Using POST data to write to local file with node.js and express

Question

I'm trying to just handle simple POST requests and append the data to a local file. However, when I try to POST raw text with postman, such as 'hi world', what's actually appended is [object Object]. I'm not sure what could be causing this if nothing should be interpreted as an object on either end. Thank you!

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

app.listen(8080);

Since you're using bodyParser req.body is (I assume always) an object. I've got no idea how postman works but shouldn't any data you're trying to send be named (eg req.body.param)? — Andreas Hultgren
– Andreas Hultgren, Commented Jul 31, 2013 at 22:00

Jake A. Smith · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-16 00:14:09Z

21

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

app.use('/public', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));  
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public')); 

app.post('/receive', function(request, respond) {
    var body = '';
    filePath = __dirname + '/public/data.txt';
    request.on('data', function(data) {
        body += data;
    });

    request.on('end', function (){
        fs.appendFile(filePath, body, function() {
            respond.end();
        });
    });
});

app.listen(8080);

edited Nov 16, 2020 at 0:14

Jake A. Smith

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answered Jul 31, 2013 at 22:50

user4815162342

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2 Comments

dirkk0 Over a year ago

app.configure is now deprecated, but this code works if you comment out line 6 and 9.

masterxilo Over a year ago

Why not just request.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(filePath, {flags:'a'}))

Peter Lyons · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-31 22:12:51Z

6

If you want to do POST requests with regular urlencoded bodies, you don't want to use bodyParser (since you don't actually want to parse the body, you just want to stream it to the filesystem). Consider just streaming the chunks of data with req.pipe(writeableStreamToYourFile).

If you want to do file uploads, you can use bodyParser for that, but it handles multiple files and writes them to disk for you and you would need to iterate through req.files and copy them from a temporary directory to your target file.

answered Jul 31, 2013 at 22:12

Peter Lyons

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1 Comment

Hoshi Over a year ago

This turned a 10-line function into a 1-liner. So much cruft, so little time... No need for busboy either.

spacedev · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-02 03:35:32Z

4

If you want to store Json data then file should be of **.Json type. Otherwise try casting it into string and write into **.txt file. Like

var fs = require('fs');
var writer = fs.createWriteStream('output.txt');
response = {
name: '',
id: ''
}
writer.write(JSON.stringify(response));

answered Mar 2, 2017 at 3:35

spacedev

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