Nodejs - Req.body undefined in post with express 4.9.0

Question

I'm a beginner of nodejs, I try to know req.body using a middleware body-parse or using nothing, but both found req.body is undefined. Here is my code

var app = require('express')();         
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var multer = require('multer');         

app.get('/', function(req, res) {       
    res.send("Hello world!\n");         
});                                     

app.post('/module', function(req, res) {
    console.log(req);                   
    app.use(bodyParser.json());         
    app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({     
        extended: true                  
    }));                                
    app.use(multer);                    
    console.log(req.body);              
});                                     

app.listen(3000);                       

module.exports = app;  

And I use command curl -X POST -d 'test case' http://127.0.0.1:3000/module to test it.

express's version: 4.9.0
node's version: v0.10.33

Please help, thank you.

Answer 1

By default cURL uses Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded for form submissions that do not contain files.

For urlencoded forms your data needs to be in the right format: curl -X POST -d 'foo=bar&baz=bla' http://127.0.0.1:3000/module or curl -X POST -d 'foo=bar' -d 'baz=bla' http://127.0.0.1:3000/module.

For JSON, you'd have to explicitly set the right Content-Type: curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"foo":"bar","baz":"bla"}' http://127.0.0.1:3000/module.

Also as @Brett noted, you need to app.use() your middleware before that POST route somewhere (outside of a route handler).

Answer 2

You are placing the express configuration for body-parser in the wrong location.

var app = require('express')();         
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var multer = require('multer');         

// these statements config express to use these modules, and only need to be run once
app.use(bodyParser.json());         
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));                                
app.use(multer);

// set up your routes
app.get('/', function(req, res) {       
    res.send("Hello world!\n");         
});                                     

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

app.listen(3000);                       

module.exports = app;  

Answer 3

You must make sure that you define all express configurations before defining routes. as body-parser is responsible for parsing requst's body.

var express = require('express'),
    app     = express(),
    port    = parseInt(process.env.PORT, 10) || 8080;

//you can remove the app.configure at all in case of it is not supported
//directly call the inner code     
app.configure(function(){
  app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded());
  //in case you are sending json objects 
  app.use(bodyParser.json());
  app.use(app.router);
});

app.listen(port);

app.post("/module", function(req, res) {
  res.send(req.body);
});