curl with nodejs express - POST data

Question

I'm trying to simulate a POST request to a server app based in Express for nodeJS. It's running on localhost:3000 (JS Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/63SC7/)

I use the following CURL line:

 curl -X POST -d "{\"name\": \"Jack\", \"text\": \"HULLO\"}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" http://localhost:3000/api

but get the error message:

Cannot read property 'text' of undefined

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Note: I can make a successful GET request using this line:

curl http://localhost:3000/api

josh3736 · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-28 16:40:40Z

3

Assuming you're trying req.body.text,

Have you used bodyParser?

app.use(express.bodyParser());

answered Feb 28, 2014 at 16:40

josh3736

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2 Comments

user3281031 Over a year ago

That worked great thanks! Do I need to add this line to the server code whenever I want to work with POST data? Don't suppose you know of a good online resource to learn a bit more about this?

josh3736 Over a year ago

The bodyParser is optional middleware. By default, Express doesn't parse request bodies. So yes, you need to use the bodyParser (once per app), or you can include it in an individual route's middleware chain if you don't want/need to parse request bodies for every request. To learn more, the Express guide and API reference are a good place to start.

thordarson · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-28 08:10:07Z

2

The answer by josh3736 is outdated. Express no longer ships with the body-parser middleware. To use it you must install it first:

npm install --save body-parser

Then require and use:

let bodyParser = require('body-parser');
app.use(bodyParser());

answered Aug 28, 2018 at 8:10

thordarson

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Comments

Christian Z. · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-28 21:41:26Z

2

Just to update Thordarson's answer (which is now deprecated), the currently recommended way is:

app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));
app.use(bodyParser.json());

See also https://stackoverflow.com/a/24330353/3810493

answered Oct 28, 2018 at 21:41

Christian Z.

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