I have two files; server.js and scrape.js, below are the code snippets as they currently stand.
server.js:
const scrape = require("./scrape");
async function start() {
const response = await scrape.start();
console.log(response);
}
start();
and scrape.js:
const cheerio = require("cheerio");
const request = require("request-promise");
go = async () => {
const options = {
uri: "http://www.somewebsite.com/something",
transform: function(body) {
return cheerio.load(body);
}
};
request(options)
.then($ => {
let scrapeTitleArray = [];
$(".some-class-in-html").each(function(i, obj) {
const data = $(this)
.text()
.trim();
scrapeTitleArray.push(data);
});
return scrapeTitleArray;
})
.catch(err => {
console.log(err);
});
};
module.exports = {
start: go
};
So when I spin up server.js, I return undefined to the console.log(response), when I actually want to return the array i've been pushing to, can you see where I'm going wrong?
You need to return
something from your async
function (a return inside a then does not return from the main function). Either a promise or something you await
-ed.
Also, make sure to declare your go
variable to avoid leaking it into the global space.
const go = async () => {
const options = {
uri: "http://www.somewebsite.com/something",
transform: function(body) {
return cheerio.load(body);
}
};
return request(options)
.then($ => {
let scrapeTitleArray = [];
$(".some-class-in-html").each(function(i, obj) {
const data = $(this)
.text()
.trim();
scrapeTitleArray.push(data);
});
return scrapeTitleArray;
})
.catch(err => {
console.log(err);
});
};
Since you are using an async
function, you might want to take advantage of the await
syntax also.
const go = async () => {
const options = {
uri: "http://www.somewebsite.com/something",
transform: function(body) {
return cheerio.load(body);
}
};
try {
const $ = await request(options);
$(".some-class-in-html").each(function(i, obj) {
const data = $(this)
.text()
.trim();
scrapeTitleArray.push(data);
});
return scrapeTitleArray;
}
catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}
};
I believe your go
function isn't returning any value.
You're calling request(options).then(...)
, but what follows from that promise is never returned by go
. I recommend you add a return
statement:
go = async () => {
const options = {
uri: "http://www.somewebsite.com/something",
transform: function(body) {
return cheerio.load(body);
}
};
// The only difference is that it says "return" here:
return request(options)
.then($ => {
let scrapeTitleArray = [];
$(".some-class-in-html").each(function(i, obj) {
const data = $(this)
.text()
.trim();
scrapeTitleArray.push(data);
});
return scrapeTitleArray;
})
.catch(err => {
console.log(err);
});
};