Express.js req.body undefined

Question

I have this as configuration of my Express server

app.use(app.router); 
app.use(express.cookieParser());
app.use(express.session({ secret: \"keyboard cat\" }         


        

Answer 1

// Require body-parser (to receive post data from clients)

var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

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

// parse application/json

app.use(bodyParser.json())

Answer 2

Wasted a lot of time:

Depending on Content-Type in your client request
the server should have different, one of the below app.use():

app.use(bodyParser.text({ type: 'text/html' }))
app.use(bodyParser.text({ type: 'text/xml' }))
app.use(bodyParser.raw({ type: 'application/vnd.custom-type' }))
app.use(bodyParser.json({ type: 'application/*+json' }))

Source: https://www.npmjs.com/package/body-parser#bodyparsertextoptions

Example:

For me, On Client side, I had below header:

Content-Type: "text/xml"

So, on the server side, I used:

app.use(bodyParser.text({type: 'text/xml'}));

Then, req.body worked fine.

Answer 3

In my case, it was because of using body-parser after including the routes.

The correct code should be

app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended:true}));
app.use(methodOverride("_method"));
app.use(indexRoutes);
app.use(userRoutes);
app.use(adminRoutes);

Answer 4

In case if you post SOAP message you need to use raw body parser:

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

app.use(bodyParser.raw({ type: 'text/xml' }));

Answer 5

app.use(express.json());

It will help to solve the issue of req.body undefine

Answer 6

UPDATE July 2020

express.bodyParser() is no longer bundled as part of express. You need to install it separately before loading:

npm i body-parser

// then in your app
var express = require('express')
var bodyParser = require('body-parser')
 
var app = express()
 
// create application/json parser
var jsonParser = bodyParser.json()
 
// create application/x-www-form-urlencoded parser
var urlencodedParser = bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false })
 
// POST /login gets urlencoded bodies
app.post('/login', urlencodedParser, function (req, res) {
  res.send('welcome, ' + req.body.username)
})
 
// POST /api/users gets JSON bodies
app.post('/api/users', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
  // create user in req.body
})

See here for further info

original follows

You must make sure that you define all configurations BEFORE defining routes. If you do so, you can continue to use express.bodyParser().

An example is as follows:

var express = require('express'),
    app     = express(),
    port    = parseInt(process.env.PORT, 10) || 8080;

app.configure(function(){
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(app.router);
});

app.listen(port);
    
app.post("/someRoute", function(req, res) {
  console.log(req.body);
  res.send({ status: 'SUCCESS' });
});