Understanding async-await in Node.js: Troubleshooting Your Payment Service Implementation

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The Problem: Await Doesn't Work as Expected

In a recent inquiry, a developer shared their frustration with an Express application where the await keyword did not seem to yield the expected results. Their project structure included a paymentService that was responsible for servicing payment transactions. When they attempted to call this service from a controller function, the response was always undefined, despite using the await keyword.

Here’s a snippet for context:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

The Solution: Understanding Promises and Returns

Let's unravel this issue step by step.

1. The Core Issue with the Pay Function

The underlying problem lies in how the pay function is structured. Specifically, here’s the challenge:

2. Returning the Promise

To fix this, you can modify the pay function in one of two straightforward ways:

Option 1: Return the Promise

Here’s the updated code:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Option 2: Utilize Await for Simplicity

Another approach is to use await within the pay function itself, which can make the code cleaner and more readable:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

By opting for either of these solutions, you ensure that the pay function returns a promise that resolves to the intended data, allowing the await in your payUser function to work correctly, thereby eliminating the issue of receiving an undefined response.

3. Conclusion: Wrapping Up

Make sure that whenever you're utilizing async functions, you’re carefully managing your promises. This way you can ensure that your code behaves as expected and returns the appropriate data without confusion.

So next time you encounter an issue with await, remember to check the structure of your promises and how you're returning them.

Happy coding!