CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptajaxexpressfrontendbackend
asker
asker

Reputation: 23

Send data to frontend expressjs

I'm using Nodejs, expressjs, sqlite3.

I have managed to get my data from database and route using expressjs, this is all in a js file called server.js

Now I want to send/use the data I have extracted in the front end.

I tried to have a global variable and use that global variable in other js files but that didn't work. After some research, I see AJAX most of the time. Do I need to use AJAX to send my data from backend to frontend?

The idea is to update frontend based on what product the user selects. I get the product data in server js, I don't know how to send it to frontend to fill in tables and change name of product based on the data on the database.

Also, should I continue and see if saving/using my data in a global variable works? Thanks.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 8115

Answers (3)

Atiq Ur Rehman
Atiq Ur Rehman

Reputation: 240

Use a WebSocket

WebSocket is probably the way to go: https://socket.io/

from backend you just need to emit the payload

Upvotes: 0

Splitty
Splitty

Reputation: 637

AJAX is a great way to request data from the back end without triggering a full page reload. However it adds a layer of complexity that it doesn't sound like you need. Since you're using express you get access to a templating engine out of the box that can handle this for you.

The express response object has a render method where you specify the template to use, and the data to send to the template. Some pseudo code for you:

// server.js
app.get('someroute',(req,res,next)=>{
    //get data from DB, returns promise
    return db.getData().then((data)=>{
        return res.render('myTableTemplate',data);
    });
});

In the template file, you would populate the table with the JSON data appropriately.

If you are using a client side JS library (react, vue, angular, etc.) you can skip res.render(...) and simply res.json(data)

Upvotes: 2

Michele Da Rin
Michele Da Rin

Reputation: 287

You should create RESTful APIs to do what you want. This means you have to use AJAX and you can't work with global varibles.

Upvotes: 0

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