Can't capture POST params with Node.js and Express

Question

I'm trying a simple Node.js + Express RESTful API example, and I've created a simple action to simulate a login request. Here is my code:

app.js

var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

var routes = require('./routes/index');
var users = require('./routes/users');

var app = express();

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

// uncomment after placing your favicon in /public
//app.use(favicon(__dirname + '/public/favicon.ico'));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));

app.use('/', routes);
app.use('/users', users);

// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
    var err = new Error('Not Found');
    err.status = 404;
    next(err);
});

// error handlers

// development error handler
// will print stacktrace
if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
    app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
        res.status(err.status || 500);
        res.render('error', {
            message: err.message,
            error: err
        });
    });
}

// production error handler
// no stacktraces leaked to user
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
    res.status(err.status || 500);
    res.render('error', {
        message: err.message,
        error: {}
    });
});
module.exports = app;

users.js

var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();

/* GET users listing. */
router.get('/', function(req, res) {
  res.send('respond with a resource');
});

/* My Login */
router.post('/login', function(req, res){
    var data = {
        user : req.body.user,
        pass : req.body.pass
    };
    res.send(data);
});

module.exports = router;

I'm simulating a POST request with Postman (user = joe, pass = 123456), but I'm receiving an empty {} as response. Already tried this solution, without success. How can I capture POST params on Node.js? What is wrong?

UPDATED I've embed my app.js and users.js code for a better review.

That's weird, at the very least you should receive the object with empty values or an error message. Does your NodeJS output any error logs? Are you sure your routing path is working correctly? — Hless, Oct 24 '14 at 13:26
What is the version of Express that you are using? You need to use the bodyParser middleware. — Vítor Marques, Oct 24 '14 at 13:36
What middleware do you have set up *before* that router? Can you show that code too? — mscdex, Oct 24 '14 at 13:43
@Hless there aren't error messages. The route works fine, I can print a `Hello World`, for example. But `req.body.user` returns an undefined value. — bodruk, Oct 24 '14 at 13:44
Also, what does `console.log(req.headers['content-type'])` show? — mscdex, Oct 24 '14 at 13:44
@mscdex `console.log(req.headers['content-type'])` shows `multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryEgVAuaovj7k6ABuR` — bodruk, Oct 24 '14 at 13:48
@mscdex Check out my post, I've updated with the *app.js* code. — bodruk, Oct 24 '14 at 13:52

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 24 '14 at 14:07

2

The problem is that you're sending a multipart/form-data request but you are not using any middleware that handles those types of requests (body-parser in Express 4 only handles application/x-www-form-urlencoded and JSON requests).

So you'll need to use a multipart parsing module such as connect-busboy/busboy, multer (Express 3 bodyParser-like API using busboy), connect-multiparty/multiparty, formidable (the previously bundled Express 3 bodyParser middleware), or reformed (uses busboy).

answered Oct 24 '14 at 14:07

mscdex

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I've installed the `body-parser` as decribed [here](http://stackoverflow.com/a/12008719/2684718), but now, I have the following message: `Error: Most middleware (like json) is no longer bundled with Express and must be installed separately. Please see https://github.com/senchalabs/connect#middleware.` – bodruk Oct 24 '14 at 14:33
Like I mentioned, `body-parser` does not handle multipart, so that will not help you. Although if you're not uploading files, you could use `body-parser` with your `Content-Type` set to `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`. – mscdex Oct 24 '14 at 15:30
`Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded` works great to me! – bodruk Oct 24 '14 at 16:04

Can't capture POST params with Node.js and Express

1 Answers1