Node.js AJAX: Handling Frontend Routing in a SPA

Frontend and Backend Development
1

Encountering frontend routing issues in my Node.js SPA: AJAX calls work when starting from the homepage, but entering URLs directly returns raw JSON. How can this be resolved?

// clientSideCode.js
function fetchContent(routeSegment) {
  $.ajax({
    method: 'GET',
    url: '/data/' + routeSegment,
    dataType: 'json',
    success: function(response) {
      $('#displayArea').html(response.info);
    }
  });
}

// serverSideCode.js
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.use(express.static('public'));

app.get('/data/:type', (req, res) => {
  // Mimics fetching product details
  res.json({ info: 'Example product information' });
});

app.get('*', (req, res) => {
  res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/home.html');
});

app.listen(3000);
2

hey, try reordering ur routes so /data/:type fires before the catch-all. i faced similar probs when apis got caught in client side routing. maybe nsme your apis to avoid conflicts could help, too.

3

Based on my experience, the issue stems from a conflict in how requests are processed by your routes. The catch-all route intended to serve home.html for client-side routing can interfere with API calls when a user enters a URL directly. This can be resolved by ensuring that your API endpoints are strictly defined and reserved for handling AJAX requests, while other routes are clearly separated. Revising the order of middleware in your Express setup often resolves the issue, as it prevents the catch-all from intercepting API requests.