Convert JS Object to form data

Question

How can I can convert my JS Object to FormData?

The reason why I want to do this is, I have an object that I constructed out of the ~100 form field valu

Answer 1

You can simply install qs:

npm i qs

Simply import:

import qs from 'qs'

Pass object to qs.stringify():

var item = {
   description: 'Some Item',
   price : '0.00',
   srate : '0.00',
   color : 'red',
   ...
   ...
}

qs.stringify(item)

Answer 2

I might be a little late to the party but this is what I've created to convert a singular object to FormData.

function formData(formData, filesIgnore = []) {
  let data = new FormData();

  let files = filesIgnore;

  Object.entries(formData).forEach(([key, value]) => {
    if (typeof value === 'object' && !files.includes(key)) {
      data.append(key, JSON.stringify(value) || null);
    } else if (files.includes(key)) {
      data.append(key, value[0] || null);
    } else {
      data.append(key, value || null);
    }
  })

  return data;
}

How does it work? It will convert and return all properties expect File objects that you've set in the ignore list (2nd argument. If anyone could tell me a better way to determine this that would help!) into a json string using JSON.stringify. Then on your server you'll just need to convert it back into a JSON object.

Example:

let form = {
  first_name: 'John',
  last_name: 'Doe',
  details: {
    phone_number: 1234 5678 910,
    address: '123 Some Street',
  },
  profile_picture: [object FileList] // set by your form file input. Currently only support 1 file per property.
}

function submit() {
  let data = formData(form, ['profile_picture']);

  axios.post('/url', data).then(res => {
    console.log('object uploaded');
  })
}

I am still kinda new to Http requests and JavaScript so any feedback would be highly appreciated!

Answer 3

Recursively

const toFormData = (f => f(f))(h => f => f(x => h(h)(f)(x)))(f => fd => pk => d => {
  if (d instanceof Object) {
    Object.keys(d).forEach(k => {
      const v = d[k]
      if (pk) k = `${pk}[${k}]`
      if (v instanceof Object && !(v instanceof Date) && !(v instanceof File)) {
        return f(fd)(k)(v)
      } else {
        fd.append(k, v)
      }
    })
  }
  return fd
})(new FormData())()

let data = {
  name: 'John',
  age: 30,
  colors: ['red', 'green', 'blue'],
  children: [
    { name: 'Max', age: 3 },
    { name: 'Madonna', age: 10 }
  ]
}
console.log('data', data)
document.getElementById("data").insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', JSON.stringify(data))

let formData = toFormData(data)

for (let key of formData.keys()) {
  console.log(key, formData.getAll(key).join(','))
  document.getElementById("item").insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', `<li>${key} = ${formData.getAll(key).join(',')}</li>`)
}

<p id="data"></p>
<ul id="item"></ul>

Answer 4

Sorry for a late answer, but I was struggling with this as Angular 2 currently does not support file upload. So, the way to do it was sending a XMLHttpRequest with FormData. So, I created a function to do it. I'm using Typescript. To convert it to Javascript just remove data types declaration.

/**
     * Transforms the json data into form data.
     *
     * Example:
     *
     * Input:
     * 
     * fd = new FormData();
     * dob = {
     *  name: 'phone',
     *  photos: ['myphoto.jpg', 'myotherphoto.png'],
     *  price: '615.99',
     *  color: {
     *      front: 'red',
     *      back: 'blue'
     *  },
     *  buttons: ['power', 'volup', 'voldown'],
     *  cameras: [{
     *      name: 'front',
     *      res: '5Mpx'
     *  },{
     *      name: 'back',
     *      res: '10Mpx'
     *  }]
     * };
     * Say we want to replace 'myotherphoto.png'. We'll have this 'fob'.
     * fob = {
     *  photos: [null, <File object>]
     * };
     * Say we want to wrap the object (Rails way):
     * p = 'product';
     *
     * Output:
     *
     * 'fd' object updated. Now it will have these key-values "<key>, <value>":
     *
     * product[name], phone
     * product[photos][], myphoto.jpg
     * product[photos][], <File object>
     * product[color][front], red
     * product[color][back], blue
     * product[buttons][], power
     * product[buttons][], volup
     * product[buttons][], voldown
     * product[cameras][][name], front
     * product[cameras][][res], 5Mpx
     * product[cameras][][name], back
     * product[cameras][][res], 10Mpx
     * 
     * @param {FormData}  fd  FormData object where items will be appended to.
     * @param {Object}    dob Data object where items will be read from.
     * @param {Object =   null} fob File object where items will override dob's.
     * @param {string =   ''} p Prefix. Useful for wrapping objects and necessary for internal use (as this is a recursive method).
     */
    append(fd: FormData, dob: Object, fob: Object = null, p: string = ''){
        let apnd = this.append;

        function isObj(dob, fob, p){
            if(typeof dob == "object"){
                if(!!dob && dob.constructor === Array){
                    p += '[]';
                    for(let i = 0; i < dob.length; i++){
                        let aux_fob = !!fob ? fob[i] : fob;
                        isObj(dob[i], aux_fob, p);
                    }
                } else {
                    apnd(fd, dob, fob, p);
                }
            } else {
                let value = !!fob ? fob : dob;
                fd.append(p, value);
            }
        }

        for(let prop in dob){
            let aux_p = p == '' ? prop : `${p}[${prop}]`;
            let aux_fob = !!fob ? fob[prop] : fob;
            isObj(dob[prop], aux_fob, aux_p);
        }
    }

Answer 5

The other answers were incomplete for me. I started from @Vladimir Novopashin answer and modified it. Here are the things, that I needed and bug I found:

• Support for file
• Support for array
• Bug: File inside complex object needs to be added with .prop instead of [prop]. For example, formData.append('photos[0][file]', file) didn't work on google chrome, while formData.append('photos[0].file', file) worked
• Ignore some properties in my object

The following code should work on IE11 and evergreen browsers.

function objectToFormData(obj, rootName, ignoreList) {
    var formData = new FormData();

    function appendFormData(data, root) {
        if (!ignore(root)) {
            root = root || '';
            if (data instanceof File) {
                formData.append(root, data);
            } else if (Array.isArray(data)) {
                for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
                    appendFormData(data[i], root + '[' + i + ']');
                }
            } else if (typeof data === 'object' && data) {
                for (var key in data) {
                    if (data.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
                        if (root === '') {
                            appendFormData(data[key], key);
                        } else {
                            appendFormData(data[key], root + '.' + key);
                        }
                    }
                }
            } else {
                if (data !== null && typeof data !== 'undefined') {
                    formData.append(root, data);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    function ignore(root){
        return Array.isArray(ignoreList)
            && ignoreList.some(function(x) { return x === root; });
    }

    appendFormData(obj, rootName);

    return formData;
}

Answer 6

Try JSON.stringify function as below

var postData = JSON.stringify(item);
var formData = new FormData();
formData.append("postData",postData );