node / express REST API application - passing parameters to GET method

Question

Background

I'm writing a sample nodejs / express REST interface or API for the purposes of learning. I've created a new route called "emergency".

In the file I have the following code:

router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
        //var ip = req.params.ip;
        res.send('respond with a resource');
});

When I start the application and navigate to http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency everything works fine and I see the "respond with a resource" message.

Goal

I'd like my application to be able to accept parameters as well. So fro example, when a user navigates to

 http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency

I want all emergency numbers to be queried and returned. But they should also be able to do this:

 http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/12345

and the system should query the database for emergency record 12345 and return the appropriate result set.

Problem / Question

In order to accommodate both types of GET queries, I've changed the code to look like this:

router.get('/id', function(req, res, next) {
        //var ip = req.params.ip;
        res.send('respond with a resource');
});

Now when I run the application, and browse to

 http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/12345

it works. However, browsing to

  http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency 

fails with a 404 error message.

Not Found

404

Error: Not Found
    at /var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/app.js:34:13
    at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.js:95:5)
    at trim_prefix (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:312:13)
    at /var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:280:7
    at Function.process_params (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:330:12)
    at next (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:271:10)
    at /var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:618:15
    at next (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:256:14)
    at Function.handle (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:176:3)
    at router (/var/www/html/nodejs_samples/tutorial1/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:46:12)

Do I need to create two separate methods, one that accepts a parameter and one that doesn't? (aka method overloads?) Perhaps my understanding of REST is what's faulty. Should a GET request look like :

 http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency

or should it always look like this:

 http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/{id}

Maybe the proper way to do a GET for all records is something like this:

 http://myserver/tutorial1/emergency/all

I'm trying to google my question right now as well, but I'm having a hard time expressing it succinctly enough to get an accurate search result set.

EDIT 1

This is what my code looks like when I try to create two methods (and this works)

router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
  res.send('respond with a resource');
});

router.get('/:id', function(req, res, next) {
        var id = req.params.id;
        console.log(id);
        res.send('got it');
});

But this just feels odd because I guess I'm used to other frameworks in other languages where the system can check for empty params so you just need one method. this is not a complaint! just a comment that might explain why my brain is "expecting" the system to work a different way.

Answer 1

Do I need to create two separate methods, one that accepts a parameter and one that doesn't?

I'm guessing you posted this before even trying that?

The answer is yes.

Your route that accepts parameters should look like this:

app.get('/emergency/:id', function (req, res, next) {
    var id = req.params.id;
    console.log('The id: ' + id);
});