NodeJS request not giving any response in AWS Lambda

Question

I am using NodeJS request module to pass a JSON request to a URL and generate a JSON response from it. I tried this code and it generates a valid response. I am pasting the link for a StackOverflow question I asked for the same.

NodeJS Request returning an empty array inside a JSON response

However, when I utilize the same logic in AWS Lambda, there is no response at all from the module. Since there is no response at all, I cannot understand what the problem is.

This is the handling function for the AWS Lambda with Alexa as a trigger.

'use strict';

var request = require('request');

var accountNumberRequest = {};
var balanceResponse = {};
const url = "https://ibluatapig.indusind.com/app/uat/balinq/AccountEnquiry?client_id=6867b781-9b21-45c5-9c55-948f7cd1a33f&client_secret=hP3yB3hM2oH4pH4hM1kV3uY8vR3qV7jY8cF6bG2sF5jX8lT1vN";
var bal = {};
exports.handler = function (event,context) {
    try{
        console.log("Try Started");
        var req = event.request;
        console.log("Request Generated");
        if(req.type === "LaunchRequest") {
            console.log("Launch Request! Calling handleLaunchRequest");
            handleLaunchRequest(context);
        } else if(req.type === "IntentRequest") {
            console.log("IntentRequest");
            let options = {};
            console.log(0);
            if(req.intent.name === "BalanceIntent") {
            console.log("Balance Intent");
                //Got the account number from Alexa request
                let accNo = req.intent.slots.AccountNumber.value;
                console.log(accNo);
                accountNumberRequest = {
                    "AERequest":{
                        "serviceType":"BE",
                        "deviceId":"Test",
                        "accountId":accNo
                        }
                };
                console.log(accountNumberRequest);
                console.log("Calling NodeJS.Request");
                request({
                    url: url,
                    method: "POST",
                    json: true,
                    header: {
                        "content-type": "application/json",
                    },
                    body: accountNumberRequest
                    }, 
                    function(error, response,body){
                        if(!error && response.statusCode === 200){
                            console.log(body.AEResponse.AcctBal[1].BalAmt);
                        } else {
                            //options.speechText = `The account <say-as interepret-as = "digits">${accNo}</say-as> does not exist`;
                            console.log("error: "+error);
                            console.log("response.statusCode"+response.statusCode);
                            console.log("response.statusText"+response.statusText);
                        }
                    }
                );
                console.log("Balance Response should be assigned by now");
                console.log(bal);


                /* if(accountNumbers.hasOwnProperty(accNo)) {
                    var balance = accountNumbers[accNo];
                    accountExists = true;
                }
                if(accountExists == true){
                    options.speechText = `The balance of account number <say-as interpret-as = "digits">${accNo}</say-as> is <say-as interpret-as = "cardinal">${balance}</say-as>`;
                } else {
                    options.speechText = `The account <say-as interepret-as = "digits">${accNo}</say-as> does not exist`;
                }*/
                context.succeed(buildResponse(options));
            }
        } else if(req.type === "SessionEndedRequest") {
            //Code here
        } else {
            throw("Unknown Intent Type");
        }

    } catch(e){
        context.fail("Exception "+e);
    }
};
function getBalance(){
    //Code to parse the JSON response and extract values from the response.
    }

function handleLaunchRequest(context){
//Code for handling launch requests    }

function buildResponse(options){
    //Code for generating response
}

Answer 1

This is the problem...

// You're sending an asynchronous HTTP request here.
request();
// But you sent the response here without waiting for the above request to finish.
context.succeed();

Basically, you're executing context.succeed() before request() finishes. So you're basically ending your Lambda invocation without the response from that HTTP request.

To fix your code, put the context.succeed() inside the callback that you pass to the request() call.

P.S.

You should be using callback instead of the deprecated context.succeed()/context.fail() API.