"Unable to connect to the Parse API" error thrown when trying to call a Cloud function with a Parse Query.

[grassland-curing-cfa]

I have defined a Cloud function in main.js as below:

Parse.Cloud.define('getAllCurrentObs', function(request, response) {
    Parse.Cloud.useMasterKey();

    var queryObs = new Parse.Query("GCUR_OBSERVATION");
    queryObs.ascending("createdAt");
    queryObs.equalTo("ObservationStatus", 0);
    queryObs.limit(1000);

    queryObs.find().then(function(results) {
        response.success(results.length);
    }, function(error) {
        response.error("Error: " + error.code + " " + error.message);
    });
});

While trying the POST cURL command line to call the function, the command line prompt showed the following error message:

curl -X POST -H "X-Parse-Application-Id: APP_ID" -H "X-Parse-Master-Key: MASTER_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{}" https://{MY_APP_NAME}.herokuapp.com/parse/functions/getAllCurrentObs
{"code":141,"error":"Error: 100 XMLHttpRequest failed: \"Unable to connect to the Parse API\""}

The Heroku logs page showed:
2016-02-25T12:33:14.263956+00:00 heroku[router]: at=info method=POST path="/parse/functions/getAllCurrentObs" host={MY_APP_NAME}.herokuapp.com request_id=6af8cfa4-c935-4b52-a869-1d5dd47b93aa fwd="183.78.173.3" dyno=web.1 connect=0ms service=2764ms status=400 bytes=378

By the way, using cURL to post the default "hello" cloud function worked well.

Edit: I think the problem is any Parse Query made to a DB Class in a cloud function would fail.

[codegefluester]

Can you provide more context and detailed steps to reproduce the issue? That way it is easier to track down the root cause and it will be easier to provide help and a fix if necessary.

[flovilmart]

@grassland-curing-cfa did you set the serverURL in your parse server configuration?

[grassland-curing-cfa]

@flovilmart No, I didn't. Where is the parse server configuration where the serverURL is set, in index.js?

I have the following index.js in my Parse-Server-Example folder.

// Example express application adding the parse-server module to expose Parse
// compatible API routes.

var express = require('express');
var cors = require('cors');
var ParseServer = require('parse-server').ParseServer;

var databaseUri = process.env.DATABASE_URI || process.env.MONGOLAB_URI;

if (!databaseUri) {
  console.log('DATABASE_URI not specified, falling back to localhost.');
}

var api = new ParseServer({
  databaseURI: databaseUri || 'mongodb://localhost:27017/dev',
  cloud: process.env.CLOUD_CODE_MAIN || __dirname + '/cloud/main.js',
  appId: process.env.APP_ID || 'myAppId',
  restAPIKey: process.env.REST_API_KEY || '',
  javascriptKey: process.env.JAVASCRIPT_KEY || '',
  masterKey: process.env.MASTER_KEY || '' //Add your master key here. Keep it secret!
});
// Client-keys like the javascript key or the .NET key are not necessary with parse-server
// If you wish you require them, you can set them as options in the initialization above:
// javascriptKey, restAPIKey, dotNetKey, clientKey

var app = express();
app.use(cors());

// Serve the Parse API on the /parse URL prefix
var mountPath = process.env.PARSE_MOUNT || '/parse';
app.use(mountPath, api);

// Parse Server plays nicely with the rest of your web routes
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
  res.status(200).send('I dream of being a web site.');
});

var port = process.env.PORT || 1337;
app.listen(port, function() {
    console.log('parse-server-example running on port ' + port + '.');
});

[gfosco]

Provide a serverURL option to the ParseServer call, something like:

var api = new ParseServer({
  databaseURI: databaseUri || 'mongodb://localhost:27017/dev',
  cloud: process.env.CLOUD_CODE_MAIN || __dirname + '/cloud/main.js',
  appId: process.env.APP_ID || 'myAppId',
  restAPIKey: process.env.REST_API_KEY || '',
  javascriptKey: process.env.JAVASCRIPT_KEY || '',
  serverURL: process.env.SERVER_URL || 'http://localhost:1337/parse',
  masterKey: process.env.MASTER_KEY || '' //Add your master key here. Keep it secret!
});

[grassland-curing-cfa]

@gfosco Do I also need to set a Config Variable "SERVER_URL" in Heroku's Settings page? If so, and how?

I thought "PARSE_MOUNT" would do that... ...

• APP_ID
• JAVASCRIPT_KEY
  ... ...
• PARSE_MOUNT: /parse
• SERVER_URL: ???

[gfosco]

Yes for heroku that would be your full heroku app address, like http://weee.herokuapp.com/parse

[grassland-curing-cfa]

This helped!
https://{MY_APP}.herokuapp.com/parse
Thanks!

[grassland-curing-cfa]

Since the problem fixed by adding SERVER_URL, I am still curious about why this was needed as it seems "PARSE_MOUNT: /parse" does the same thing. I have another Parse-server-exemple app deployed on Heroku but that one worked well without SERVER_URL set. Very weird.

[gfosco]

The server url was added at some point, and was necessary for cloud code to know the right server to connect to when making requests back to the API. The mount variable is necessary for other reasons, just to know where on the domain it is hosted (creating file urls for example).

[guptasachin25]

@gfosco I came across same issue, however, even after adding serverURL I am getting "XMLHttpRequest failed: "Unable to connect to the Parse API"". my parse-server is running on localhost.

 var api = new ParseServer({
  databaseURI: databaseUri || 'mongodb://localhost:27017/dev',
  cloud: process.env.CLOUD_CODE_MAIN || __dirname + '/cloud/main.js',
  appId: process.env.APP_ID,
  serverURL: 'http://localhost:1337/parse',
  masterKey: process.env.MASTER_KEY
});

Mongodb is hosted on MongoLab.