TypeError: Cannot call method 'indexOf' of undefined on needle/lib/needle.js:79 about needle

[tomas]

Why are you sending an undefined url? What do you expect should happen? It should definitely throw.

[thomasmodeneis]

"What do you expect should happen? It should definitely throw.":
I expect this throw error but not like Cannot call method 'indexOf' of undefined. A cb with error message would be another choice.
"Why are you sending an undefined url?"
I just happen to have the issue when in a method the url was undefined for unknown reason and needle failed the whole batch as it was not expected scenario for me before!

[bendrucker]

The standard behavior here would be to throw a TypeError for a bad argument and not to call a callback.

[thomasmodeneis]

I don't agree with throwing a TypeError.

For example request returns a cb with the error msg:

$ node testUriUndefined
[Error: options.uri is a required argument]

var request = require('request')
var options = {'url': undefined}
request(options, function (error, response, body) {
console.log(error);
});

[bendrucker]

That's the convention adopted by all the built in Node APIs including fs, Stream, and others. Bad arguments (developer error) throw and everything else is passed to the callback.

[tomas]

Yes, totally agree with Ben. If you're passing an invalid argument, you should get an exception in order to get your code fixed and/or perform the necessary checks to prevent that from hapenning. Callback errors are meant to contain errors in the request process. And remember that it is possible to call needle without passing a callback. :)