Fellows I develop a Rest API and I want when a route does not exist to send a custom message instead of an html one that express.js sends by default. As fas as I searched I could not find a way to do that.

I tried to do:

  app.all("*",function(req,res){
     res.status(404)
     res.header("Content Type","application/json")
     res.end(JSON.stringify({message:"Route not found"}))
  });

But it matches and all already implemented methods. I want only the unmached one to get handled by my app.

Edit 1

For each enndpoint I create a seperate file having the following content: eg. myendpoint.js

module.exports=function(express){

   var endpoint="/endpoint"

   express.get(endpoint,function(req,res){
      res.end("Getting data other message")
   }).post(endpoint.function(req,res){
      res.end("Getting data other message")
   }).all(endpoint,function(req,res){
      res.status(501)
      res.end("You cannot "+res.method+" to "+endpoint)
   })
}

An in my main file I use:

var endpoint=require('myendpoint.js')
var MyEndpointController=endpoint(app)
app.all("*",function(req,res){
   res.status(404)
   res.header("Content Type","application/json")
   res.end(JSON.stringify({message:"Route not found"}))
});

Fellows I develop a Rest API and I want when a route does not exist to send a custom message instead of an html one that express.js sends by default. As fas as I searched I could not find a way to do that.

I tried to do:

  app.all("*",function(req,res){
     res.status(404)
     res.header("Content Type","application/json")
     res.end(JSON.stringify({message:"Route not found"}))
  });

But it matches and all already implemented methods. I want only the unmached one to get handled by my app.

Edit 1

For each enndpoint I create a seperate file having the following content: eg. myendpoint.js

module.exports=function(express){

   var endpoint="/endpoint"

   express.get(endpoint,function(req,res){
      res.end("Getting data other message")
   }).post(endpoint.function(req,res){
      res.end("Getting data other message")
   }).all(endpoint,function(req,res){
      res.status(501)
      res.end("You cannot "+res.method+" to "+endpoint)
   })
}

An in my main file I use:

var endpoint=require('myendpoint.js')
var MyEndpointController=endpoint(app)
app.all("*",function(req,res){
   res.status(404)
   res.header("Content Type","application/json")
   res.end(JSON.stringify({message:"Route not found"}))
});

• javascript
• node.js
• rest
• express

• Make sure that your app.all('*' ... route is the very last you define, as Express will match all paths in the order you defined them. Thus, if this route were to be the first, it will match every single request. Leaving it to the end will first attempt to match against every previous route before defaulting to *. – Gorka Hernandez Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 8:25
• stackoverflow./questions/44537806/… Visit Above And Help me to resolve this – Nipun Tyagi Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 9:20

4 Answers 4

1.Declare all of your routes

2.Define unmatched route request to error respose AT the END.

This you have to set it in the app. (app.use) not in the routes.

Server.js

//Import require modules
var express = require('express');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

// define our app using express
var app = express();

// this will help us to read POST data.
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));

app.use(bodyParser.json());

var port = process.env.PORT || 8081;    

// instance of express Router
var router = express.Router(); 

// default route to make sure , it works.
router.get('/', function(req, res) {
    res.json({ message: 'hooray! wele to our api!' });   
});

// test route to make sure , it works.
router.get('/test', function(req, res) {
    res.json({ message: 'Testing!' });   
});


// all our routes will be prefixed with /api
app.use('/api', router);

// this is default in case of unmatched routes
app.use(function(req, res) {
// Invalid request
      res.json({
        error: {
          'name':'Error',
          'status':404,
          'message':'Invalid Request',
          'statusCode':404,
          'stack':'http://localhost:8081/'
        },
         message: 'Testing!'
      });
});

// state the server
app.listen(port);

console.log('Server listening on port ' + port);

Please note : I have prefix '/api' in my routes.

Please try http://localhost:8081/api

You will see '{"message":"hooray! wele to our api!"}'

When you try http://localhost:8081/api4545 - which is not a valid route

You would see the error message.

First you need to define all existing routes then at last you have to define no route. order is very important

 // Defining main template navigations(sample routes)

 app.use('/',express.static(__dirname + "/views/index.html"));
 app.use('/app',express.static(__dirname + "/views/app.html"));
 app.use('/api',express.static(__dirname + "/views/api.html"));
 app.use('/uploads',express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'static/uploads')));

 //If no route is matched by now, it must be a 404

 app.use(function(req, res, next) {
  res.status(404);
  res.json({status:404,title:"Not Found",msg:"Route not found"});
  next();
 });

Can't post as ment (reputation is too low ...) but did you define this route after all your other paths ?

The order is really important, you should first define all your routes and then have this one.

on my case for the safetyness of my routes life cycle I used this **/** or */*, *(asterisk) operator stands for all, and here's my example.

app.use('**/**',express.static(path.join(__dirname, './public/not-found/index.html')));