I seem to get a "new module instance" when calling require

Question

I am trying to get MongoDB to work with Express.js. I have followed this article and created a file db/index.js that provides functions for creating a database connection and returning the connection instance. In app.js I require that file first, then call its function connect, which successfully connects to the database.

However, when I require the file db/index.js later in another file routes/users.js, the database reference it returns is null, although I expected it to be the same reference that I got when I connected in app.js. Doesn't require always return the same instance of the module that is returned on the first call to require? What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: I understand that because the call db.connect is asynchronous, the value of db in users.js might in theory be null before the connecting function returns. However, I have verified via testing that even if connection is successfully created, db is still null when I do a POST request to path /users.

Here are the 3 relevant files.

app.js (execution starts here)

var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

// configuration  environment based on process.env.NODE_ENV environment variable
var config = require('./config');
var db = require('./db');

var app = express();

var routes = require('./routes/index');
var users = require('./routes/users');
app.use('/', routes);
app.use('/users', users);

// Connect to Mongo on start
db.connect(config.dbUrl, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log('Unable to connect to ' + config.dbUrl);
        process.exit(1);
    } else {
        console.log('Connected to ' + config.dbUrl);
    }
});

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

// uncomment after placing your favicon in /public
//app.use(favicon(path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'favicon.ico')));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: false}));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));

app.use('/tests', express.static(__dirname + '/test'));
app.use('/lib/jasmine-core', express.static(__dirname + '/node_modules/jasmine-core/lib/jasmine-core'));

// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
    var err = new Error('Not Found');
    err.status = 404;
    next(err);
});

// error handlers

// development error handler
// will print stacktrace
if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
    app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {
        res.status(err.status || 500);
        res.render('error', {
            message: err.message,
            error: err
        });
    });
}

// production error handler
// no stacktraces leaked to user
app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {
    res.status(err.status || 500);
    res.render('error', {
        message: err.message,
        error: {}
    });
});


module.exports = app;

db/index.js

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient;

var state = {
    db: null
};

exports.connect = function (url, done) {
    if (state.db)
        return done();

    MongoClient.connect(url, function (err, db) {
        if (err)
            return done(err);
        state.db = db;
        done();
    })
}

exports.get = function () {
    return state.db;
}

exports.close = function (done) {
    console.log('db close');
    if (state.db) {
        state.db.close(function (err, result) {
            state.db = null;
            done(err);
        })
    }
}

exports.createIndexes = function () {
    if (state.db) {
        state.db.collection('events').createIndex(
                {'id': 1},
        {unique: true});
    }
}

routes/users.js

var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var db = require('../db').get();

router.post('/', function (req, res, next) {
    //
    // Problem: Every time this function is called, db is null!
    //
    var users = db.collection('users');
    var userToAdd = req.body;

    users.findOne({username: userToAdd.username}).then(function (foundUser) {
        if (foundUser.length === 0) {
            res.status(400).json({error: 'Username is already in use'});
        } else {
            // TODO: ADD USER
            res.json(foundUser);
        }
    })
    .catch(function (err) {
        console.log(err);
        res.status(500).json({error: 'Database error.'});
    });
});

module.exports = router;

Answer 1

For the record, you are not receiving "new" instance, following explanation will help you make sense what is happening.

Notice that you are requiring your routes before connecting to your db via db.connect. i.e.

//Called before db.connect is called.
//so at this point in time, your db.get will return null, make sense?
//because in your users.js your are directly calling var db = require('../db').get();
var routes = require('./routes/index');
var users = require('./routes/users');
app.use('/', routes);
app.use('/users', users); 

// Connect to Mongo on start
db.connect(config.dbUrl, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log('Unable to connect to ' + config.dbUrl);
        process.exit(1);
    } else {
        //after this point in execution, calling db.get will return actual db and not null.
        console.log('Connected to ' + config.dbUrl);
    }
});

There are two solutions to your problem.

1.

Restructure your app.js code like this will solve your issue.

// Connect to Mongo on start
db.connect(config.dbUrl, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log('Unable to connect to ' + config.dbUrl);
        process.exit(1);
    } else {
        //As now we have db initialised, lets load routes.
        var routes = require('./routes/index');
        var users = require('./routes/users');
        app.use('/', routes);
        app.use('/users', users);
        console.log('Connected to ' + config.dbUrl);
    }
});

2

Leave your app.js as it is and make changes in your routes, for e.g., users.js use db as following,

var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var dbFetcher = require('../db');

router.post('/', function (req, res, next) {
    //
    // Problem: Every time this function is called, db is null!

    var db = dbFetcher.get();
    var users = db.collection('users');
    var userToAdd = req.body;

    users.findOne({username: userToAdd.username}).then(function (foundUser) {
        if (foundUser.length === 0) {
            res.status(400).json({error: 'Username is already in use'});
        } else {
            // TODO: ADD USER
            res.json(foundUser);
        }
    })
    .catch(function (err) {
        console.log(err);
        res.status(500).json({error: 'Database error.'});
    });
});

module.exports = router;

I hope it makes sense and helps!

Answer 2

The line var db = require('./db'); declares a new variable which only exists within the scope of that file. When you make similar declaration in your routes/user file, you create a completely new db variable, which means that the connect method was never run and so the state property was never changed.