Call an API within getServerSideProps or just access the database

[onefineplayandy]

I'm in a bit of a quandry at the moment and i wonder if someone can help me figure this out.

I have a simple application. You login, then it should take you to a 'userdetails/create' page allowing the user to populate some more data.

My current plan is to utilise getServerSideProps to:

• ensure user is logged in
• get existing user details
• return to page as props

At the moment i'm using an API to get the existing user details. But all this does is:

• ensure user is logged in
• access the database do a select
• return some data
• or various error types

I guess my question is. What is the point of doing the API call if all it's doing is accessing a database on the serverside. Why dont i just access the database directory to solve my problem? This would save me

• doubling up the authentication check
• reduce network costs as i wont need to do an api call

The page, api and also the DB connection / user details service layer are all within the same codebase.

[jamesmosier]

Sounds like you have your answer 😄 if all of your application logic is self contained already in your project, I'd say just include your logic in getServerSideProps if it is only relevant for that page it is used in and will only be consumed internally within your application.

I don't think you can go wrong, but it sounds like you have more pros than cons for putting it in getServerSideProps.

Just my 2 cents 🚀

[onefineplayandy]

i think you're right, it makes sense to in serverSideProps to just get the data nad on the client side to use an API if i need to (forms or whatever) thanks for helping me clarify this in my head.