Not getting form data in req.body Express/node.js

Question

I am trying to create e registration for a new user with profile picture upload. But my form data is not passing to the route. I have added body-parser middleware but still, it seems something is wrong and I cannot find the reason.

Error:

D:\temp_project\smpms\routes\users.js:118
                        if (err) throw err;
                                 ^

Error: Illegal arguments: undefined, string
    at _async (D:\temp_project\smpms\node_modules\bcryptjs\dist\bcrypt.js:214:46)
    at Object.bcrypt.hash (D:\temp_project\smpms\node_modules\bcryptjs\dist\bcrypt.js:220:13)
    at D:\temp_project\smpms\routes\users.js:117:28
    at Immediate.<anonymous> (D:\temp_project\smpms\node_modules\bcryptjs\dist\bcrypt.js:153:21)
    at processImmediate (internal/timers.js:456:21)
[nodemon] app crashed - waiting for file changes before starting...

app.js

const express = require("express");
const expressLayouts = require("express-ejs-layouts");
const mongoose = require("mongoose");
const passport = require("passport");
const flash = require("connect-flash");
const session = require("express-session");
const multer = require('multer');
const path = require('path');
var dotenv = require('dotenv').config();
const bodyParser =  require('body-parser');
const app = express();
// parse application/x-www-form-urlencoded
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }))

// parse application/json
app.use(bodyParser.json())
app.use(express.static("public"));

// Passport Config
require("./config/passport")(passport);

// DB Config
const db = require("./config/keys").mongoURI;

// Connect to MongoDB
mongoose
  .connect(db, { useNewUrlParser: true, useUnifiedTopology: true })
  .then(() => console.log("MongoDB Connected"))
  .catch((err) => console.log(err));

// EJS
app.use(expressLayouts);
app.set("view engine", "ejs");

// Express body parser
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));

// Express session
app.use(
  session({
    secret: "secret",
    resave: true,
    saveUninitialized: true,
  })
);

// Passport middleware
app.use(passport.initialize());
app.use(passport.session());

// Connect flash
app.use(flash());

// Global variables
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
  res.locals.success_msg = req.flash("success_msg");
  res.locals.error_msg = req.flash("error_msg");
  res.locals.error = req.flash("error");
  next();
});

// Routes
app.use("/", require("./routes/index.js"));
app.use("/users", require("./routes/users.js"));

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 5000;

app.listen(PORT, console.log(`Server started on port ${PORT}`));

User.js - User model

const mongoose = require('mongoose');

const UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  name: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  },
  email: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  },
  password: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  },
  avatar:{
    type:String,
    required:true
  },
  date: {
    type: Date,
    default: Date.now
  }
});

const User = mongoose.model('User', UserSchema);

module.exports = User;

User.js route:

const express = require("express");
const router = express.Router();
const bcrypt = require("bcryptjs");
const passport = require("passport");
const multer = require('multer');
const path = require('path');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser')
const app = express()
// parse application/x-www-form-urlencoded
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }))

// parse application/json
app.use(bodyParser.json())
// Load User model
const User = require("../models/User");
const {forwardAuthenticated} = require("../config/auth");


// Login Page
router.get("/login", forwardAuthenticated, (req, res) => {
    res.render("login", {title: "Login", layout: "layout"});
});

// Register Page
router.get("/register", forwardAuthenticated, (req, res) => {
    res.render("register", {title: "Register", layout: "layout"});
});

// Register
router.post("/register", (req, res) => {
    //const {name, email, password, password2||avatar} = req.body;
    const name = req.body.name
    const email = req.body.email
    const password = req.body.password;
    const password2 = req.body.password2;
    const avatar = req.body.avatar;

    let errors = [];
    //
    // if (!name || !email || !password || !password2) {
    //     errors.push({msg: "Please enter all fields"});
    // }
    // if (password && password.length < 6) {
    //     errors.push({msg: "Password must be at least 6 characters"});
    // }
    // if (password != password2) {
    //     errors.push({msg: "Passwords do not match"});
    // }

    if (errors.length > 0) {
        res.render("register", {
            errors,
            name,
            email,
            password,
            password2,
            title: "Register",
            layout: "Layout",
        });
    } else {
        User.findOne({email: email}).then((user) => {
            if (user) {
                errors.push({msg: "Email already exists"});
                res.render("register", {
                    errors,
                    name,
                    email,
                    password,
                    password2,
                    title: "Register",
                    layout: "Layout",
                });
            } else {
                const newUser = new User({
                    name,
                    email,
                    password,
                });
                //Set The Storage Engine
                const storage = multer.diskStorage({
                    destination: './public/uploads/',
                    filename: function (req, file, cb) {
                        cb(null, file.fieldname + '-' + newUser._id + path.extname(file.originalname));
                    }
                });

                // Init Upload
                const upload = multer({
                    storage: storage,
                    limits: {fileSize: 1000000},
                    fileFilter: function (req, file, cb) {
                        checkFileType(file, cb);
                    }
                }).single('avatar');

                // Check File Type
                function checkFileType(file, cb) {
                    // Allowed ext
                    const filetypes = /jpeg|jpg|png|gif/;
                    // Check ext
                    const extname = filetypes.test(path.extname(file.originalname).toLowerCase());
                    // Check mime
                    const mimetype = filetypes.test(file.mimetype);

                    if (mimetype && extname) {
                        return cb(null, true);
                    } else {
                        cb('Error: Images Only!');
                    }
                }


                console.log(newUser);
                newUser.avatar = storage;
                console.log(newUser);
                bcrypt.genSalt(10, (err, salt) => {
                    bcrypt.hash(newUser.password, salt, (err, hash) => {
                        if (err) throw err;
                        newUser.password = hash;
                        newUser
                            .save()
                            .then((user) => {
                                req.flash(
                                    "success_msg",
                                    "You are now registered and can log in"
                                );
                                res.redirect("/users/login");
                            })
                            .catch((err) => console.log(err));
                    });
                });
            }
        });
    }
});

// Login
router.post("/login", (req, res, next) => {
    passport.authenticate("local", {
        successRedirect: "/dashboard",
        failureRedirect: "/users/login",
        failureFlash: true,
    })(req, res, next);
});

// Logout
router.get("/logout", (req, res) => {
    req.logout();
    req.flash("success_msg", "You are logged out");
    res.redirect("/users/login");
});

module.exports = router;

Register.ejs is the file where the form is not passing data to the route.

<div class="row mt-5">
  <div class="col-md-6 m-auto">
    <div class="card card-body">
      <h1 class="text-center mb-3">
        <i class="fas fa-user-plus"></i> Register
      </h1>
      <% include ./partials/messages %>
      <%= typeof msg != 'undefined' ? msg : '' %>
      <form action="/users/register" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">
        <div class="form-group">
          <label for="name">Name</label>
          <input
            type="name"
            id="name"
            name="name"
            class="form-control"
            placeholder="Enter Name"
            value="<%= typeof name != 'undefined' ? name : '' %>"
          />
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
          <label for="email">Email</label>
          <input
            type="email"
            id="email"
            name="email"
            class="form-control"
            placeholder="Enter Email"
            value="<%= typeof email != 'undefined' ? email : '' %>"
          />
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
          <label for="password">Password</label>
          <input
            type="password"
            id="password"
            name="password"
            class="form-control"
            placeholder="Create Password"
            value="<%= typeof password != 'undefined' ? password : '' %>"
          />
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
          <label for="password2">Confirm Password</label>
          <input
            type="password"
            id="password2"
            name="password2"
            class="form-control"
            placeholder="Confirm Password"
            value="<%= typeof password2 != 'undefined' ? password2 : '' %>"
          />
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
          <label for="">Profile Picture</label>
          <input type="file" name="avatar" id="" class="form-control  file-path validate">
        </div>
        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary btn-block">
          Register
        </button>
      </form>
      <p class="lead mt-4">Have An Account? <a href="/users/login">Login</a></p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Answer 1

It seems that you aren't using multer correctly. Usually multer configuration is set globally and above all the APIs and then we pass that middleware function generated by multer to that specific API which has multipart/form-data header in its request. You have to move your configuration for multer , outside of your API, then pass the upload as a middleware to your API. Also from your clientside, you have to pass data properly. A good answer about sending JSON alongside the File with FormData object can be found here . Also you can add text fields in FormData object from clientside and receive it as object in req.body according to multer documentation. Just make sure you're passing data from clientside to server correctly. Here is your router with multer middleware:

const express = require("express");
const router = express.Router();
const fs = require('fs');
const bcrypt = require("bcryptjs");
const passport = require("passport");
const multer = require('multer');
const path = require('path');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser')
const app = express()
// parse application/x-www-form-urlencoded
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }))

// parse application/json
app.use(bodyParser.json())
// Load User model
const User = require("../models/User");
const { forwardAuthenticated } = require("../config/auth");


// Login Page
router.get("/login", forwardAuthenticated, (req, res) => {
    res.render("login", { title: "Login", layout: "layout" });
});

// Register Page
router.get("/register", forwardAuthenticated, (req, res) => {
    res.render("register", { title: "Register", layout: "layout" });
});

const storage = multer.diskStorage({
    destination: './public/uploads/'
});

// Init Upload
const upload = multer({
    storage: storage,
    limits: { fileSize: 1000000 },
    fileFilter: function (req, file, cb) {
        checkFileType(file, cb);
    }
});

// Check File Type
function checkFileType(file, cb) {
    // Allowed ext
    const filetypes = /jpeg|jpg|png|gif/;
    // Check ext
    const extname = filetypes.test(path.extname(file.originalname).toLowerCase());
    // Check mime
    const mimetype = filetypes.test(file.mimetype);

    if (mimetype && extname) {
        return cb(null, true);
    } else {
        cb('Error: Images Only!');
    }
}
// Register
router.post("/register", upload.single('avatar'), (req, res) => {
    //const {name, email, password, password2||avatar} = req.body;
    const name = req.body.name
    const email = req.body.email
    const password = req.body.password;
    const password2 = req.body.password2;


    let errors = [];
    //
    // if (!name || !email || !password || !password2) {
    //     errors.push({msg: "Please enter all fields"});
    // }
    // if (password && password.length < 6) {
    //     errors.push({msg: "Password must be at least 6 characters"});
    // }
    // if (password != password2) {
    //     errors.push({msg: "Passwords do not match"});
    // }

    if (errors.length > 0) {
        res.render("register", {
            errors,
            name,
            email,
            password,
            password2,
            title: "Register",
            layout: "Layout",
        });
    } else {
        User.findOne({ email: email }).then((user) => {
            if (user) {
                errors.push({ msg: "Email already exists" });
                res.render("register", {
                    errors,
                    name,
                    email,
                    password,
                    password2,
                    title: "Register",
                    layout: "Layout",
                });
            } else {
                const directory = "/images/";
                const newUser = new User({
                    name,
                    email,
                    password,
                    avatar: `./public/uploads/${req.file}`
                });
                const filePath = path.join(__dirname, "../public/uploads/");
                fs.rename(filePath + req.file.filename, req.file.fieldname + '-' + newUser._id + path.extname(req.file.originalname), (error) => {
                    if (error) {
                        return console.log(`Error: ${error}`);
                    }
                });
                newUser.avatar = 'public/uploads/' + req.file.fieldname + '-' + newUser._id + path.extname(req.file.originalname);
                console.log(newUser);
                bcrypt.genSalt(10, (err, salt) => {
                    bcrypt.hash(newUser.password, salt, (err, hash) => {
                        if (err) throw err;
                        newUser.password = hash;
                        newUser
                            .save()
                            .then((user) => {
                                req.flash(
                                    "success_msg",
                                    "You are now registered and can log in"
                                );
                                res.redirect("/users/login");
                            })
                            .catch((err) => console.log(err));
                    });
                });
            }
        });
    }
});

// Login
router.post("/login", (req, res, next) => {
    passport.authenticate("local", {
        successRedirect: "/dashboard",
        failureRedirect: "/users/login",
        failureFlash: true,
    })(req, res, next);
});

// Logout
router.get("/logout", (req, res) => {
    req.logout();
    req.flash("success_msg", "You are logged out");
    res.redirect("/users/login");
});

module.exports = router;

It will save your file without any problem (if your configuration about directory and filename was okay).