: 'GET',
        path: 'myurl'
    }, function (response) {
        response.on('data', function (data) {
            items = JSON.parse(data);
        });
    });

    RemoteRequest .end();
    res.render('new', {items: items} );
    // or res.json({items: items});
});

possible duplicate of How to return the response from an asynchronous call? — Rodrigo Medeiros
– Rodrigo Medeiros, Commented May 4, 2015 at 14:17
res.render is getting called before the http request has a chance to get a response. You should put the res.render in the response.on(... function — Charlie Wynn
– Charlie Wynn, Commented May 4, 2015 at 14:17

DrCord · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-04 14:17:41Z

2

It looks like you are not waiting for the return from your http request, you need to move the res.render('new', {items: items} ); into the callback:

var http = require('http');

router.get('/items', function (req, res, next) {
    var items;

    var RemoteRequest = http.request({
        method: 'GET',
        path: 'myurl'
    }, function (response) {
        response.on('data', function (data) {
            items = JSON.parse(data);
            res.render('new', {items: items} );
            // or res.json({items: items});
        });
    });

    RemoteRequest .end();
});

answered May 4, 2015 at 14:17

DrCord

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2 Comments

crispychicken Over a year ago

Sometimes it works but sometimes I get unexpected end of input

DrCord Over a year ago

well now you have a completely different problem not appropriate to this question... try and resolve it and if you cannot post a new SO question.

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