Http Post with node.js and express

Question

I am just trying to write a simple node.js app that will be able to write to a file via post and access that file with the express.static().

var express = require('express'),
fs = require('fs')
url = require('url');
var app = express();

app.configure(function(){
  app.use('/public', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));  
  app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public')); 
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
});

app.post('/receieve', function(request, respond) {
    filePath = __dirname + '/public/data.txt';
    fs.appendFile(filePath, request.body) 
});

app.listen(1110);

I'm using postman chrome extension to test if my post is working correctly, but I'm receiving 'cannot POST /receive' when I try to send raw json. Any ideas of what the problem could be? Thank you!

Thanks @go-oleg! I don't know how long I looked at this without noticing! — user4815162342
– user4815162342, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 3:39
One of you should post an answer so @user4815162342 can accept and the question can fade away. — Peter Lyons
– Peter Lyons, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 3:41

Jonathan Lonowski · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-30 03:52:48Z

4

As go-oleg mentioned, there's a mismatch between the server-side route and the client-side request:

'/receive' !== '/receieve' // extra `e` in the route

You may also want to specify a format when appending request.body. Object#toString, which appendFile() will use, simply generates "[object Object]".

fs.appendFile(filePath, JSON.stringify(request.body));

And, you should .end() the response at some point:

fs.appendFile(filePath, JSON.stringify(request.body));
response.end();

fs.appendFile(filePath, JSON.stringify(request.body), function () {
    response.end();
});

You can also use .send() if you want to include a message in the response. It'll call .end().

edited Jul 30, 2013 at 3:52

answered Jul 30, 2013 at 3:41

Jonathan Lonowski

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3 Comments

user4815162342 Over a year ago

Big thanks for the heads up @Jonathan. It's now appending {}, though. Thanks again for your help!

Jonathan Lonowski Over a year ago

@user4815162342 Express checks the Content-Type before parsing: if ('application/json' != utils.mime(req)) return next();. So, make sure it's set to application/json in postman (seems you select "Raw" then "JSON" for this).

user4815162342 Over a year ago

Great information @Jonathan. also thanks for the addition of the call back for the response.end(). And I didn't know that send() called .end(). Thank you!

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