Node.js – Connect to MySQL Database

In this tutorial, we shall learn to Connect to MySQL database in Node.js using mysql.createConnection method with an example Node.js program.

Node.js provides a module to connect to MySQL database and perform MySQL operations.

connect to MySQL database in Node.js

Steps to Connect to MySQL Database via Node.js

Following is a step-by-step guide to connect to MySQL database with an example.

Step 1: Make sure that MySQL is configured properly. Collect the information about IP Address, User Name and Password.

Step 2: In your node.js program, include mysql module.

var mysql = require(‘mysql‘);

MySQL module has to be installed before it can be used. Otherwise you would get an error.

To install mysql module, refer how to install MySQL in Node.js.

Step 3: Create a connection variable with IP Address, User Name and Password collected in Step 1.

var con = mysql.createConnection({
  host: "localhost",    // ip address of server running mysql
  user: "arjun",    // user name to your mysql database
  password: "password"    // corresponding password
});

Step 4: Make a call to connect function using connection variable, that we created in the previous step.

con.connect(function(err) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log("Connected!");
});

Function provided as argument to connect is a callback function. After node.js has tried with connecting to MySQL Database, the callback function is called with the resulting information sent as argument to the callback function.

Example 1 – Connect to MySQL Database via Node.js

In this example, we will connect to a MySQL instance running in the localhost.

connectToMySQL.js

// include mysql module
var mysql = require('mysql');

// create a connection variable with the details required
var con = mysql.createConnection({
  host: "localhost",	// ip address of server running mysql
  user: "arjun",	// user name to your mysql database
  password: "password"	// corresponding password
});

// connect to the database.
con.connect(function(err) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log("Connected!");
});

You may change the host as per your requirements. It could be an IP, or a URL, etc.

Open a terminal or command prompt and run this script using node command as shown in the following.

Output

$ node connectToMySQL.js 
Connected!

Conclusion

In this Node.js Tutorial – Node.js MySQL – Connect to Database, we have learnt to Connect to MySQL database using Node.js MySQL Module -> createConnection method with the help of an example Node.js program.