In sails.js: fetch model's data from remote server - sails.js

Question

my sails.js app is embedded in php project where php generate some date for sails model. Can't find the way to fetch this date in beforeCreate callback or some custom method. I don't want use db to sync 2 models (model from sails & model from php). And i need to send some date to remote php app.
sails.js v.0.9.x
here is my controller:
module.exports = {
index: function (req, res) {},
create: function (req, res) {
if ( !req.param('login') )
throw new Error('Login is undefined');
if ( !req.param('message') )
throw new Error('Initial message is undefined');
var user, thread;
User.create({
id: 1,
name: req.param('login'),
ip: req.ip
}).done( function (err, model) {
user = model;
if (err) {
return res.redirect('/500', err);
}
user.fetch(); // my custom method
});
return res.view({ thread: thread });
}
};
and model:
module.exports = {
attributes: {
id: 'integer',
name: 'string',
ip: 'string',
fetch: function (url) {
var app = sails.express.app;
// suggest this but unlucky :)
app.get('/path/to/other/loc', function (req, res, next) {
console.log(req, res)
return next()
});
}
}
};
UPD My solution
Model:
beforeCreate: function (values, next) {
var options = 'http://localhost:1337/test',
get = require('http').get;
get(options, function (res) {
res.on('data', function (data) {
_.extend( values, JSON.parse( data.toString() ) );
next();
});
}).on('error', function () {
throw new Error('Unable to fetch remote data');
next();
});
}

Answer 1

Yikes--app.get is nowhere near what you need. That's binding a route handler inside of your app and has nothing to do with requesting remote data. Don't do this.
The easiest way to fetch remote data in Node is using the Request library. First install it in your project directory using npm install request. Then at the top of your model file:
var request = require('request');
and in your fetch method:
fetch: function(url, callback) {
request.get(url, function(error, response, body) {
return callback(error, body);
});
}
Note the added callback parameter for fetch; this is needed because the request is an asynchronous operation. That is, the call to fetch() will return immediately, but the request will take some time, and when it's done it will send the result back via the callback function. Seeing as fetch is at this point just a wrapper around request.get, I'm not sure why it's necessary to have it as a model method at all, but if the URL was based on something within the model instance then it would make sense.