Reading html form input with with node.js and express.js

Question

I am trying to read the input from an HTML form and use it in Node.js.

This is my HTML form:

    <form action="/myform" method="POST">
        <input type="text" name="mytext" required />
        <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
    </form>

This is my Node.js code:


app.post('/myform', function(req, res){ 
  console.log(req.body.mytext); //mytext is the name of your input box
});

I am getting this error:

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'mytext')
   

Please help me out.

Youssouf Oumar · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-04 07:23:12Z

1

Make sure you are parsing the request. For that, add the line below at the top of your server root file:

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

edited Mar 4, 2022 at 7:23

answered Mar 4, 2022 at 7:16

Youssouf Oumar

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2 Comments

C3roe Over a year ago

A normal HTML form doesn't send JSON.

engineer1212 Over a year ago

It is just printing "undefined" in the console now.

Naveen Kala · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-04 08:49:58Z

0

You have to used a inbuilt method express.json() for parsing json data. To used this method you need middlewares app.use()

So you have to defined it like below but before defining any routes in main file.

app.use(express.json())

answered Mar 4, 2022 at 8:49

Naveen Kala

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Comments

Hilario Nengare · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-02 01:45:42Z

0

I had this same problem, you need the body parser middleware which can be installed like so

npm i body-parser

Then include it in your server file

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

And add the following at the top of your server

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

Please note that this module does not handle multipart bodies, due to their complex and typically large nature.

answered Mar 2, 2024 at 1:45

Hilario Nengare

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