Incorrect Express route triggered?

Question

I might be wording the question incorrectly...

I'm trying to make a url shortener using Node.js, Express, MongoDB (mongoose).

I've set it so that when the user loads the home page, they are redirected to the home page.

// horribly designed home page
app.get('/', function(req, res){
    res.render('index');
    res.end();
});

This part works. The user successfully sees the home page.

But then, I also have the following code:

// redirects to corresponding url
app.get('/:digits', function(req, res){
    console.log('getting full url from database');
}

Every time the user navigates to the home page (/), this path is also triggered and I see the 'getting full url from database' in the console.

Why is this?

Browser is sending request for `/favicon.ico` and hence the `/:digits` path is also triggered. Send curl request to your home page like `curl http://localhost:3000/` and you will see that `/:digits` route is not triggered. — dikesh, Dec 17 '16 at 05:58

Rayee Roded · Answer 1 · 2016-12-19T20:09:06.747

1

Check out this section on Route parameters:

This request URL:

http://localhost:3000/users/34/books/8989

will be routed to this path:

/users/:userId/books/:bookId

and the req.params object will be

{ "userId": "34", "bookId": "8989" }

In your case: when I tried it in chrome I got req.params.digits as 'favicon.ico' .

Which means the browser is making two requests:

The second request is why the route is triggered.

You can try adding console.log code to see what your browser is sending

app.get('/:digits', function(req, res){
    console.log('getting full url from database');
    console.log(req.params.digits);
});

You can also use 'developer options' (Chrome), firebug (Firefox) to verify.

edited Dec 19 '16 at 20:09

answered Dec 17 '16 at 02:04

Rayee Roded

Hmm, this is weird. I can't figure out why req.params.digits would be 'favicon.ico' – Human Cyborg Relations Dec 17 '16 at 02:20
I also still can't figure out why app.get(/:digits) is triggered every time the browser makes a request for the home page – Human Cyborg Relations Dec 17 '16 at 02:21
The request is for /favicon.ico which is the webiste icon. It is triggered based on my explanation. – Rayee Roded Dec 17 '16 at 20:08
Just for reference, if you don't want your browser to do the favicon request you can follow this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1321878/how-to-prevent-favicon-ico-requests/13416784#13416784 – Rayee Roded Jan 09 '17 at 19:23

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 17 '16 at 02:24

0

I'm looking through your code, and I think you may be missing a couple of things.

Do you have a 'views' folders setup? By using res.render, express is expecting to render a 'view' from the 'views' folder with the 'ejs' view engine.

I've found that without having that folder explicitly defined within my structure to be a problem when it comes to routing.

answered Dec 17 '16 at 02:24

Brian Zhou

Yes, I do have a views folder with index.ejs inside. Sorry, should have mentioned that in the original post – Human Cyborg Relations Dec 17 '16 at 02:29
Not sure if this helps... but have you tried commenting out the res.end() after your res.render() statement? – Brian Zhou Dec 17 '16 at 02:40
Not sure if this helps... but have you tried commenting out the res.end() after your res.render() statement? Not sure if it will help... but I'd also check to see how you are rendering your static files. i.e. app.use('/static', express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public'))) https://expressjs.com/en/starter/static-files.html – Brian Zhou Dec 17 '16 at 02:42

2 Answers2