My express application seems to return 404 NOT FOUND whenever im using a post request method in my routes file. GET-requests are working fine and i can only see "GET" requests in the console aswell, even if im using a post request. Is there some missing link between app.js and routes/index.js that might be causing this?

// routes/index.js
router.post('/foo', function (req, res, next) {
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
res.send('You sent: sdadad to Express');
})


// App.js
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var index = require('./routes/index');

var app = express();
var cors = require('cors')
app.use(cors())

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

// unment after placing your favicon in /public
//app.use(favicon(path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'favicon.ico')));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.use('/', index);


// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
var err = new Error('Not Found');
err.status = 404;
next(err);
});

// error handler
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
// set locals, only providing error in development
res.locals.message = err.message;
res.locals.error = req.app.get('env') === 'development' ? err : {};

// render the error page
res.status(err.status || 500);
res.render('error');
});

module.exports = app;

Result:

Not Found 404
Error: Not Found
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\app.js:29:13
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at trim_prefix (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:317:13)
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:284:7
at Function.process_params (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:335:12)
at next (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:275:10)
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:635:15
at next (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:260:14)
at Function.handle (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:174:3)
at router (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:47:12)
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at trim_prefix (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:317:13)
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:284:7
at Function.process_params (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:335:12)
at next (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:275:10)
at SendStream.error (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\serve-static\index.js:121:7)

My express application seems to return 404 NOT FOUND whenever im using a post request method in my routes file. GET-requests are working fine and i can only see "GET" requests in the console aswell, even if im using a post request. Is there some missing link between app.js and routes/index.js that might be causing this?

// routes/index.js
router.post('/foo', function (req, res, next) {
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
res.send('You sent: sdadad to Express');
})


// App.js
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var index = require('./routes/index');

var app = express();
var cors = require('cors')
app.use(cors())

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

// unment after placing your favicon in /public
//app.use(favicon(path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'favicon.ico')));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.use('/', index);


// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
var err = new Error('Not Found');
err.status = 404;
next(err);
});

// error handler
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
// set locals, only providing error in development
res.locals.message = err.message;
res.locals.error = req.app.get('env') === 'development' ? err : {};

// render the error page
res.status(err.status || 500);
res.render('error');
});

module.exports = app;

Result:

Not Found 404
Error: Not Found
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\app.js:29:13
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at trim_prefix (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:317:13)
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:284:7
at Function.process_params (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:335:12)
at next (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:275:10)
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:635:15
at next (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:260:14)
at Function.handle (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:174:3)
at router (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:47:12)
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at trim_prefix (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:317:13)
at C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:284:7
at Function.process_params (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:335:12)
at next (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:275:10)
at SendStream.error (C:\Users\willow\Desktop\backend\node_modules\serve-static\index.js:121:7)

• javascript
• node.js
• express
• post

• you have to link your routes with your express app – AngelSalazar Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 14:50
• if you want to make a post route use router.post instead of router.get – Roland Starke Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 14:50
• Your // routes/index.js does not return anything.. Did you forget module.exports.? – Keith Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 14:52

2 Answers 2

What you wanna do should look like this in practice:

// routes/index.js
module.exports = (express) => {
  // Create express Router
  var router = express.Router();

  // add routes
  router.route('/foo')
    .post((req, res) => {
       res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
       res.send('You sent: sdadad to Express');
    });

  return router;
}


// App.js
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var routes = require('./routes')(express); // require routes at routes/index.js

var app = express();
var cors = require('cors')
app.use(cors())

// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

// unment after placing your favicon in /public
//app.use(favicon(path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'favicon.ico')));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.use('/', routes);


// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
  var err = new Error('Not Found');
  err.status = 404;
  next(err);
});

// error handler
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {

  // set locals, only providing error in development
  res.locals.message = err.message;
  res.locals.error = req.app.get('env') === 'development' ? err : {};

  // render the error page
  res.status(err.status || 500);
  res.render('error');
});

module.exports = app;

What I usually do is create a function that expects express as param like this

(routes/index.js)

module.exports = (express) => {
  // Create express Router
  var api = express.Router();

  // add routes
  api.route('/some_endpoint')
    .post((req, res) => {
       res.json({ message : 'some message' })
    });

  return api;
}

then I just import this file to my app.js

like this (app.js)

// set api as a middleware
const api = require('./routes')(express);
app.use('/api/v1', api);

that way I hook up my api and my server.