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JavaScript Node.js Basics Handling Errors in Node The error event in Node

Tyler McDonald
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Tyler McDonald
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 16,700 Points

Node not showing error with incorrect URL

Hello, I am following along with Reggie, but whenever I mistype the URL to force node to throw the error, it doesn't work. After about 30 seconds it throws an error connect ETIMEDOUT.

Is there a reason I am unable to get the same error as Reggie?

Here's my code:

const https = require("https");

function getProfile(username) {
  // Connect to the API URL
  const request = https.get(
    `https://teamtreehousea.com/profiles/${username}.json`,
    (response) => {
      let body = "";
      // Read the data
      response.on("data", (data) => (body += data.toString()));
      // Parse the data
      response.on("end", () => {
        const profile = JSON.parse(body);
        printMessage(profile);
      });
    }
  );
  request.on("error", (error) => console.error(error));
}

// Print the data
function printMessage(profile) {
  const message = `${profile.name} (${profile.profile_name}) has ${profile.badges.length} total badge(s) and ${profile.points.total} points.`;
  console.log(message);
}

const users = process.argv.slice(2);
users.forEach(getProfile);

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

The type of error you get depends on which part of the URL is incorrect:

If the URL points to a server that doesn't exist, a timeout is the type of error you should get (eventually).

On the other hand, if the URL points to a legitimate server, but to a resource that the server doesn't have, you'll get a "not found" error right away.