HTTP GET Request in Node.js Express

How can I make an HTTP request from within Node.js or Express.js? I need to connect to another service. I am hoping the call is asynchronous and that the callback contains the remote server's response.

Here is a snippet of some code from a sample of mine. It's asynchronous and returns a JSON object. It can do any form of GET request.

Note that there are more optimal ways (just a sample) - for example, instead of concatenating the chunks you put into an array and join it etc... Hopefully, it gets you started in the right direction:

const http = require('http');
const https = require('https');

/**
 * getJSON:  RESTful GET request returning JSON object(s)
 * @param options: http options object
 * @param callback: callback to pass the results JSON object(s) back
 */

module.exports.getJSON = (options, onResult) => {
  console.log('rest::getJSON');
  const port = options.port == 443 ? https : http;

  let output = '';

  const req = port.request(options, (res) => {
    console.log(`${options.host} : ${res.statusCode}`);
    res.setEncoding('utf8');

    res.on('data', (chunk) => {
      output += chunk;
    });

    res.on('end', () => {
      let obj = JSON.parse(output);

      onResult(res.statusCode, obj);
    });
  });

  req.on('error', (err) => {
    // res.send('error: ' + err.message);
  });

  req.end();
};

It's called by creating an options object like:

const options = {
  host: 'somesite.com',
  port: 443,
  path: '/some/path',
  method: 'GET',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
};

And providing a callback function.

For example, in a service, I require the REST module above and then do this:

rest.getJSON(options, (statusCode, result) => {
  // I could work with the resulting HTML/JSON here. I could also just return it
  console.log(`onResult: (${statusCode})\n\n${JSON.stringify(result)}`);

  res.statusCode = statusCode;

  res.send(result);
});

UPDATE

If you're looking for async/await (linear, no callback), promises, compile time support and intellisense, we created a lightweight HTTP and REST client that fits that bill:

Microsoft typed-rest-client

Try using the simple http.get(options, callback) function in node.js:

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);
});

There is also a general http.request(options, callback) function which allows you to specify the request method and other request details.

Request and Superagent are pretty good libraries to use.

note: request is deprecated, use at your risk!

Using request:

var request=require('request');

request.get('https://someplace',options,function(err,res,body){
  if(err) //TODO: handle err
  if(res.statusCode === 200 ) //etc
  //TODO Do something with response
});

You can also use Requestify, a really cool and very simple HTTP client I wrote for nodeJS + it supports caching.

Just do the following for GET method request:

var requestify = require('requestify');

requestify.get('http://example.com/api/resource')
  .then(function(response) {
      // Get the response body (JSON parsed or jQuery object for XMLs)
      response.getBody();
  }
);

This version is based on the initially proposed by bryanmac function which uses promises, better error handling, and is rewritten in ES6.

let http = require("http"),
    https = require("https");

/**
* getJSON:  REST get request returning JSON object(s)
* @param options: http options object
*/
exports.getJSON = function (options) {
    console.log('rest::getJSON');
    let reqHandler = +options.port === 443 ? https : http;

    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        let req = reqHandler.request(options, (res) => {
            let output = '';
            console.log('rest::', options.host + ':' + res.statusCode);
            res.setEncoding('utf8');

            res.on('data', function (chunk) {
                output += chunk;
            });

            res.on('end', () => {
                try {
                    let obj = JSON.parse(output);
                    // console.log('rest::', obj);
                    resolve({
                        statusCode: res.statusCode,
                        data: obj
                    });
                }
                catch (err) {
                    console.error('rest::end', err);
                    reject(err);
                }
            });
        });

        req.on('error', (err) => {
            console.error('rest::request', err);
            reject(err);
        });

        req.end();
    });
};

As a result you don't have to pass in a callback function, instead getJSON() returns a promise. In the following example the function is used inside of an ExpressJS route handler

router.get('/:id', (req, res, next) => {
    rest.getJSON({
        host: host,
        path: `/posts/${req.params.id}`,
        method: 'GET'
    }).then(({ statusCode, data }) => {
        res.json(data);
    }, (error) => {
        next(error);
    });
});

On error it delegates the error to the server error handling middleware.