How to make ajax get/post request in express server?

Question

Below is my express server. I am trying to make a get request in ajax, but it turned out failed even though I required jquery at the beginning. It said $ is not defined Other than using jquery ajax, what else can I use to make an API call form RESTful API url?

var express = require('express');
var requestHandler = require('./requestHandler');
var app = express();
var path = require('path');


app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '../client')));
app.get('/homepage', requestHandler.getData);

var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(port);
console.log("Server running at: http://localhost:" + port);

// request handler file:

var express = require('express');
var url = "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/";

module.exports.getData = function (req, res){
    $.ajax({
      method: 'GET',
      url: url+'posts',
      success: function(data) {
        console.log(data);
        res.send(data);
      }
    });
  }
module.exports.getComments = function(userId){
    $.ajax({
      method: 'GET',
      url: url+'/comments',
      success: function(data) {
        console.log(data);
      }
    });
}

Answer 1

HTTP GET Request in Node.js Express

var http = require('http');
var options = {
  host: 'www.google.com',
  path: '/index.html'
};

var req = http.get(options, function(res) {
  console.log('STATUS: ' + res.statusCode);
  console.log('HEADERS: ' + JSON.stringify(res.headers));

  // Buffer the body entirely for processing as a whole.
  var bodyChunks = [];
  res.on('data', function(chunk) {
    // You can process streamed parts here...
    bodyChunks.push(chunk);
  }).on('end', function() {
    var body = Buffer.concat(bodyChunks);
    console.log('BODY: ' + body);
    // ...and/or process the entire body here.
  })
});

req.on('error', function(e) {
  console.log('ERROR: ' + e.message);
});

Answer 2

You need to understand things like:

1. expressjs is serverside code so it can't use jquery ajax like that.
2. jQuery.ajax() can only be used at view when you load your page in the browser.

---

You need to use some view engines like jade to create templates and use routers to push the view in the browser. When you have your view in the browser then you can make a reference to the script file which can contain your ajax code to let you have posts and comments.

More information.