Expressjs routes with username

Question

Expressjs routes with username

Im trying to use the username as route in expressjs, to view their profile.

app.get('/:username', function (req, res, next) {
    users.get_user(req.params.username, function (err, results) {
        if(results[0]) {
            res.render('/profile', {
                title: 'Profile',
                userinfo: results[0]
            });
        } else {
            next();
        }
    });
});

users.get_user is a function wich gets the user from the db. If it doesn't find a user it goes on to the next route. I also have a lot of other pages like /start, /forum etc. Is this an insufficient way of doing this, because theres a call to the db each time it passes through the /:username route. My question is, is there a better more sufficient way?

javascript
node.js
routes
express

Answer 1

Try defining the more specific routes (e.g. /start, /forum) before the /:username route in your application. Express matches routes in the order that you define them.

E.g. Do this:

app.get('/start', function(req, res, next) {...});
app.get('/forum', function(req, res, next) {...});
app.get('/:username', function(req, res, next) {...});

Not

app.get('/:username', function(req, res, next) {...});
app.get('/start', function(req, res, next) {...});
app.get('/forum', function(req, res, next) {...});

This way, if the user goes to /start, it won't hit the /:username route and cause a database hit.