Async/Await not waiting before running next code

Question

I am trying to get the following code to work. Essentially what it does, or is supposed to is:

1. Generate a random string
2. Check the database if that string exists
3. If it does, regenerate a string and check it again
4. Once it is unique, return it

function randomString(length) {
  return crypto.randomBytes(length).toString("hex");
}

const generateReferralCode = async (length) => {
  logInfo('GENERATING REFERRAL CODE');
  const referralCode = randomString(length);
  const queryString = "SELECT * FROM referrals WHERE ReferralCode = " + mysql.escape(referralCode);

  logInfo("VALIDATING UNIQUE REFERRAL CODE");
  selectFromDB(queryString).then(function (returnedData) {
    if (returnedData.length != 0) {
      logWarning("REFERRAL CODE ALREADY EXISTS, REGENERATING...");
      generateReferralCode(length);
    } else {
      return referralCode;
    };
  });
};

let generatedCode = await generateReferralCode(10);
console.log(generatedCode);

However, console.log is always returning undefined and not waiting for the await to finish.

I have tried a few different ways to make this work including using promises but cannot get it to properly work. I have also tried adding awaits to all calls to function but no go.

Answer 1

You forgot to actually use await

function randomString(length) {
  return crypto.randomBytes(length).toString("hex");
}

const generateReferralCode = async (length) => {
  logInfo('GENERATING REFERRAL CODE');
  const referralCode = await randomString(length);
  const queryString = "SELECT * FROM referrals WHERE ReferralCode = " + mysql.escape(referralCode);

  logInfo("VALIDATING UNIQUE REFERRAL CODE");
  const returnedData = await selectFromDB(queryString)
  if (returnedData.length != 0) {
    logWarning("REFERRAL CODE ALREADY EXISTS, REGENERATING...");
    return generateReferralCode(length);
  } else {
    return referralCode;
  };
};

let generatedCode = await generateReferralCode(10);
console.log(generatedCode);