Passing variables to the next middleware using next() in Express.js

Question

Well, my question is I want to pass some variable from the first middleware to another middleware, and I tried doing this, but there was "req.somevariable is a given as 'undefined'".

---

//app.js
..
app.get('/someurl/', middleware1, middleware2)
...

---

////middleware1
...
some conditions
...
res.somevariable = variable1;
next();
...

---

////middleware2
...
some conditions
...
variable = req.somevariable;
...

Answer 1

Attach your variable to the req object, not res.

Instead of

res.somevariable = variable1;

Have:

req.somevariable = variable1;

As others have pointed out, res.locals is the recommended way of passing data through middleware.

Answer 2

This is what the res.locals object is for. Setting variables directly on the request object is not supported or documented. res.locals is guaranteed to hold state over the life of a request.

res.locals

An object that contains response local variables scoped to the request, and therefore available only to the view(s) rendered during that request / response cycle (if any). Otherwise, this property is identical to app.locals.

This property is useful for exposing request-level information such as the request path name, authenticated user, user settings, and so on.

app.use(function(req, res, next) {
    res.locals.user = req.user;  
    res.locals.authenticated = !req.user.anonymous;
    next();
});

To retrieve the variable in the next middleware:

app.use(function(req, res, next) {
    if (res.locals.authenticated) {
        console.log(res.locals.user.id);
    }
    next();
});

Answer 3

I don't think that best practice will be passing a variable like req.YOUR_VAR. You might want to consider req.YOUR_APP_NAME.YOUR_VAR or req.mw_params.YOUR_VAR.

It will help you avoid overwriting other attributes.

Update May 31, 2020

res.locals is what you're looking for, the object is scoped to the request.

An object that contains response local variables scoped to the request, and therefore available only to the view(s) rendered during that request / response cycle (if any). Otherwise, this property is identical to app.locals.

This property is useful for exposing request-level information such as the request path name, authenticated user, user settings, and so on.

Answer 4

That's because req and res are two different objects.

You need to look for the property on the same object you added it to.

Answer 5

The trick is pretty simple... The request cycle is still pretty much alive. You can just add a new variable that will create a temporary, calling

app.get('some/url/endpoint', middleware1, middleware2);

Since you can handle your request in the first middleware

(req, res, next) => {
    var yourvalue = anyvalue
}

In middleware 1 you handle your logic and store your value like below:

req.anyvariable = yourvalue

In middleware 2 you can catch this value from middleware 1 doing the following:

(req, res, next) => {
    var storedvalue = req.yourvalue
}

Answer 6

As mentioned above, res.locals is a good (recommended) way to do this. See here for a quick tutorial on how to do this in Express.