Why is routing to 'name' not working when it works for 'id'?

Question

I have local backend on mysql and I am using connect Node.js to connect both of them. Everything is working fine. The connection is succesfull all the queries are happening but why is this not working.

router.get("/:users/:name", (req, res) => {
  const { name } = req.params;
  console.log(req.params);
  mysqlConnection.query(
    "SELECT * FROM user WHERE name = ?",
    [name],
    (error, rows, fields) => {
      console.log(rows);
      console.log(error);
      if (!error) {
        res.json(rows);
      } else {
        console.log(error);
      }
    }
  );
});

whereas it's counterpart is working.

router.get("/:users/:id", (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;
  mysqlConnection.query(
    "select * from user where id = ?",
    [id],
    (error, rows, fields) => {
      if (!error) {
        res.json(rows);
      } else {
        console.log(error);
      }
    }
  );
});

I am using Postman to test my routes. eg: localhost:8080\users\name

I have tried this


router.get("/:users/:name", (req, res) => {
  const { name } = req.params;
  console.log(req.params);
  mysqlConnection.query(
    `SELECT * FROM user WHERE name = '${name}'`,
    (error, rows, fields) => {
      console.log(rows);
      console.log(error);
      if (!error) {
        res.json(rows);
      } else {
        console.log(error);
      }
    }
  );
});

You need to describe what you mean by your app not working! We have absolutely no clue what your app is supposed to be doing and what's happening instead. — Shadow, Jun 26 '23 at 08:17
Are you sure you mean to have `:users` as a route parameter? — Phil, Jun 26 '23 at 08:20
It should connects to the database and fetches all the users with the same name using router.get() — Shivam Sharma, Jun 26 '23 at 08:20

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 26 '23 at 08:24

1

The issue here is that Express cannot differentiate between :id and :name; they're both just single string parameters so any matching request will be routed to whatever one is registered first.

Assuming that id is numeric, you can provide more matching information so Express knows where to route requests like /users/123

// register the more specific route first
router.get("/users/:id(\\d+)", (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;

  // etc...
});

// register the more general route second
router.get("/users/:name", (req, res) => {
  const { name } = req.params;

  // etc...
});

See Route parameters

answered Jun 26 '23 at 08:24

Phil

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I just checked the problem is in the order they are occurring inside the file. I just changed the code by putting the `:name` on top and now it is working but not the `:id` one – Shivam Sharma Jun 26 '23 at 08:35
No, you definitely want the `id` route with the regex validation defined first – Phil Jun 26 '23 at 10:16

Why is routing to 'name' not working when it works for 'id'?

1 Answers1