I'm constructing a generic route handler for POST requests in NodeJS.

I need to iterate over the req.params of the POST request, without knowing beforehand what the parameters are.

I have tried the following without success:

console.log("checking param keys...")
Object.keys(req.param).forEach(function(key){
console.log(key +"is " + req.params(key) )
})

When I run this code, only the "Checking param keys..." gets printed.

Anybody knows how to do this?

I'm constructing a generic route handler for POST requests in NodeJS.

I need to iterate over the req.params of the POST request, without knowing beforehand what the parameters are.

I have tried the following without success:

console.log("checking param keys...")
Object.keys(req.param).forEach(function(key){
console.log(key +"is " + req.params(key) )
})

When I run this code, only the "Checking param keys..." gets printed.

Anybody knows how to do this?

• javascript
• node.js
• express
• post

• i think you mean req.params[key] not req.params(key) Or possibly for(var key in req.param) { ... } – Mouseroot Commented Feb 25, 2014 at 2:29
• in the future when in doubt it may help todo a console.dir to give you a better view of an object, while debugging – Mouseroot Commented Feb 25, 2014 at 2:43
• Thanks for your ideas Mouseroot, your are right! by simply logging req to the console and then logging those keys one by one I managed to figure out that the form keys are actually in req.body, not req.param as one might think...Edited post to include solution! Cant believe I didnt think of that earlier! =P – Anders Martini Commented Feb 25, 2014 at 2:44

1 Answer 1

I guess you're asking how to iterate form post from a url encoded POST request body, so it is bodyParser() middleware that did your trick.

req.params is an array that contains properties mapped by routing defined express app. see details from req.params, not the request body. Take the follow code for example:

var app = require("express")();

app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.post("/form/:name", function(req, res) {
   console.log(req.params);
   console.log(req.body);
   console.log(req.query);
   res.send("ok");
});

Then test it like this:

$ curl -X POST --data 'foo=bar' http://localhost:3000/form/form1?url=/abc

You will see the console output like this:

[ name: 'form1' ]
{ foo: 'bar' }
{ url: '/abc' }

So req.body is the right way to access request body, req.query is for read query string of all HTTP methods.