Pass database data from express.js server to react.js component - mysql

Question

This is a react app with an express.js backend. I have a mysql database connected to my server.js file and it seems to be connected fine. My issue is I want to pass that data to my react app and display it there.
My server.js database connection
app.get('api/listitems', (req, res) => {
connection.connect();
connection.query('SELECT * from list_items', (error, results, fields) => {
if (error) throw error;
res.send(results)
});
connection.end();
});
So this should grab the 'list_items' records from the database
Below is my react.js code. I would like to display the records under the grocery list h3.
import React, { Component } from 'react';
import './App.scss';
class App extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
data: ['first item']
};
}
render() {
return (
<div className="App">
<h3>Grocery List</h3>
{this.state.data}
</div>
);
}
}
export default App;
I know this is a simple concept but I am new to backend development. The tutorials I have found have gotten me to this point, but I have had an issue finding one that simply explains how to pass and display data from the backend to frontend.

Answer 1

**index.js**
import React from 'react';
import { render } from 'react-dom';
import App from './components/app';
import { BrowserRouter } from 'react-router-dom'
import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
import store, { history } from './store';
const route = (
<Provider store={store}>
<BrowserRouter>
<App />
</BrowserRouter>
</Provider>
)
render(route,document.getElementById('app'))
**action/listItemAction.js**
export const ListItemSuccess = (data) => {
return {type: 'GET_LIST_ITEMS'};
}
export const getListItems = () => {
return (dispatch) => {
return axios.get('http://localhost:5000/api/listitems')
.then(res => {
dispatch(ListItemSuccess(res));
})
.catch(error=>{
throw(error);
})
};
}
**reducers/listItems.js**
const listItems = (state = [], action) => {
switch(action.type){
case 'GET_LIST_ITEMS':
return action.res.data;
default:
return state;
}
}
export default listItems;
**store.js**
import { createStore, applyMiddleware, compose } from 'redux';
import thunk from 'redux-thunk'
import listItems from './reducers/listItems.js';
const store = createStore(listItems, compose(
applyMiddleware(thunk),
window.devToolsExtension ? window.devToolsExtension() : f => f
));
export default store;
**App.js**
import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { bindActionCreators } from 'redux';
import { connect } from 'react-redux';
import './App.scss';
import getListItems from './action/listItemAction.js
class App extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
data: [],
isLoading: true,
};
}
componentWillMount() {
this.props.getListItems().then(() => {
this.setState({data: this.props.listItems, isLoading:false});
}).catch(error => {
throw(error);
});
}
render() {
return (
<div className="App">
<h3>Grocery List</h3>
{this.state.isLoading ? <p>Loading...</p>
: this.state.error ? <p>Error during fetch!</p>
: (
<ul>
this.state.data.map(item => <li>{item}</li>)
</ul>
)}
</div>
);
}
}
const mapStateToProps = (state) => {
return {
listItems: state.listItems
};
};
const mapDispatchToProps = (dispatch) => {
return {
getListItems: bindActionCreators(getListItems, dispatch),
};
};
export default connect(mapStateToProps,mapDispatchToProps)(App);

Answer 2

You want to make a GET request to your backend to asynchronously fetch the data. If you want the data when your App component first mounts, you can use fetch in componentDidMount to call to your backend endpoint. Here's an example, with a loading fallback and basic error handling:
class App extends Component {
state = {
data: [],
loading: true,
error: false
}
...
componentDidMount() {
// Pick whatever host/port your server is listening on
fetch('localhost:PORT/api/listitems')
.then(res => { // <-- The `results` response object from your backend
// fetch handles errors a little unusually
if (!res.ok) {
throw res;
}
// Convert serialized response into json
return res.json()
}).then(data => {
// setState triggers re-render
this.setState({loading: false, data});
}).catch(err => {
// Handle any errors
console.error(err);
this.setState({loading: false, error: true});
});
}
render() {
return (
<div className="App">
<h3>Grocery List</h3>
// The app will render once before it has data from the
// backend so you should display a fallback until
// you have data in state, and handle any errors from fetch
{this.state.loading ? <p>Loading...</p>
: this.state.error ? <p>Error during fetch!</p>
: (
<ul>
this.state.data.map(item => <li>{item}</li>)
</ul>
)}
</div>
);
}
}
fetch won't reject on HTTP error status (404, 500), which is why the first .then is a little odd. The .catch will log the response here with the status, but if you want to see the error message from the server, you'll need to do something like this:
if (!res.ok) {
return res.text().then(errText => { throw errText });
}
See See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch for more information, or explore other data fetching libraries like axios.