Question

Does anybody know a way in express.js to capture requests in a single function for both html and json?

Essentially I want a single route for both /users and /users.json – like rails does with its routes -> controller.

That way, I can encapsulate the logic in a single function and decide to render either html or json.

Something like:

app.get('/users[.json]', function(req, res, next, json){
  if (json)
    res.send(JSON.stringfy(...));
  else
    res.render(...); //jade template
});

Could I use a param perhaps?

Answer 1

A route is simple a string which is compiled to a RegExp internally, as the manual says, so you can do something like this:

app.get("/users/:format?", function(req, res, next){
  if (req.params.format) { res.json(...); }
  else {
    res.render(...); //jade template
  }
});

Check more here: http://expressjs.com/guide.html#routing