How to invoke app.js function from html page in expressjs?

Question

I want to invoke function init() { // } present in app.js from html page from

<a href='javascript:init();'> invoke init </a>

The problem with the above code is, that it looks for function init() only at the client side, whereas I want to invoke function init() at the express server app.js.

Jonathan Lonowski · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-23 10:33:33Z

2

Despite using the same language, client and server have no direct ties to each other. They're still bound to communicating with HTTP or WebSockets.

So, you'll need to establish a route that will call init() when requested:

app.get('/init', function (req, res) {
    init();
    // res.send(...), etc.
});

Then have the client either navigate to it:

<a href="/init"> invoke init </a>

Or, request it via Ajax:

function init() {
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhr.open('GET', '/init');
    xhr.send();
}

answered Aug 23, 2013 at 10:33

Jonathan Lonowski

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4 Comments

Swagg Over a year ago

How can i do it using websockets?

Jonathan Lonowski Over a year ago

@Swagg Node.js doesn't pre-define support for the WebSocket protocol like it does with HTTP, so you'll need to find a library/framework that implements it on top of the net module. Probably the most common is Socket.IO, but there are certainly others.

Swagg Over a year ago

can something like angularjs be used for it?

Jonathan Lonowski Over a year ago

@Swagg I don't believe Angular defines any modules for WebSockets, specifically. But, it can be used along with Socket.IO or the native WebSocket class.

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