I have an iOS app which is sending a JSON packet to a webserver. The webserver code looks like this:
var express = require('express');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var app = express();
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/test');
var db = mongoose.connection;
db.on('error', console.error.bind(console, 'connection error:'));
db.once('open', function (callback) {
console.log("MongoDB connection is open.");
});
// Mongoose Schema definition
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var LocationSchema = new Schema({
X: Number,
Y: Number,
Orientation: Number,
UserID: String,
Time: String
});
// Mongoose Model definition
var LocationsCollection = mongoose.model('locations', LocationSchema);
// create application/json parser
var jsonParser = bodyParser.json();
// URL management
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
app.post('/update', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400);
else {
console.log(req.body);
}
});
// Start the server
var server = app.listen(3000, function () {
var host = server.address().address
var port = server.address().port
console.log('App listening at %s:%s',host, port)
});
The key part is the app.post method which processes the incoming http request being sent from my iOS app. At the moment, the method which prints the req.body to the console looks like this:
{
datapoint_1:
{ timestamp: '2015-02-06T13:02:40:361Z',
x: 0.6164286615466197,
y: -0.6234909703424794,
id: 'B296DF8B-6489-420A-97B4-6F0F48052758',
orientation: 271.3345946652066 },
datapoint_2:
{ timestamp: '2015-02-06T13:02:40:961Z',
x: 0.6164286615466197,
y: -0.6234909703424794,
id: 'B296DF8B-6489-420A-97B4-6F0F48052758',
orientation: 273.6719055175781 }
}
So, you can see the request is a nested JSON object. Ideally, I'd like to loop through the request objects (ie. the datapoints) and insert those into the mongoDB database (via mongoose). However, I can't seem to figure out how to do much of anything with the req.body. I can't seem to create a loop to iterate through the request or how to properly parse the nested JSON file so it matches the mongoose schema. Can anyone provide some guidance on how to insert these datapoints into the mongoose database?
I have an iOS app which is sending a JSON packet to a webserver. The webserver code looks like this:
var express = require('express');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var app = express();
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/test');
var db = mongoose.connection;
db.on('error', console.error.bind(console, 'connection error:'));
db.once('open', function (callback) {
console.log("MongoDB connection is open.");
});
// Mongoose Schema definition
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var LocationSchema = new Schema({
X: Number,
Y: Number,
Orientation: Number,
UserID: String,
Time: String
});
// Mongoose Model definition
var LocationsCollection = mongoose.model('locations', LocationSchema);
// create application/json parser
var jsonParser = bodyParser.json();
// URL management
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
app.post('/update', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400);
else {
console.log(req.body);
}
});
// Start the server
var server = app.listen(3000, function () {
var host = server.address().address
var port = server.address().port
console.log('App listening at %s:%s',host, port)
});
The key part is the app.post method which processes the incoming http request being sent from my iOS app. At the moment, the method which prints the req.body to the console looks like this:
{
datapoint_1:
{ timestamp: '2015-02-06T13:02:40:361Z',
x: 0.6164286615466197,
y: -0.6234909703424794,
id: 'B296DF8B-6489-420A-97B4-6F0F48052758',
orientation: 271.3345946652066 },
datapoint_2:
{ timestamp: '2015-02-06T13:02:40:961Z',
x: 0.6164286615466197,
y: -0.6234909703424794,
id: 'B296DF8B-6489-420A-97B4-6F0F48052758',
orientation: 273.6719055175781 }
}
So, you can see the request is a nested JSON object. Ideally, I'd like to loop through the request objects (ie. the datapoints) and insert those into the mongoDB database (via mongoose). However, I can't seem to figure out how to do much of anything with the req.body. I can't seem to create a loop to iterate through the request or how to properly parse the nested JSON file so it matches the mongoose schema. Can anyone provide some guidance on how to insert these datapoints into the mongoose database?
Share Improve this question edited May 24, 2019 at 14:31 Muhammad Reda 27k14 gold badges98 silver badges106 bronze badges asked Feb 6, 2015 at 18:21 andyopayneandyopayne 1,3683 gold badges24 silver badges53 bronze badges 8 | Show 3 more comments4 Answers
Reset to default 12Set body-parser's extended property to true to allow parsing nested objects.
var express = require('express');
var app = express()
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
extended: true
}));
Answering my own question. But, after figuring out how to access the key/value pairs inside the nested JSON object... it became relatively easy to figure out the rest. The updated app.post function now looks like this:
app.post('/update', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400);
else {
for(var datapoint in req.body){
//create new instance of LocationCollection document
var point = new LocationsCollection({
X:Number(req.body[datapoint]["x"]),
Y:Number(req.body[datapoint]["y"]),
Orientation:Number(req.body[datapoint]["orientation"]),
Time:req.body[datapoint]["timestamp"],
UserID:req.body[datapoint]["id"]
});
//insert the newly constructed document into the database
point.save(function(err, point){
if(err) return console.error(err);
else console.dir(point);
});
}
}
});
I can test if this worked by putting the following method inside the callback function once the mongodb connection is first established:
//Find all location points and print to the console.
console.log("Searching for all documents in Location Points Collection");
LocationsCollection.find(function(err,data){
if(err) console.error(err);
else console.dir(data);
});
This will print any documents that have been previously added to the database. Hopefully this helps.
Try somthing like this.
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
app.use(bodyParser.json({limit:1024*1024, verify: function(req, res, buf){
try {
JSON.parse(buf);
} catch(e) {
res.send({
error: 'BROKEN_JSON'
});
}
}}));
It should be a simple for (var key in obj) loop:
app.post('/update', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
var locationObject = req.body(),
insertObjects = [],
key;
for (key in locationObject) { // loop through each object and insert them into our array of object to insert.
insertObjects.push(locationObject[key]);
}
if (!insertObjects.length) { // if we don't have any object to insert we still return a 200, we just don't insert anything.
return res.status(200).send({
success: true,
message: 'Nothing inserted, 0 locations in POST body',
count: 0;
});
}
LocationsCollection.create(insertObjects, function (err, res) {
if (err) {
return res.status(400).send({
success: false,
message: err.message
});
}
// we have successfully inserted our objects. let's tell the client.
res.status(200).send({
success: true,
message: 'successfully inserted locations',
count: insertObjects.length;
});
});
});
Mongo allows for inserting multiple documents with a single callback, which makes this a lot easier.
This also checks the schema to ensure only proper documents are created.
JSON.parseif it's still a string – adeneo Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 18:25typeof req.body, I'm guessing you'll getstring– adeneo Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 18:31objectnotstring. Wouldn't that mean it's a JSON object? If it is a JSON object, can you recommend how to properly process it (to be able to insert it into a database) since it's a nested JSON object? – andyopayne Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 18:35for (var key in obj) { ... }– adeneo Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 18:55