[javascript] Invalid shorthand property initializer

I wrote the following code in JavaScript for a node project, but I ran into an error while testing a module. I'm not sure what the error means. Here's my code:

var http = require('http');
// makes an http request
var makeRequest = function(message) {
 var options = {
  host: 'localhost',
  port = 8080,
  path : '/',
  method: 'POST'
 }
 // make request and execute function on recieveing response
 var request = http.request(options, function(response) {
  response.on('data', function(data) {
    console.log(data);
  });
 });
 request.write(message);
 request.end();
}
module.exports = makeRequest;

When I try to run this module, it throws the following error:

$ node make_request.js
/home/pallab/Desktop/make_request.js:8
    path = '/',
    ^^^^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Invalid shorthand property initializer
    at Object.exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:76:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:542:28)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:579:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:487:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:446:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:438:3)
    at Module.runMain (module.js:604:10)
    at run (bootstrap_node.js:394:7)
    at startup (bootstrap_node.js:149:9)
    at bootstrap_node.js:509:3

I dont quite get what this means, and what I can do to resolve this.

This question is related to javascript node.js

The answer is


In options object you have used "=" sign to assign value to port but we have to use ":" to assign values to properties in object when using object literal to create an object i.e."{}" ,these curly brackets. Even when you use function expression or create an object inside object you have to use ":" sign. for e.g.:

    var rishabh = {
        class:"final year",
        roll:123,
        percent: function(marks1, marks2, marks3){
                      total = marks1 + marks2 + marks3;
                      this.percentage = total/3 }
                    };

john.percent(85,89,95);
console.log(rishabh.percentage);

here we have to use commas "," after each property. but you can use another style to create and initialize an object.

var john = new Object():
john.father = "raja";  //1st way to assign using dot operator
john["mother"] = "rani";// 2nd way to assign using brackets and key must be string

Use : instead of =

see the example below that gives an error

app.post('/mews', (req, res) => {
if (isValidMew(req.body)) {
    // insert into db
    const mew = {
        name = filter.clean(req.body.name.toString()),
        content = filter.clean(req.body.content.toString()),
        created: new Date()
    };

That gives Syntex Error: invalid shorthand proprty initializer.

Then i replace = with : that's solve this error.

app.post('/mews', (req, res) => {
if (isValidMew(req.body)) {
    // insert into db
    const mew = {
        name: filter.clean(req.body.name.toString()),
        content: filter.clean(req.body.content.toString()),
        created: new Date()
    };

Change the = to : to fix the error.

var makeRequest = function(message) {<br>
 var options = {<br>
  host: 'localhost',<br>
  port : 8080,<br>
  path : '/',<br>
  method: 'POST'<br>
 }