Express/Mongoose - can't display data

Question

I am trying to wrap my head around defining and using an API in Express, using Mongoose to hook up with MongoDB. So far I am saving objects just fine form input on the front end. However, I seem to be lost when it comes down to retrieving and displaying the data I've saved.

Here is some code:

db.js:

const mongoose = require('mongoose');

//mongoose setup
mongoose.connect(mongooseUrl, { useNewUrlParser: true });
var db = mongoose.connection;
db.on('error', console.error.bind(console, 'connection error:'));
db.once('open', function() {
  console.log('mongoose connected to ' + mongooseUrl);
});

module.exports = db;

app.js:

var createError = require('http-errors');
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var logger = require('morgan');

// import routers
var indexRouter = require('./routes/index');
var usersRouter = require('./routes/users');
var apiRouter = require('./routes/api');


var app = express();

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'hbs');

app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));

app.use('/', indexRouter);
app.use('/users', usersRouter);
app.use('/api', apiRouter);

// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
  next(createError(404));
});

// error handler
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
  // set locals, only providing error in development
  res.locals.message = err.message;
  res.locals.error = req.app.get('env') === 'development' ? err : {};

  // render the error page
  res.status(err.status || 500);
  res.render('error');
});

module.exports = app;

/routes/api.js:

var express = require('express');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var db = require('../config/db.js');
var Kitten = require('../models/kitten.js');

var router = express.Router();

/* GET home page. */
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
  res.render('api', { 
    title: 'Test API',
    content: 'you\'re in the right place',
    buttontext: 'send POST request'
  });
});

router.post('/newKitten', function(req, res, next) {
    var kitty = new Kitten({
        name: req.body.name,
        color: req.body.color
    });
    console.log("new kitty: " + kitty.name + " color: " + kitty.color );
    kitty.save().then(console.log(kitty + " was saved to the database"));
    res.send('new: ' + kitty);

});

router.get('/kittens', function (req, res, next)  {
    var kittens = Kitten.find({}, 'name color');
    res.render('kittens', {title: 'Kittens', list_kittens: kittens });
});

module.exports = router;

models/kitten.js

const mongoose = require('mongoose');

var Schema = mongoose.Schema;

var kittenSchema = new Schema({
    name: String,
    color: String
});

var Kitten = mongoose.model("Kitten", kittenSchema);


module.exports = Kitten;

views/kitten.hbs:

<h1>{{title}}</h1>

<ul>
    {{#each list_kittens as |kitten|}}
        <li>name: {{kitten.name}}, color: {{kitten.color}}</li>
    {{/each}}
</ul>

Now with all that laid out, when I visit http://localhost:3000/api/kittens this is what I see:

The kittens are stored in MongoDB, proof:

I have no idea why this is not rendering the kittens I have saved in my MongoDB database... The data is there, but I seem to be confused about how mongoose is supposed to be querying the data. Any and all help is appreciated. I've been stuck on this for a few days.

Answer 1

Model.find returns a promise. You have to add a function then to get the kittens and render them:

Kitten.find(...)
  .then(kittens => {
    res.render(...)
  })

EDIT

Based on @Francisco Mateo comment, Kitten.find returns a Query you can execute with exec. Here is the code:

Kitten.find(...).exec()
  .then(kittens => {
    res.render(...)
  })

Answer 2

In routes/api.js

var express = require('express');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var db = require('../config/db.js');
var Kitten = require('../models/kitten.js');

var router = express.Router();

/* GET home page. */
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
  res.render('api', { 
    title: 'Test API',
    content: 'you\'re in the right place',
    buttontext: 'send POST request'
  });
});

router.post('/newKitten', function(req, res, next) {
    var kitty = new Kitten({
        name: req.body.name,
        color: req.body.color
    });
    console.log("new kitty: " + kitty.name + " color: " + kitty.color );
    kitty.save().then(console.log(kitty + " was saved to the database"));
    res.send('new: ' + kitty);

});

router.get('/kittens', async function (req, res, next)  {  **//Change here**
    var kittens = await Kitten.find({}, 'name color');     **//change here** 
    res.render('kittens', {title: 'Kittens', list_kittens: kittens });
});

module.exports = router;

The Kitten.find({}, 'name color') is returning a promise , so you have to wait until the data is returned.