How to forward a request to other endpoint in node.js

Question

In my scenario I need forward get request to another end point. In my machine there are two servers php and node.js server. Node.js is like a \"man in the middle\", PHP serv

Answer 1

In you case res.redirect might help.

app.get('/track', function(req, res) {
   // process the request

   // then redirect
   res.redirect('/final-endpoint');
});

Then catch the redirected request in final endpont.

app.get('/final-endpoint', function(req, res) {
       // proceess redirected request here.
});

See the Express docs

Answer 2

Depending on what you're trying to do, you can create a new request to the end-point:

//endpoint for tracking
app.get('/track', function(req, res) {

  req.get({url: 'http://end-point', headers: req.headers});

  processRequest(req);
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
  res.send('Req OK');
});

More info: https://github.com/request/request

Answer 3

If your second endpoint is on a different server, (e.g. PHP) then you're going to need to either redirect the client (as in sohel's answer), or spoof a request from Node to the PHP server and then send the response back to the client. This latter option is definitely non-trivial so I would question whether it's crucial not to use a client redirect.

If you're talking about two express endpoints, then I think the simplest answer might be not to actually forward at all, but just use the endpoint callback directly instead:

app.get('/track', trackCallback);
app.get('/otherendpoint', otherendpointCallback);

function otherendpointCallback(req, res) {
  // do your thing
}

function trackCallback(req, res) {

  otherendpointCallback(req, res);

  processRequest(req);
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
  res.send('Req OK');
};

Depending on exactly what you want to do at the other end point, you might need to spoof some of req's fields (e.g. req.url)