How to make these two similar blocks codes reusable?

Question

I have two similar codes and I think it could be reusable but not sure where to start. If you can show me and example or link me to an article that would be fine.

I have this one block that updates a user info.

exports.updateUser = function(req, res, next) {
    User.findById(req.params.id, function(err, user) {
        if (err) {
            return next(err);
        }
        user.email = req.body.email || '';
        user.firstname = req.body.firstname || '';
        user.lastname = req.body.lastname || '';

        user.save(function(err) {
            if (err) {
                return next(err);
            }
            req.flash('success', {
                msg: 'User information updated.'
            });
            res.redirect('/users');
        });
    });
};

and this block that updates my user account info.

exports.updateAccount = function(req, res, next) {
    User.findById(req.user.id, function(err, user) {
        if (err) {
            return next(err);
        }
        user.email = req.body.email || '';
        user.firstname = req.body.firstname || '';
        user.lastname = req.body.lastname || '';

        user.save(function(err) {
            if (err) {
                return next(err);
            }
            req.flash('success', {
                msg: 'Profile information updated.'
            });
            res.redirect('/account');
        });
    });
};

How can I make a reusable update.

There is a similar question answered at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2608913/how-can-i-write-reusable-javascript that should be helpful. — Bronwen, Apr 01 '15 at 21:20

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 01 '15 at 21:18

3

Looks like there are only 2 things that differ, and they are strings. Pass them in as parameters.

exports.updateAccount = function(req, res, next, path, message) { //add 2 parameters
    User.findById(req.user.id, function(err, user) {
        if (err) {
            return next(err);
        }
        user.email = req.body.email || '';
        user.firstname = req.body.firstname || '';
        user.lastname = req.body.lastname || '';

        user.save(function(err) {
            if (err) {
                return next(err);
            }
            req.flash('success', {
                msg: message //message param
            });
            res.redirect(path); //path param
        });
    });
};

answered Apr 01 '15 at 21:18

Sterling Archer

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3, user's id differ too. – fdglefevre Apr 01 '15 at 21:20
@FLefèvre those are both part of the `req` parameter – Sterling Archer Apr 01 '15 at 21:22
Oh yeah, nevermind. I was thinking about creating an external function that take id, message, and path in argument. So I mixed all... – fdglefevre Apr 01 '15 at 21:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '15 at 21:38

You can create a generic flow, and bind with specific parameters, like below

function updateUser(message, url, req, res, next ){

    var body = req.body;

    User.findById(req.params.rid, function(err, user) {
        if (err) {
            return next(err);
        }

        user.email = body.email || '';
        user.firstname = body.firstname || '';
        user.lastname = body.lastname || '';

        user.save(function(err) {
            if (err) {
                return next(err);
            }
            req.flash('success', {
                msg: message
            });
            res.redirect(url);
        });
    });

}

exports.updateUser = updateUser.bind(this, "User information updated.", "/users");
exports.updateAccount = updateUser.bind(this, "Profile information updated.", "/account");

How to make these two similar blocks codes reusable?

2 Answers2