TypeError: Cannot read property 'startsWith' of undefined

aphong · 2022-02-12T06:21:34.989Z

Hi, im trying to connect to MongoAtlas run an app that uses mongodb (^4.3.1 ) in nodejs (version 10.19.0), Windows 7 & then i have this error:

 TypeError: Cannot read property 'startsWith' of undefined:
D:\codespace\zzz\node_modules\mongodb-connection-string-url\lib\index.js:9
    return (connectionString.startsWith('mongodb://') ||
                             ^
TypeError: Cannot read property 'startsWith' of undefined
    at connectionStringHasValidScheme (D:\codespace\zzz\node_modules\mongodb-connection-string-url\lib\index.js:9:30)

Could anybody shed me some light on how to clear this error? please?
Thanks

Kush_Kapadia · 2022-02-12T06:31:25.730Z

@aphong what do you actually intend to do? Set up a connection with your database? or is it something else? Can you please share your code as well?
Thanks,
Kush

aphong · 2022-02-12T08:06:21.819Z

Hey! Bro, I just want to get infor from an API then save it into a database.
I have just figured it out the issue. It s weird that the file containing MongoDB connection does not read the .env file where I put the connection string inside & call it by this variable process.env.MOGNGO_CONNECTION_STRING despite that i have installed “dotenv” package & called this line require(“dotenv”).config();
Anyway! thank you so much bro!

Kush_Kapadia · 2022-02-12T08:29:08.817Z

I will get back to you regarding this issue, until then feel free to use the following method:

To establish a reusable connection (So that we can access the connected database from any other file), I created an async function in my db.js file where the connection is established and then exported it. In the end of the file, I have called the function. The code is as follows:

const {MongoClient} = require('mongodb')


const client = new MongoClient('mongodb+srv://todoAppUser:<password>@cluster0.6lvjr.mongodb.net/myDatabase?retryWrites=true&w=majority')

async function start(){
  await client.connect()
  console.log("Connected")
  module.exports = client.db()
  const app = require('./app')
  app.listen(3000)
}

  start()

and while calling it from another file:

const productCollection = require('./db').collection("product");

This code gives me no error and works perfectly fine. With the help of the above code, one can use this conveniently while following the MVC (Model-View-Controller) framework.

I hope this helps you until I get back to you with the .env solution.

Thanks,
Kush

aphong · 2022-02-12T09:04:22.428Z

thanks for your great code snippet. I got it!
Its just weird with the .env file. I put the .env file in the same directory with package.json & src folder. then I ve got index.js & bd.js where I call the mongodb connection inside the src folder.

├── src/ (… ,db.js , index.js)
├── node_modules
├── .env
└── package.json
Then the error appears when i try to run node index.js inside src folder.
if I replace the process.env.MOGNGO_CONNECTION_STRING variable by this url string ‘mongodb+srv://todoAppUser:@cluster0.6lvjr.mongodb.net/’ inside db.js file then the error is gone!

Kush_Kapadia · 2022-02-12T09:17:11.022Z

Do you mind sharing the code inside your .env, index.js and db.js files? It would be easier for me to help you!

aphong · 2022-02-12T09:17:45.309Z

i just put the .env file inside src … and it works

Kush_Kapadia · 2022-02-12T09:19:07.728Z

Awesome! Happy to hear that!
Happy coding

aphong · 2022-02-12T09:19:38.151Z

Thank you so much fo your time Kush! nothing much just my dumb scritps hihi
happy coding!

Sarr_Ibrahima · 2022-02-16T16:24:25.901Z

In my case I believe the issue was caused happening because of a small delay before the .env gets initiated.
If i call new MongoClient at the top of the module it fails, but if I call new MongoClient inside on a function I don’t get the issue.

system · 2022-02-21T16:24:44.553Z

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