Node static file server, how to make response work in async callback?

Question

I wrote this function that is triggered when I get a request on my node server, it works perfectly and it sends back a file that automatically starts to download.

function(req, res) {
  // … other code …

  try {
    const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(fullPath, 'utf-8');

    res.writeHead(200, {
      'Content-Type': 'text/plain',
      'Content-Disposition': `attachment; filename="${fileName}"`,
    });
    res.end(fileContent);
  } catch (err) {
    res.writeHead(404);
    res.end();
  }
}

Now I want to rewrite it using the readFile method so I tried something like this instead:

function(req, res) {
  // … other code …

  fs.readFile(fullPath, 'utf-8', function(err, data) {
    if (err) {
      res.writeHead(404);
      res.end();
      return;
    }

    res.writeHead(200, {
      'Content-Type': 'text/plain',
      'Content-Disposition': `attachment; filename="${fileName}"`,
    });
    res.end(data);
  });
}

But now it always returns a 404 error, I think the function exits before the response is ready, so it discards the response that happens too late? How can I make it work?

Please don't suggest using third party libraries, as this is not what I'm asking. I want to do this with native modules only.

Thanks in advance.

using node 10.7.0

Answer 1

The problem is actually earlier in the code, I just forgot to return inside an if statement:

function onRequest(req, res) {    
  // … other code …

  if (someCondition) {
    functionOfTheOriginalPost(req, res);
    return;
    // ^-- This is the return that I forgot so it 
    // was jumping down in the "404" area
  }

  res.writeHead(404);
  res.end();
}

http.createServer(onRequest).listen(3000);

Thanks to @Paul that made me think and realize the error.