Add parameters to HTTP POST request in Node.JS

Question

I've known the way to send a simple HTTP request using Node.js as the following:

var http = require('http');

var options = {
  host: 'example.com',
  port: 80,
  path: '/foo.html'
};

http.get(options, function(resp){
  resp.on('data', function(chunk){
    //do something with chunk
  });
}).on("error", function(e){
  console.log("Got error: " + e.message);
});

I want to know how to embed parameters in the body of POST request and how to capture them from the receiver module.

Answer 1

Would you mind using the request library . Sending a post request becomes as simple as

var options = {
url: 'https://someurl.com',
'method': 'POST',
 'body': {"key":"val"} 

};

 request(options,function(error,response,body){
   //do what you want with this callback functon
});

The request library also has a shortcut for post in request.post method in which you pass the url to make a post request to along with the data to send to that url.

Edit based on comment

To "capture" a post request it would be best if you used some kind of framework. Since express is the most popular one I will give an example of express. In case you are not familiar with express I suggest reading a getting started guide by the author himself.

All you need to do is create a post route and the callback function will contain the data that is posted to that url

app.post('/name-of-route',function(req,res){
 console.log(req.body);
//req.body contains the post data that you posted to the url 
 });

Answer 2

If you want to use the native http module, parameters can be included in body this way:

var http = require('follow-redirects').http;
var fs = require('fs');

var options = {
  'method': 'POST',
  'hostname': 'example.com',
  'path': '/foo.html',
  'headers': {
  },
  'maxRedirects': 20
};

var req = http.request(options, function (res) {
  var chunks = [];

  res.on("data", function (chunk) {
    chunks.push(chunk);
  });

  res.on("end", function (chunk) {
    var body = Buffer.concat(chunks);
    console.log(body.toString());
  });

  res.on("error", function (error) {
    console.error(error);
  });
});

var postData = "------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"examplekey\"\r\n\r\nexamplevalue\r\n------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW--";
req.setHeader('content-type', 'multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW');
req.write(postData);
req.end();