How to retrieve POST query parameters?

Question

Here is my simple form:

<form id="loginformA" action="userlogin" method="post">
    <div>
        <label for="email">Email: </label>
        <input type="text" id="email" name="email"></input>
    </div>
<input type="submit" value="Submit"></input>
</form>

Here is my Express.js/Node.js code:

app.post('/userlogin', function(sReq, sRes){    
    var email = sReq.query.email.;   
}

I tried sReq.query.email or sReq.query['email'] or sReq.params['email'], etc. None of them work. They all return undefined.

When I change to a Get call, it works, so .. any idea?

Answer 1

Update for Express 4.4.1

Middleware of the following is removed from Express.

• bodyParser
• json
• urlencoded
• multipart

When you use the middleware directly like you did in express 3.0. You will get the following error:

Error: Most middleware (like urlencoded) is no longer bundled with Express and 
must be installed separately.

In order to utilize those middleware, now you need to do npm for each middleware separately.

Since bodyParser is marked as deprecated, so I recommend the following way using json, urlencode and multipart parser like formidable, connect-multiparty. (Multipart middleware is deprecated as well).

Also remember, just defining urlencode + json, the form data will not be parsed and req.body will be undefined. You need to define a middleware handle the multipart request.

var urlencode = require('urlencode');
var json = require('json-middleware');
var multipart = require('connect-multiparty');
var multipartMiddleware = multipart();

app.use(json);
app.use(urlencode);
app.use('/url/that/accepts/form-data', multipartMiddleware);

Answer 2

Request streaming worked for me

req.on('end', function() {
    var paramstring = postdata.split("&");
});

var postdata = "";
req.on('data', function(postdataChunk){
    postdata += postdataChunk;
});

Answer 3

Security concern using express.bodyParser()

While all the other answers currently recommend using the express.bodyParser() middleware, this is actually a wrapper around the express.json(), express.urlencoded(), and express.multipart() middlewares (http://expressjs.com/api.html#bodyParser). The parsing of form request bodies is done by the express.urlencoded() middleware and is all that you need to expose your form data on req.body object.

Due to a security concern with how express.multipart()/connect.multipart() creates temporary files for all uploaded files (and are not garbage collected), it is now recommended not to use the express.bodyParser() wrapper but instead use only the middlewares you need.

Note: connect.bodyParser() will soon be updated to only include urlencoded and json when Connect 3.0 is released (which Express extends).

---

So in short, instead of ...

app.use(express.bodyParser());

...you should use

app.use(express.urlencoded());
app.use(express.json());      // if needed

and if/when you need to handle multipart forms (file uploads), use a third party library or middleware such as multiparty, busboy, dicer, etc.

Answer 4

This will do it if you want to build the posted query without middleware:

app.post("/register/",function(req,res){
    var bodyStr = '';
    req.on("data",function(chunk){
        bodyStr += chunk.toString();
    });
    req.on("end",function(){
        res.send(bodyStr);
    });

});

That will send this to the browser

email=emailval&password1=pass1val&password2=pass2val

It's probably better to use middleware though so you don't have to write this over and over in each route.

Answer 5

Note: this answer is for Express 2. See here for Express 3.

If you're using connect/express, you should use the bodyParser middleware: It's described in the Expressjs guide.

// example using express.js:
var express = require('express')
  , app = express.createServer();
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.post('/', function(req, res){
  var email = req.param('email', null);  // second parameter is default
});

Here's the original connect-only version:

// example using just connect
var connect = require('connect');
var url = require('url');
var qs = require('qs');
var server = connect(
  connect.bodyParser(),
  connect.router(function(app) {
    app.post('/userlogin', function(req, res) {
      // the bodyParser puts the parsed request in req.body.
      var parsedUrl = qs.parse(url.parse(req.url).query);
      var email = parsedUrl.email || req.body.email;;
    });
  })
);

Both the querystring and body are parsed using Rails-style parameter handling (qs) rather than the low-level querystring library. In order to parse repeated parameters with qs, the parameter needs to have brackets: name[]=val1&name[]=val2. It also supports nested maps. In addition to parsing HTML form submissions, the bodyParser can parse JSON requests automatically.

Edit: I read up on express.js and modified my answer to be more natural to users of Express.

Answer 6

var express        =         require("express");
var bodyParser     =         require("body-parser");
var app            =         express();

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

app.get('/',function(req,res){
  res.sendfile("index.html");
});
app.post('/login',function(req,res){
  var user_name=req.body.user;
  var password=req.body.password;
  console.log("User name = "+user_name+", password is "+password);
  res.end("yes");
});
app.listen(3000,function(){
  console.log("Started on PORT 3000");
})