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JavaScript Node.js Basics (2014) Building a Command Line Application Making a GET Request with http

Posted by Ryan Scharfer
Ryan Scharfer
Courses Plus Student 12,537 Points

Why can't I use JSON.parse() method within the http.get callback function? 

var http = require("http");
var username = "ryanscharfer";

function playerJSStatus (username, badges, pnts) {
  var message = username + " has " + badges + " badges and "+ pnts+" points in JS.";
  console.log(message);
}



http.get("http://teamtreehouse.com/"+username+".json", function(response){
  //console.log(response.statusCode);
  var data = JSON.parse(response);
  console.log(data);


})

The error I get is:

undefined:1
[object Object]
^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token o
at Object.parse (native)
at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (/home/treehous
at ClientRequest.g (events.js:180:16)
at ClientRequest.emit (events.js:95:17)
at HTTPParser.parserOnIncomingClient [as onI
at HTTPParser.parserOnHeadersComplete [as on
at Socket.socketOnData [as ondata] (http.js:
at TCP.onread (net.js:527:27)

1 Answer

Iain Simmons
Iain Simmons
Treehouse Moderator 32,305 Points

With the http node module, you can't use the response directly in the way you did, as it's not the body of the response that is returned, it is a instance object of the http.ClientRequest class (see the Node.js http.request documentation).

Instead, you need to assemble the response body by listening to the data and end events on the response as it gets streamed through.

The code below should work (I believe this is covered in the course, though perhaps you hadn't gotten up to this stage yet).

var http = require("http");
var username = "ryanscharfer";

function playerJSStatus (username, badges, pnts) {
  var message = username + " has " + badges + " badges and "+ pnts+" points in JS.";
  console.log(message);
}



http.get("http://teamtreehouse.com/"+username+".json", function(response){
  //console.log(response.statusCode);

  var body = '';

  response.on('data', function(chunk) {
    body += chunk;
  });

  response.on('end', function() {
    var data = JSON.parse(body)
    console.log(data);
  });


});