Node request external API within local get request

I'm trying provide the response of an external API call when I perform a local GET request but struggling with how to get this to work.

My code at the moment is:

app.get('/', function(req, res){
request.post('http://data.fixer.io/api/latest?access_key=' + apikey +
'&symbols=gbp', function(err, res, body) {
console.log(body)
})
res.render('index')
})


My knowledge and experience with callbacks and async programming is limited, but how do I pass the response of the request POST into the GET request to then pass it to the index?

Thanks!

2 Answers
2

Callbacks can be difficult to understand, and the problem you describe isn't uncommon (it even has a name - Callback Hell). Partly the reason why Node introduced the async / await syntax - here's the equivalent of your code in that style

async

await

app.get('/', async (req, res, next) => {
try {
const uri = `http://data.fixer.io/api/latest?access_key=${apikey}&symbols=gbp`;
const data = await request.post(uri);
return res.render('index', { data }); // or pass whatever you need from `data` into the view
} catch (e) {
return next(e);
}
}


Notice the one big difference? No callbacks and you get all the same benefits of asynchronous code with bonus of writing code in a synchronous style.

You can chain calls in Express, so it's very easy to call an external service within a GET request, e.g.

app.get('/', function(req, res){
request.post('http://data.fixer.io/api/latest?access_key=' + apikey + '&symbols=gbp', function(err, response, body) {
console.log(body)
res.send(body);
})
})


In this case we're sending back the raw response from the POST, it is easy to wrap this in another object, e.g.

res.send( { status: 'ok', post_result: body });


Thanks, got it working, just had to rename the res in the post request to response
– LewMoore
Jun 29 at 9:25

Yes, you're correct!, apologies, I'll update..
– Terry Lennox
Jun 29 at 9:32

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