debuggable

Parsing form data with node.js

Posted on 24/11/09 by Felix Geisendörfer

Many people asked about form parsing in #node.js after the initial buzz-wave yesterday.

Right now node does not include a parser for regular form data (application/x-www-form-urlencoded). However, you can use the http multipart parser to achieve the same thing.

Here is a bare-bone example for that:

var http = require('http');
var multipart = require('multipart');
var sys = require('sys');

var server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
switch (req.uri.path) {
case '/':
res.sendHeader(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
res.sendBody(
'<form action="/myaction" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">'+
'<input type="text" name="field1">'+
'<input type="text" name="field2">'+
'<input type="submit" value="Submit">'+
'</form>'
);
res.finish();
break;
case '/myaction':
multipart.parse(req).addCallback(function(parts) {
res.sendHeader(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
res.sendBody(sys.inspect(parts));
res.finish();
});
break;
}
});
server.listen(8000);

Run this code and point your browser to http://localhost:8000/. You will be presented with a form, and when you submit it, you will see the contents of the POST as JSON. For more information check:

The important part is specifying the enctype of your form as "multipart/form-data".

If you need to parse regular form data, have a look at sixtus www-forms module. Chances are good a module like this, with a similar API to the multipart parser, will make it into the core at some point (patches are welcome).

HTH,
-- Felix Geisendörfer aka the_undefined

&nsbp;

You can skip to the end and add a comment.

Hagen said on Nov 25, 2009:

Sweet!

Except you don't look at the HTTP verbs at all.

People copy code examples, always show example code you would like to find in a code audit.

paper writing service said on Feb 24, 2010:

I got an error code in pointing my browser to http://localhost:8000/.

Add a comment