Get a particular URL in Node JS other ways

Question

I have a REST API of Reddit. I am trying to parse the JSON output to get the URL of the responses. When I try to send the request, I get multiple outputs, but I am not sure how to do it as it's a random response.

https
  .get("https://www.reddit.com/r/cute/random.json", resp => {
    let data = "";

    resp.on("data", chunk => {
      data += chunk;
    });

    const obj = JSON.parse(data);
    resp.on("end", () => {
      console.log(obj.url);
    });
  })
  .on("error", err => {
    console.log("Error: " + err.message);
  });

This is the code I have got. I used the default Node's http library and I don't think it worked. I have never used any Node Libraries, so it will be helpful if you can suggest them too. And also let me know if what I have done is right.

Any reason why you want to use https library and not something like node-fetch? I have a node-fetch example, I can share with you. — Praveen Kumar Purushothaman
– Praveen Kumar Purushothaman, Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 8:15
@PraveenKumarPurushothaman I am completely new to Node JS, so I am not sure what to use. I just followed some blog post to get it. — LBG User
– LBG User, Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 8:17
@PraveenKumarPurushothaman Yea, I am happy with using node-fetch. As long as I get the URL from the JSON response, that's all it matters. — LBG User
– LBG User, Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 8:18
you could try axios library. it's well documented and has wide support — Chris Ihure
– Chris Ihure, Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 8:25
@ChrisIhure I checked it, but isn't it just for front end as Praveen says? I had the same question. — LBG User
– LBG User, Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 8:27

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-03 08:26:01Z

1

I understand that http is a core library of Node JS, but I strongly suggest you to use something like node-fetch. Make sure you run the following command on your terminal (or cmd) where your package.json file exists:

$ npm install node-fetch

This will install the node-fetch library, which acts similarly to how the Web based fetch works.

const fetch = require("node-fetch");
const main = async () => {
  const json = await fetch("https://www.reddit.com/r/cute/random.json").then(
    res => res.json()
  );
  console.log(
    json
      .map(entry => entry.data.children.map(child => child.data.url))
      .flat()
      .filter(Boolean)
  );
};
main();

The URLs that you are looking for, I could find in the data.children[0].data.url so I did a map there. I hope this is something that might help you.

I get multiple output for the same code, run multiple times, because the URL you have used is a Random Article Fetching URL. From their wiki:

/r/random takes you to a random subreddit. You can find a link to /r/random in the header above. Reddit gold members have access to /r/myrandom, which is right next to the random button. Myrandom takes you to any of your subscribed subreddits randomly. /r/randnsfw takes you to a random NSFW (over 18) subreddit.

The output for me is like this:

[ 'https://i.redd.it/pjom447yp8271.jpg' ]   // First run
[ 'https://i.redd.it/h9b00p6y4g271.jpg' ]   // Second run
[ 'https://v.redd.it/lcejh8z6zp271' ]       // Third run

Since it has only one URL, I changed the code to get the first one:

const fetch = require("node-fetch");
const main = async () => {
  const json = await fetch("https://www.reddit.com/r/cute/random.json").then(
    res => res.json()
  );
  console.log(
    json
      .map(entry => entry.data.children.map(child => child.data.url))
      .flat()
      .filter(Boolean)[0]
  );
};
main();

Now it gives me:

'https://i.redd.it/pjom447yp8271.jpg'   // First run
'https://i.redd.it/h9b00p6y4g271.jpg'   // Second run
'https://v.redd.it/lcejh8z6zp271'       // Third run
'https://i.redd.it/b46rf6zben171.jpg'   // Fourth run

Preview

I hope this helps you. Feel free to ask me if you need more help. Other alternatives include axios, but I am not sure if this can be used on backend.

answered Jun 3, 2021 at 8:26

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman

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3 Comments

LBG User Over a year ago

Thanks, this looks very detailed. Let me check and tell you if it works.

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman Over a year ago

@LBGUser Does it work? Lemme know, thanks.

LBG User Over a year ago

Thanks, this works, this is indeed perfect.

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