The Problem:
You’re building a Node.js application that fetches data from two Airtable bases (employees and positions), aiming to merge employee records with their corresponding position details. Your current asynchronous function using async/await and eachPage isn’t waiting for all asynchronous operations to complete before returning, resulting in a “Promise Pending” state instead of the actual data. This is because eachPage is a callback-based method and your positions.find calls within the callback are not properly awaited. Furthermore, getNextPage() is called incorrectly outside of the eachPage callback, disrupting the pagination.
Understanding the “Why” (The Root Cause):
The core issue lies in the improper handling of asynchronous operations within the eachPage callback. eachPage itself doesn’t return a Promise; instead, it iterates through pages of records and executes a callback function for each page. Your attempt to use async/await within this callback structure is flawed because the await keyword only works within async functions, and the positions.find calls within the callback are not directly awaited. Consequently, the fetchData function resolves before all positions.find operations are complete, leading to the “Promise Pending” result. Incorrect placement of getNextPage() further compounds this by potentially interrupting the pagination process.
Step-by-Step Guide:
Step 1: Refactor for Synchronous Data Retrieval:
Replace the eachPage method with the all() method, which directly retrieves all records in a single synchronous call. This simplifies the code and eliminates the callback-based complexity.
router.get('/team', async function(req, res, next) {
const pageTitle = 'Team Members';
try {
const employeeRecords = await employees.select({ maxRecords: 10, view: "Main View" }).all();
const teamData = await Promise.all(
employeeRecords.map(async (member) => {
try {
const roleData = await positions.find(member.fields["Current Role"]);
member.fields.roleTitle = roleData.fields.Title;
return member;
} catch (error) {
console.error("Lookup failed:", error);
//Handle the error appropriately, e.g., provide a default value:
member.fields.roleTitle = "Role not found";
return member;
}
})
);
res.render('team', { title: pageTitle, teamData });
} catch (error) {
console.error("Team fetch failed:", error);
res.status(500).send("Error loading team data");
}
});
Step 2: Handle Potential Errors:
The try...catch block handles potential errors during both the employee record fetch and the individual position lookups. The catch block provides a more graceful error handling mechanism, preventing the entire request from failing if a single position lookup encounters an issue. Consider providing a default value for roleTitle if a lookup fails, as shown above.
Step 3: Verify Airtable Configuration:
Double-check your Airtable API keys and ensure that the employees and positions variables are correctly initialized and configured to access your Airtable bases. Also, ensure that the view “Main View” exists in your employees table and that the “Current Role” field correctly maps to the corresponding field in your positions table.
Common Pitfalls & What to Check Next:
- Airtable API Rate Limits: If you’re fetching a large number of records, Airtable’s API rate limits might be exceeded. Implement appropriate retry mechanisms and error handling for rate limit errors. Consider increasing
maxRecords gradually to optimize performance.
- Incorrect Field Names: Verify that
"Current Role" and "Title" exactly match the field names in your Airtable bases, including capitalization.
- Network Connectivity: Ensure your server has network access to the Airtable API.
Still running into issues? Share your (sanitized) config files, the exact command you ran, and any other relevant details. The community is here to help!