TypeError: Cannot read property '_locals' of undefined

1
votes

I am trying to use nodejs in ubuntu 16.04 and I installed node and npm but I'm having this error "TypeError: Cannot read property '_locals' of undefined" when I try this:

var express = require("express");
    app = express();
    bodyParser = require("body-parser");
    mongoose = require("mongoose");

app.set("view engine", "ejs");

app.get("/", function(req,res){
    app.render("index");
});

app.listen(3000, function(){
    console.log("Server Started!");
})

it outputs in the terminal:

Server Started!
TypeError: Cannot read property '_locals' of undefined
    at EventEmitter.render (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/application.js:548:11)
    at /home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/app.js:9:6
    at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.js:95:5)
    at next (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/route.js:131:13)
    at Route.dispatch (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/route.js:112:3)
    at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.js:95:5)
    at /home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:277:22
    at Function.process_params (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:330:12)
    at next (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:271:10)
    at expressInit (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/middleware/init.js:33:5)
    at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.js:95:5)
    at trim_prefix (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:312:13)
    at /home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:280:7
    at Function.process_params (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:330:12)
    at next (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:271:10)
    at query (/home/luis/Documents/work/webdevBootcamp/test/node_modules/express/lib/middleware/query.js:44:5)

when I load localhost:3000 it won't render an ejs file or let me use the send() function it I do

app.get("/", function(req,res){
    app.send("whatever");
});

it says:

TypeError: app.send is not a function

I do have express and ejs modules installed (ran npm install i -S express ejs mongoose body-parser)

2
javascriptnode.jsexpressubuntu-16.04
could you please check stackoverflow.com/questions/36013826/… for help – nivendha
You shouldn't call app.send instead res.send. an app is an object for routing http request. – digit
@digit THANKS! wow I feel stupid – LuisEgan

2 Answers

6
votes

as @digit said in the comments: "You shouldn't call app.send instead res.send. an app is an object for routing http request."

The problem was I was doing 

app.get("/", function(req,res){
    app.send("whatever");
});

instead of

app.get("/", function(req,res){
    res.send("whatever"); // res instead of app
});
1
votes

Please set your views directory. example:if your index template file is in 'src'

app.set('views', __dirname + '/src');