I am working with Nodejs and i am using express js,And right now i am using middleware function,In middleware
function we have three main parameters "req,res,next", In "next" parameter…go to next "middleware function"
- I have three middleware function but i call/use/execute only "first middleware function", so after execute first middleware ( reach to "next parameter" in first middleware) if "next parameter" go to "next middleware function" then why not "middleware2" and "middleware3" execute automatically ? Here is my current code
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// First middleware function
const middleware1 = (req, res, next) => {
console.log('This is middleware 1');
next(); // Calling next() passes control to the next middleware function
};
// Second middleware function
const middleware2 = (req, res, next) => {
console.log('This is middleware 2');
next(); // Calling next() passes control to the next middleware function
};
// Third middleware function
const middleware3 = (req, res, next) => {
console.log('This is middleware 3');
next(); // Calling next() passes control to the next middleware function
};
app.use(middleware1);
// Route handler
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.send('Hello, World!');
});
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('Server listening on port 3000');
});
2
Answers
You’ve just defined these middlewares but haven’t added them to the express pipeline like the first middleware.
Once you add them using
app.use()
they’ll be executed in the order they are added (given thatnext()
is called in the preceding middleware)update
A middleware should either explicitly end the request (for example send a response back to client) or pass control to next middleware in the pipeline. If not the request will be hanging.
From expressjs website:
So by calling
next
we inform express that this middleware has finished processing the request and wants to pass control to the next middleware.Example
Say you have 3 middlewares for
logging
,authenticating
andauthorizing
a request.1-
logging
middleware gets the request and logs its info into a file then calls next to pass control toauthentication
middleware.2-
authentication
middleware checks if the request is from a logged in user or not. If user is logged in then it callsnext
to pass control toauthorization
middleware. But if user in anonymous this middleware does not allow the request to proceed to next middleware and ends the request by sending an error back to client.Hope this clarifies the concept.
next
calls the next thing the server knows about, which you have registered, whether that’s a middleware or the HTTP handling function. Its purpose is to simply move the request through the server, not to magically jump around to your other functions "automatically".You still have to actually tell the server about each middleware you intend to use,
next
can’t jump away to code that the server has never seen and has no idea exists. If you don’t tell the server aboutmiddleware2
, andmiddleware1
doesn’t directly callmiddleware2
, then how could the flow of execution possibly reach that function?If you don’t call
next
, then the server simply doesn’t work. It’s not a convienence thing for moving through middleware, it’s required to pass the flow of execution through the server. If you don’t call it, yourmiddelware1
function will be the only thing that the server calls to handle a request, which does nothing. Your HTTP handling function is never reached, and the browser will eventually time-out without receiving a response.You must call
next
so that the next thing in line to process a request can receive control, whether that’s a subsequent middleware or the handlers you’ve registered withapp.get('/', ...)
.