NodejS express ReferenceError: connection is not defined - mysql

Question

I am creating a simple server application using the following code
const express = require('express');
const mysql = require('mysql');
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;
const app = express();
const connection = mysql.createConnection({
host: 'localhost',
user: 'user',
password: 'password',
database: 'mydata',
});
connection.connect(function (err) {
err ? console.log(err) : console.log(connection);
});
require('./routes/html-routes')(app);
app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log('app running on port %s', PORT);
});
module.exports = app;
in file server.js
and then a route in file html-routes.js
const mysql = require('mysql');
module.exports = function (app) {
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
connection.query('select * from mydata;', function (err, data) {
err ? res.send(err) : res.json({ mydata: data });
});
});
};
to get data from database
I get the error
ReferenceError: connection is not defined
at /Users/arjunbhandari/Desktop/GL-IT/backend/routes/html-routes.js:5:5
I have struggled for the past 6 hours and cannot understand the problem.
Thanks

Answer 1

As the error states, there is no connection defined (or inherited) within ./routes/html-routes.js.
You still can pass the connection property as a second argument to your exported function:
const mysql = require('mysql');
module.exports = function (app, connection) {
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
connection.query('select * from mydata;', function (err, data) {
err ? res.send(err) : res.json({ mydata: data });
});
});
};
then update the route mounting call within your main server file:
require('./routes/html-routes')(app, connection);
You should review your route implementation logic as this should not be the best design approach to use data-store connections.