Reading all files in a directory, store them in objects, and send the object

Solution 1:

So, there are three parts. Reading, storing and sending.

Here's the reading part:

var fs = require('fs');

function readFiles(dirname, onFileContent, onError) {
  fs.readdir(dirname, function(err, filenames) {
    if (err) {
      onError(err);
      return;
    }
    filenames.forEach(function(filename) {
      fs.readFile(dirname + filename, 'utf-8', function(err, content) {
        if (err) {
          onError(err);
          return;
        }
        onFileContent(filename, content);
      });
    });
  });
}

Here's the storing part:

var data = {};
readFiles('dirname/', function(filename, content) {
  data[filename] = content;
}, function(err) {
  throw err;
});

The sending part is up to you. You may want to send them one by one or after reading completion.

If you want to send files after reading completion you should either use sync versions of fs functions or use promises. Async callbacks is not a good style.

Additionally you asked about stripping an extension. You should proceed with questions one by one. Nobody will write a complete solution just for you.

Solution 2:

This is a modern Promise version of the previous one, using a Promise.all approach to resolve all promises when all files have been read:

/**
 * Promise all
 * @author Loreto Parisi (loretoparisi at gmail dot com)
 */
function promiseAllP(items, block) {
    var promises = [];
    items.forEach(function(item,index) {
        promises.push( function(item,i) {
            return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
                return block.apply(this,[item,index,resolve,reject]);
            });
        }(item,index))
    });
    return Promise.all(promises);
} //promiseAll

/**
 * read files
 * @param dirname string
 * @return Promise
 * @author Loreto Parisi (loretoparisi at gmail dot com)
 * @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10049557/reading-all-files-in-a-directory-store-them-in-objects-and-send-the-object
 */
function readFiles(dirname) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        fs.readdir(dirname, function(err, filenames) {
            if (err) return reject(err);
            promiseAllP(filenames,
            (filename,index,resolve,reject) =>  {
                fs.readFile(path.resolve(dirname, filename), 'utf-8', function(err, content) {
                    if (err) return reject(err);
                    return resolve({filename: filename, contents: content});
                });
            })
            .then(results => {
                return resolve(results);
            })
            .catch(error => {
                return reject(error);
            });
        });
  });
}

How to Use It:

Just as simple as doing:

readFiles( EMAIL_ROOT + '/' + folder)
.then(files => {
    console.log( "loaded ", files.length );
    files.forEach( (item, index) => {
        console.log( "item",index, "size ", item.contents.length);
    });
})
.catch( error => {
    console.log( error );
});

Supposed that you have another list of folders you can as well iterate over this list, since the internal promise.all will resolve each of then asynchronously:

var folders=['spam','ham'];
folders.forEach( folder => {
    readFiles( EMAIL_ROOT + '/' + folder)
    .then(files => {
        console.log( "loaded ", files.length );
        files.forEach( (item, index) => {
            console.log( "item",index, "size ", item.contents.length);
        });
    })
    .catch( error => {
        console.log( error );
    });
});

How it Works

The promiseAll does the magic. It takes a function block of signature function(item,index,resolve,reject), where item is the current item in the array, index its position in the array, and resolve and reject the Promise callback functions. Each promise will be pushed in a array at the current index and with the current item as arguments through a anonymous function call:

promises.push( function(item,i) {
        return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
            return block.apply(this,[item,index,resolve,reject]);
        });
    }(item,index))

Then all promises will be resolved:

return Promise.all(promises);