Way to handle mongoose.connect() error in promise catch handler

How to handle mongoose.connect() error in catch handler? I want to use application initialization chain but can’t do that because mongoose.connect() does not return rejected promise. It returns rejected promise only if I specify callback, but it’s not a perfect solution.

Example:

mongoose.connect('mongodb://127.0.0.2/test') // if error it will throw async error
    .then(() => { // if all is ok we will be here
        return server.start();
    })
    .catch(err => { // we will not be here...
        console.error('App starting error:', err.stack);
        process.exit(1);
    });

Workaround:

mongoose.connect('mongodb://127.0.0.2/test', function() { /* dummy function */ })
    .then(() => {
        return server.start();
    })
    .catch(err => { // mongoose connection error will be handled here
        console.error('App starting error:', err.stack);
        process.exit(1);
    });

I think mongoose.connect() throws async error instead of return rejected promise in order to not break backward compatibility. Users expect that application will be finished with error code if something went wrong with mongoose connection establishment. If mongoose.connect() returns rejected promise application will be finished with 0 code and nothing will be output to console. So it will be good to have some way to say mongoose.connect() to return promise. Maybe something like exec():

mongoose.connect('mongodb://127.0.0.2/test').exec()
    .then(() => { // if all is ok we will be here
        return server.start();
    })
    .catch(err => { // if error we will be here
        console.error('App starting error:', err.stack);
        process.exit(1);
    });

[mathieug]

Use the callback of mongoose.connect to catch any error during the connection. You can start you server in the event open.

        mongoose.connection.once('open', function() {
            logger.info('MongoDB event open');
            logger.debug('MongoDB connected [%s]', url);

            mongoose.connection.on('connected', function() {
                logger.info('MongoDB event connected');
            });

            mongoose.connection.on('disconnected', function() {
                logger.warn('MongoDB event disconnected');
            });

            mongoose.connection.on('reconnected', function() {
                logger.info('MongoDB event reconnected');
            });

            mongoose.connection.on('error', function(err) {
                logger.error('MongoDB event error: ' + err);
            });

            // return resolve();
            return server.start();
        });

        return mongoose.connect(url, options, function(err) {
            if (err) {
                logger.error('MongoDB connection error: ' + err);
                // return reject(err);
                process.exit(1);
            }
        });

[nasr18]

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/dbCollection', function(err, db) {
    if (err) {
        console.log('Unable to connect to the server. Please start the server. Error:', err);
    } else {
        console.log('Connected to Server successfully!');
    }
});