Reload page in Node.js using Express and EJS

javascript node.js express ejs

24,125

Solution 1

There is a thing called HTTP Referer: It is an HTTP header field that identifies the address of the page that linked to the resource being requested.

If you want to refresh a page, after the user sends a request that changes something, just redirect to the referer.

app.get('/someRequest', function(request, response) {

    // some things changed here.
    response.redirect(request.get('referer'));
});

Solution 2

To reload the html page:

<script>
location.reload(true/false);
</script>

Also, you want to restart the server whenever a change is made use nodemon instead of nodejs to run your server.

To install nodemon:

npm install -g nodemon

To run the server(app.js is the main server file)

nodemon apps.js

Nodemon looks for the changes and restarts the server whenever found.

24,125

Author by

Adam Johns

Software developer

Updated on March 15, 2020

Comments

Adam Johns about 4 years

I'm trying to reload the browser page when the underlying data model changes:

var request = require('request');
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));

var requests;

app.get('/', function(req, res) {
    res.render('index', {
        requests: requests
    });
});

app.listen(3000);

...and later when requests data model changes:

request.get('localhost:3000/', function(error, response, body) {
    console.log(body);
});

but my browser page doesn't refresh unless I manually tap the refresh button with my mouse. What am I missing?

EDIT: Here is my index.ejs code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<ul>
    <% requests.forEach(function(match) { %>
        <form action="/acceptRequest" method="post" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded">
            <input type="text" name="id" value="<%= match.id %>">
            <input type="text" name="fighter1" value="<%= match.fighter1 %>"> vs.
            <input type="text" name="fighter2" value="<%= match.fighter2 %>"> on
            <input type="text" name="fightdate" value="<%= match.date %>"> in
            <input type="text" name="rounds" value="">
            <input type="submit" value="Submit">
        </form>
        <br>
        <% }); %>
</ul>

</html>

Adam Johns about 8 years

but I need to reload outside of the app.get so I don't have access to response.
Akshay Arora about 8 years

@AdamJohns, do you want to reload the localhost:3000/ ?
frontsideup over 5 years

This "location.reload(true/false);" is so bad, please don't do this.
oldboy over 5 years

@Undefined i dont want a file system menu, so ive used Menu.setApplicationMenu(null), but now i have no way of reloading the page for the main window? i tried globalShortcut.register('Ctrl+R', ()=>{ window.location.reload() }) but this obvs doesnt work. is there something else i can do?
Ipsita Rout over 5 years

@AdamJohns : Any progress? How did you solve? My requirement is same as yours :(
apYan over 2 years

This does not work