Using nodejs server with request package and function pipe()?

Question

I'm using a nodejs server to mockup a backend at the moment. The server is a webserver and returns json objects on different requests, works flawlessy. Now I have to get the json objects from another domain, so I have to proxy the server. I have found a package called request in npm. I can get the simple example to work, but I have to forward the whole webpage.

My code for the proxy looks like this:

var $express = require('express'),
$http = require('http'),
$request = require('request'),
$url = require('url'),
$path = require('path'),
$util = require('util'),
$mime = require('mime');

var app = $express();

app.configure(function(){
  app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 9090);
  app.use($express.bodyParser());
  app.use($express.methodOverride());

  app.use('/', function(req, res){
    var apiUrl = 'http://localhost:9091';
    console.log(apiUrl);
    var url = apiUrl + req.url;
    req.pipe($request(url).pipe(res));
  });  
});

$http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function () {
  console.log("Express server listening on port " + app.get('port'));

  if (process.argv.length > 2 && process.argv.indexOf('-open') > -1) {
    var open = require("open");
    open('http://localhost:' + app.get('port') + '/', function (error) {
      if (error !== null) {
        console.log("Unable to lauch application in browser. Please install 'Firefox' or 'Chrome'");
      }
    });
  }
})

I'm loggin the real server and it is acting correctly, I can track the get response, but the body is empty. I just want to pass through the whole website from the nodejs server through the request.pipe function. Any ideas?

Paul Mougel · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-10 10:05:55Z

3

Since in Node.js, a.pipe(b) returns b (see documentation), your code is equivalent to this:

// req.pipe($request(url).pipe(res))
// is equivalent to
$request(url).pipe(res);
req.pipe(res);

As you only want a proxy there is no need to pipe req into res (and here it doesn't make sense to pipe multiple readable streams into one writable stream), just keep this and your proxy will work:

$request(url).pipe(res);

answered Mar 10, 2014 at 10:05

Paul Mougel

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