CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptnode.jsexpresscurlmiddleware
Jordan Paige
Jordan Paige

Reputation: 3

request body of POST to express

I'm new to nodejs, and express, and While combing through some code I came across this, What exactly does it mean? and How do I send a POST request to this (using cURL)?? There are no data-fields specified.

app.post('/', limiter, (req, res, next) => {
let {
    token
} = req.body;
if (token) {
    return res.send('congrats this is your first post request')
}
res.send('not good');
});

Having used flask I have a general idea about what's going on... But I don't understand this part

let {
    token
} = req.body;

Can someone please explain what is going on here? Whatever I try, It isn't accepting any POST request. and isn't returning what I want it to. Please excuse me if this doubt seems too trivial, But I haven't seen this anywhere on the internet.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1452

Answers (3)

Tomy8s
Tomy8s

Reputation: 91

That is assigning the value of req.body.token to a variable named token. The same as doing this:

let token = req.body.token;

If you want to curl this endpoint your data should be JSON something like this:

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -X POST \
    -d '{"token":"<your token here>"}' \
    <your url>

Upvotes: 2

Revenant
Revenant

Reputation: 3

For posterity, I've added an annotated explanation of the entire script below to assist you in following what it's doing.

/* Sets up a route in express-js */
app.post('/', limiter, (req, res, next) => {
  /* 
     Destructured Variable Assignment (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Destructuring_assignment)
     The "token" variable is copied from "token" key in "req.body" object (req.body.token). 
     You probably have bodyParser somewhere in your app that's extracting the body as a JSON for you.
  */
  let {
      token
  } = req.body;
  /* Checks "token" for truthiness */
  if (token) {
      /* sends a response (using return to exit this handler function) */
      return res.send('congrats this is your first post request')
  }
  /* Sends a response since the if statement did not call return. */
  res.send('not good');
});

This file is equivalent:

app.post('/',limiter,(req,res,next)=>{
  if (req.body.token){
    return res.send('congrats this is your first post request');
  }
  res.send('not good');
});

Upvotes: 0

aicoder
aicoder

Reputation: 917

FYI: The following might be helpful.

ES2015 introduced two important new JavaScript keywords: let and const.

These two keywords provide Block Scope variables (and constants) in JavaScript.

Before ES2015, JavaScript had only two types of scope: Global Scope and Function Scope.

It is usually best to get in the habit of using let to avoid scoping issues.

You can find more detailed examples here

Upvotes: 0

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