CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjsonnode.jsexpress
Dream_Cap
Dream_Cap

Reputation: 2302

How can I access my req.body data/json in Express?

I am new to node.js and I am trying to access json on my node.js server from a post request so I can send it to an API and feed it back to my front-end js file. I can see the json object, but I can't seem to access it(ex: req.body.name) after reading some documentation/stackoverflow posts.

Here is my post route from my server.js file, and packages: 

    var prettyjson = require('prettyjson');
    var express = require('express');
    var http = require('http');
    var cors = require('cors');
    var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
    var app = express();


    // create application/json parser 
    app.use(bodyParser.json());
    // create application/x-www-form-urlencoded parser 
    app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
        extended: true
    }));

    app.post('/', function(req, res) {

    var test = req.body; //If I req.body.name here, it will return undefined
    console.log(test);

    });

Here is my front end map.js file post function and data: 

  var locations = [
  {name:'Le Thai', coords:{lat:36.168743, lng:-115.139866}},
  {name:'Atomic Liquors', coords:{lat:36.166782, lng:-115.13551}},
  {name:'The Griffin', coords:{lat:36.168785, lng:-115.140329}},
  {name:'Pizza Rock', coords:{lat:36.17182, lng:-115.142304}},
  {name:'Mob Museum', coords:{lat:36.172815,lng:-115.141242}},
  {name:'Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Italian Steakhouse', coords:{lat:36.169437, lng:-115.142903}},
  {name:'eat', coords:{lat:36.166535, lng:-115.139067}},
  {name:'Hugo’s Cellar', coords:{lat:36.169915, lng:-115.143861}},
  {name:'Therapy', coords:{lat:36.169041, lng:-115.139829}},
  {name:'Vegenation', coords:{lat:36.167401, lng:-115.139453}}

  ];
   //convert array to JSON 
   var jsonStr = JSON.stringify(locations);

   $.post('http://localhost:3000/', jsonStr, function(data){
     //empty for now

   },'json');

End goal: I want to be able to access my data like req.body.name. I tried using typeof on req.body, and it returns an object, however I can't seem to access this object. And I tried using JSON.parse, but realized req.body is already an object. I would like to serve this data to the Yelp API eventually.

Current output(per request) from console.log(req.body): 

{ '{"name":"Le Thai","coords":{"lat":36.168743,"lng":-115.139866}},
{"name":"Atomic Liquors","coords":{"lat":36.166782,"lng":-115.13551}},
{"name":"The Griffin","coords":{"lat":36.168785,"lng":-115.140329}},
{"name":"Pizza Rock","coords":{"lat":36.17182,"lng":-115.142304}},
{"name":"Mob Museum","coords":{"lat":36.172815,"lng":-115.141242}},
{"name":"Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Italian Steakhouse","coords":
{"lat":36.169437,"lng":-115.142903}},{"name":"eat","coords":
{"lat":36.166535,"lng":-115.139067}},{"name":"Hugo’s Cellar","coords":
{"lat":36.169915,"lng":-115.143861}},{"name":"Therapy","coords":
{"lat":36.169041,"lng":-115.139829}},{"name":"Vegenation","coords":
{"lat":36.167401,"lng":-115.139453}}': '' }

Upvotes: 3

Views: 13583

Answers (3)

Pir Abdul
Pir Abdul

Reputation: 2334

For those getting an empty object in req.body

I had forgotten to set headers: {"Content-Type": "application/json"} in the request. Changing it solved the problem

Upvotes: 0

T.J. Crowder
T.J. Crowder

Reputation: 1074495

The problem is you're not telling the server you're sending it JSON, so it's not getting parsed. Also, as rsp pointed out, to access the first name, you'd want req.body[0].name, not req.body.name.

The dataType parameter on $.post isn't to tell the server what you're sending it, it's to tell jQuery what you're expecting back from the server. To tell the server what you're sending it, use $.ajax and the contentType option:

$.ajax({
    url: 'http://localhost:3000/',
    type: "POST",
    contentType: "application/json",  // <====
    data: jsonStr,
    success: function(data){
     //empty for now
    }
});

Now, the body-parser module sees the content type on the request, and parses it for you. So for instance, if I change your server file to do this:

app.post('/', function(req, res) {
    req.body.forEach(function(entry, index) {
        console.log(index, entry.name)
    });
});

...then with the change above to the client code, I get this on the server console:

0 'Le Thai'
1 'Atomic Liquors'
2 'The Griffin'
3 'Pizza Rock'
4 'Mob Museum'
5 'Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Italian Steakhouse'
6 'eat'
7 'Hugo’s Cellar'
8 'Therapy'
9 'Vegenation'

Upvotes: 2

rsp
rsp

Reputation: 111366

You're using an array, so it will not be:

req.body.name

but e.g.

req.body[0].name

You probably want to iterate over the array that you get with .forEach or a for loop etc.

Upvotes: 4

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