Express js post method reads encoded data wrongly

Question

I have my angularjs code which tries to send a post request as follows

var req = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'http://localhost:3300/addInventoryItem',
  headers: {
   'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
  },
  data: { 
    item_name : item.itemName
  }
};

$http(req).then(function(response){...});

I have my nodejs express code to have this

app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));

app.post("/addInventoryItem", function(req, res) {
    console.log(req.body);
});

I always get the request in my node as

{ '{"item_name":"sweetB"}': '' }

Why is the req.body have the key as the entire form data as key? How can I solve this?

EDIT I am using express with body-parser module

Thanks for your help

Have you already added middleware to parse `x-www-form-urlencoded` request bodies (https://github.com/expressjs/body-parser)? — mzulch, Jan 13 '16 at 21:39
I don't understand, do you mean that another key-value is added to your data object? Because I don't see 'item_price' in the data that your are sending. — Loolooii, Jan 13 '16 at 21:41
On second look I don't think angular will urlencode the data for you, but there is a service you can use for that, see http://stackoverflow.com/a/30582142/3385516 — mzulch, Jan 13 '16 at 21:46
@mzulch I am using body-parser already. Still it makes the error. — Mani, Jan 13 '16 at 22:04
@Loolooii As you see the res.body has a key value pair with the key being the entire form encoded data. — Mani, Jan 13 '16 at 22:10
@mzulch Your second look is correct. If you can make that as an answer I can accept it. — Mani, Jan 13 '16 at 22:15

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 13 '16 at 23:40

2

Try sending data in encoded format with request headers as json.

var data = $.param({
            json: JSON.stringify({
                item_name : item.itemName
            })
        });

answered Jan 13 '16 at 23:40

Abraham K

624
1
8
24

1

I have used $httpParamSerializer to do the same task and it worked perfectly. – Mani Jan 14 '16 at 04:05

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '16 at 21:58

1

As mentioned by @mzulch in comments, you're looking for a body parser, so that Express would parse the request body for you.

var app = express();
//...
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
// parse urlencoded request body
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true, limit: '50mb'}));

Then, in controller, you'll have an object:

app.post("/addInventoryItem", function(req, res) {
    // req.body is an object: {"item_name":"sweetB","item_price":10} 
    console.log(req.body);
});

answered Jan 13 '16 at 21:58

Alexander Mikhalchenko

4,525
3
32
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I am using body-parser module in the nodejs code already. But then my response contains res.body which has a key value pair with the key being the entire form encoded data. – Mani Jan 13 '16 at 22:11

Express js post method reads encoded data wrongly

2 Answers2