CompoundJS in production mode renders webpage instead of retrieving JSON data

Question

I'm new to CompoundJS and I'm not too sure if this is the correct behaviour.

I'm starting the server on PROD mode with the following code:

NODE_ENV=production compound server 8081

Then I hit:

http://localhost:8081/categories/

I was excepting to see some JSON being retrieved from the server.

Instead, it renders a page like this:

enter image description here

Hi Robert, I expected a JSON response so I can use it in the front-end app. Also, I don't want expose this interface to people.. (does it make sense?) — Pablo, May 11 '13 at 08:05
It does make sense, but you have to tell your controller to generate JSON instead of render a template. Instead of `render()`, you could try using `send(YOUR_OBJECT)` to get it to return JSON. — robertklep, May 11 '13 at 08:45
Thanks! Now I see how it works behind the scenes. I can also call ```http://localhost:8081/categories.json``` and that would do the trick. — Pablo, May 11 '13 at 08:58
Ah, that's even better :) I don't know CompoundJS well enough so I didn't know about the `.json` trick :) — robertklep, May 11 '13 at 09:14

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 12 '15 at 19:18

As @Pablo mentioned in the comments, just use .json in the call to your controller.

As in the following:

GET http://localhost:3000/categories.json

It is expected that your controller will handle both, as is the case in generated controllers.

A specific example: [approot]/app/controllers/category_controller.js

In JavaScript:

action(function index() {
    this.title = 'Categories index';
    Category.all(function (err, categories) {
        respondTo(function (format) {
            // Use format.json and the send method to return JSON data when 
            // .json is specified at the end of the controller
            format.json(function () {
                send({code: 200, data: categories});
            });
            format.html(function () {
                render({
                   categories: categories
                });
            });
        });
    });
});

In CoffeeScript:

action index = ->
  @title = "Categories index"
  Category.all (err, categories) ->
    respondTo (format) ->

      # Use format.json and the send method to return JSON data when 
      # .json is specified at the end of the controller
      format.json ->
        send
          code: 200
          data: categories


      format.html ->
        render categories: categories

CompoundJS in production mode renders webpage instead of retrieving JSON data

1 Answers1