Can someone expound on the times when it's appropriate in a node.js Express app to throw an error like so:
throw new Error('my error');
or to pass this error on via the callback usually labelled 'next' like so:
next(error);
and could you please explain what each of them will do in the context of an Express app?
for example, here is an express function dealing with URL parameters:
app.param('lineup_id', function (req, res, next, lineup_id) {
// typically we might sanity check that user_id is of the right format
if (lineup_id == null) {
console.log('null lineup_id');
req.lineup = null;
return next(new Error("lineup_id is null"));
}
var user_id = app.getMainUser()._id;
var Lineup = app.mongooseModels.LineupModel.getNewLineup(app.system_db(), user_id);
Lineup.findById(lineup_id, function (err, lineup) {
if (err) {
return next(err);
}
if (!lineup) {
console.log('no lineup matched');
return next(new Error("no lineup matched"));
}
req.lineup = lineup;
return next();
});
});
In the line commented "//should I create my own error here?" I could used "throw new Error('xyz')", but what exactly would that do? Why is it usually better to pass the error to the callback 'next'?
Another question is - how do I get "throw new Error('xyz')" to show up in the console as well as the browser when I am in development?