Cleanup Temporary Files

Cleanup Temporary Files

The cleanupTemporaryFiles function is essential in handling a specific scenario in server management. When using uploadImagesToCloudinary for image uploads, it also cleans up any temporary files. However, there may be cases where your server logic returns a response before reaching the uploadImagesToCloudinary function, usually due to certain conditions not being met. In such situations, temporary files might still linger on the server. cleanupTemporaryFiles is designed for these instances, ensuring that any unwanted temporary files are removed, thus maintaining server efficiency and avoiding clutter.

Example

Imagine a scenario where you're uploading a file but need to check certain conditions first. If these conditions aren't met, you'd typically send back an error response. Before sending this response, you use cleanupTemporaryFiles to remove any files that were temporarily uploaded during the request process. This ensures your server remains clean and efficient, even when the usual upload and cleanup process is interrupted.

// import express and anything else that you need
// import "cleanupTemporaryFiles" & "uploadImagesToCloudinary"  from 'express-cloudinary-image-handler'
 
app.post('/upload-file', async (req, res) => {
    // condition check before uploading
    if (!isConditionMet(req)) {
        // If condition is not met, cleanup temporary files
        await cleanupTemporaryFiles({ req: req })
        // Send a response indicating the failure of condition
        return res.status(400).json({ message: 'Required condition not met' })
    }
 
    // If condition is met, the flow would normally proceed to 'uploadImagesToCloudinary' util
    // ... code to upload image using 'uploadImagesToCloudinary'
})

cleanupTemporaryFiles - Parameters

Parameter NameTypeRequirementDescription
reqExpress.js request objectRequiredThe request object from Express.js containing file data.

cleanupTemporaryFiles - Return Value

Field NameTypeDescription
isErrorbooleanIndicates if there was an error during the deletion.
errorInfoobjectContains error details if isError is true.

errorInfo Object Properties:

Property NameTypeDescription
statusCodenumberThe status code of the error.
messagestringThe error message.