Parse XML body from HTTP Push request with Express & Node.js, using body-parser-xml

Question

I need to process a HTTP push request using Node.js express.

The request is sending the body in XML format, that's why I chose the body-parser-xml package for parsing.

My problem is, that the body isn't properly parsed – I guess because the package doesn't recognize the mime type of the transferred body.

The endpoint:

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

const app = express();
const PORT = 8085;

app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(bodyParser.xml({
    limit:'25MB'
}));

app.post('/feed', function (req, res, body) {
    console.log(req.headers);
    console.log(req.body);
    res.status(200).end();
});

The output:

{
  host: 'localhost:8085',
  accept: '*/*',
  'x-meta-feed-type': '1',
  'x-meta-feed-parameters': 'feed params',
  'x-meta-default-filename': 'filename.xml',
  'x-meta-mime-type': 'text/xml',
  'content-length': '63'
  encoding: 'UTF-8',
  connection: 'Keep-Alive'
}
{
  '<data id': '"1234"><name>Test</name><title>Test1234</title></data>'
}

I'm not able to change the request itself (it's external), only the Node.js endpoint.

Any idea how to process the content properly?

Thanks for your help!

Where's the Content-Type header that tells Express the body data is XML? — robertklep
– robertklep, Commented Jul 9, 2022 at 16:15

Heiko Theißen · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-09 16:28:57Z

2

The request has apparently been parsed by the

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

middleware, which means that it must have had Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded. Remove the two app.use lines, because they make "global" body-parsing decisions (for every request), whereas you need a special treatment only for one type of request.

If you instantiate the XML body parser with the "non-standard" (that is, wrong) type, it will parse the content as XML:

app.post('/feed',
  bodyParser.xml({type: "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"}),
  function (req, res) {
    console.log(req.headers);
    console.log(req.body);
    res.status(200).end();
  });

answered Jul 9, 2022 at 16:28

Heiko Theißen

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2 Comments

Reddy SK Mar 13 at 15:05

Hi Guys, @Heiko, I am still getting an object instead of the XML. I am calling:

console.log('Original headers: ' + req.headers); console.log('Original body: ' + req.body); res.send('respond with a API request: ' + req.body); res.status(200).end();

. What I am doing wrong? Original body: [object Object]

Heiko Theißen Mar 13 at 15:45

Avoid string concatenation (+) with an object like req.body. Instead, console.log("Original body", req.body).

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