node.js - 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" }));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.set("view options", { layout: true });
//Handles post requests
app.use(express.bodyParser());
//Handles put requests
app.use(express.methodOverride());

But still when I ask for req.body.something in my routes I get some error pointing out that body is undefined. Here is an example of a route that uses req.body :

app.post('/admin', function(req, res){
    console.log(req.body.name);
});

I read that this problem is caused by the lack of app.use(express.bodyParser()); but as you can see I call it before the routes.

Any clue?

Answer 1

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