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I'm quite new to NodeJS. I'm trying to create a form that accepts several inputs. One of the functions of the form is to take in an input--> ISBN and automatically get information from an API and add it in the input fields. However, I cannot pass information from the controller to the view.

I have a view: newbook.jade Which has two forms

 form#form_search_book(name="search", method="post", action="/searchbook")
    span ISBN
    span  
    input#input_isbn(type="text", placeholder="isbn", name="isbn")
    button#search_book(type="search") search
    br
    br
  form#form_add_book(name="addbook", method="post", action="/addbook")
    span Book Name
    span  
    input#input_name(type="text", placeholder="book name", name="book_name")

And I have the NodeJS controller: index.js that executes the /searchbook form and then redirects back the /newbook page. When it redirects to the new book page, the information from the API should be passed on to the input form...but I've been struggling on how to do that. Any help would be appreciated.

    router.get('/newbook', function(req, res){
    res.render('newbook', {title: 'Add New Book' });

    router.post('/searchbook', function(req, res){
    var isbn=req.body.isbn;
    var url="http://isbndb.com/api/v2/json/63JEP95R/book/"+isbn;
    request({
    url: url,
    json: true
    }, function (error, response, body) {
          if (!error && response.statusCode === 200) {
                console.log(body.data\[0\].isbn13) // Print the json response
              }
    });
    res.redirect('/newbook');
    document.getElementById('input_name').value=body.data\[0\].title;
    document.getElementById('input_isbn').value=body.data\[0\].isbn13;


    });
});

Link to the view

Shehzad Lokhandwalla
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  • Couple quick comments... if you format your code, you might notice that the router.post handler is defined inside of the router.get handler. This will make it work on the second go through. Also, you cannot touch a users dom from within the server side (node/express) via the document.get* methods. The server needs to return a new view with the values from isbndb. – neouser99 Jun 25 '16 at 16:03
  • Ok, I cannot return to the same view? – Shehzad Lokhandwalla Jun 25 '16 at 16:07
  • Sure, you can definitely return the same view. The jade, being the server side template language, has to be aware of the new values to display. The alternative is to use AJAX to call your server code, then display new values through the client. – neouser99 Jun 25 '16 at 16:09
  • I thought that Ajax isn't recommended for NODEJS. I tried `res.redirect('/newbook')`; to return to the original view, would that work if use something that res.send? – Shehzad Lokhandwalla Jun 25 '16 at 16:12

1 Answers1

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I think you got confused about what code's being run in the client-side and what code run in server-side. This code works only on a browser not in NodeJS.

document.getElementById('input_name').value='......';

you need to pass your values through a querystring in redirect method.

I presume you can find your answer in this post : How do I redirect in expressjs while passing some context?

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akardon
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