req.params.username returning as :username

Issue

I have a route in my web app where I'm trying to pass a username via route param. Here's my script.js attached to my index.html:

$scope.del_movie = function(movie) {
        $http( {
            method: 'DELETE',
            url: '/movie/:title/:username',
            params: {'title': movie.title, 'username': movie.username}
        }).then(function successCallback(response) {
            console.log(response);
            return getData();
        }, function errorCallback(response) {
            console.log('Error: ' + response);
        });
    };

And the route I have set up in my server.js looks like this:

app.delete('/movie/:title/:username', requiresAuth(), function(req, res) {
    paramsUsernameString = req.params.username;
    oidcEmailString = JSON.stringify(req.oidc.user.email);


    console.log("movie " + req.params.username);

    if(paramsUsernameString != oidcEmailString){
        console.log("req.params.username " + paramsUsernameString + " req.oidc.user.username " + oidcEmailString);
        console.log("can't delete someone else's review!");
        res.json({
            message: "You can't delete someone else's review, as much as you may like to"
        });
    }
    else{
        Movie.findOneAndRemove(req.query, function(err, result) {
            if ( err ) throw err;
            res.json( {
                message: "req.params.username " + paramsUsernameString + " req.oidc.user.username " + oidcEmailString,
                movie: result
            });
        });
    }
});

The issue is, when I console.log req.params.username, it doesn't come up as the username I passed in with del_movie. It shows up as ":username". I looked up express routing, and I'm stumped as to what I'm doing wrong; my route looks like all the examples, unless I'm missing something obvious.

I've required express, bodyParser, and express-openid-connect, as well as my Movie schema in model.js, which has both a username and a title.

Grateful for any answers, and glad to provide more info/context if needed!

Solution

According to https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$http

params – {Object.<string|Object>} – Map of strings or objects which will be serialized with the paramSerializer and appended as GET parameters.

That means your url now becomes:

 `/movie/:title/:username?title=${movie.title}&username=${movie.username}`

So it is correct that at your server, req.params.username will be that hardcoded ":username".

If you don't want to modify the route, then it should be req.query.username that you want.

Answered By - Old Geezer