pass JSON to HTTP POST Request

Question

I'm trying to make a HTTP POST request to the google QPX Express API [1] using nodejs and request [2].

My code looks as follows:

    // create http request client to consume the QPX API
    var request = require("request")

    // JSON to be passed to the QPX Express API
    var requestData = {
        "request": {
            "slice": [
                {
                    "origin": "ZRH",
                    "destination": "DUS",
                    "date": "2014-12-02"
                }
            ],
            "passengers": {
                "adultCount": 1,
                "infantInLapCount": 0,
                "infantInSeatCount": 0,
                "childCount": 0,
                "seniorCount": 0
            },
            "solutions": 2,
            "refundable": false
        }
    }

    // QPX REST API URL (I censored my api key)
    url = "https://www.googleapis.com/qpxExpress/v1/trips/search?key=myApiKey"

    // fire request
    request({
        url: url,
        json: true,
        multipart: {
            chunked: false,
            data: [
                {
                    'content-type': 'application/json',
                    body: requestData
                }
            ]
        }
    }, function (error, response, body) {
        if (!error && response.statusCode === 200) {
            console.log(body)
        }
        else {

            console.log("error: " + error)
            console.log("response.statusCode: " + response.statusCode)
            console.log("response.statusText: " + response.statusText)
        }
    })

What I'm trying to do is passing the JSON using the multipart argument [3]. But instead of the proper JSON response I got an error (400 undefined).

When I make a request using the same JSON and API Key using CURL instead, it works fine. So there's nothing wrong with my API key or JSON.

What's wrong with my code?

EDIT:

working CURL example:

i) I saved the JSON which I would pass to my request into a file called "request.json":

{
  "request": {
    "slice": [
      {
        "origin": "ZRH",
        "destination": "DUS",
        "date": "2014-12-02"
      }
    ],
    "passengers": {
      "adultCount": 1,
      "infantInLapCount": 0,
      "infantInSeatCount": 0,
      "childCount": 0,
      "seniorCount": 0
    },
    "solutions": 20,
    "refundable": false
  }
}

ii) then, in the terminal I switched to the directory in which the newly created request.json file was located and run (myApiKey stands for my actual API Key obviously):

curl -d @request.json --header "Content-Type: application/json" https://www.googleapis.com/qpxExpress/v1/trips/search?key=myApiKey

[1] https://developers.google.com/qpx-express/ [2] a http request client designed for nodejs: https://www.npmjs.org/package/request [3] here is an example I found https://www.npmjs.org/package/request#multipart-related [4] QPX Express API is returning 400 parse error

Periodontics

Try removnig 'json: true' from your request – Cameroncameroon

doesn't make a difference. but as far as I know this only specifies that the response is a json right? – Periodontics

Can you show the cURL command line that works? – Aboutship

Out of curiosity, why are you using multipart? – Airglow

@Aboutship please see my updated original post – Periodontics

@Airglow because it's the only example I found. Maybe I'm doing it wrong – Periodontics

There are plenty of examples at github.com/request/request#requestoptions-callback – Celle

Answer 1

I think the following should work:

// fire request
request({
    url: url,
    method: "POST",
    json: requestData
}, ...

In this case, the Content-type: application/json header is automatically added.

Celle

For whatever reason, the endpoint I was hitting couldn't read the params using the first method (as if they weren't sent) but was able to do so with the second method. – Wordbook

Likewise to what Jamil said. I got SyntaxError: Unexpected token &quot;<br> &nbsp; &nbsp;at parse (/home/malcolm/complice/node_modules/body-parser/lib/types/json.js:83:15) with the first method. – Manger

@Manger That's because a <br> tag is not a valid JSON content – Celle

I got this error: [ERR_STREAM_WRITE_AFTER_END]: write after end, how can I fix it? – Paedogenesis

Answer 2

I worked on this for too long. The answer that helped me was at: send Content-Type: application/json post with node.js

Which uses the following format:

request({
    url: url,
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "content-type": "application/json",
        },
    json: requestData
//  body: JSON.stringify(requestData)
    }, function (error, resp, body) { ...

Ceramics

Answer 3

You don't want multipart, but a "plain" POST request (with Content-Type: application/json) instead. Here is all you need:

var request = require('request');

var requestData = {
  request: {
    slice: [
      {
        origin: "ZRH",
        destination: "DUS",
        date: "2014-12-02"
      }
    ],
    passengers: {
      adultCount: 1,
      infantInLapCount: 0,
      infantInSeatCount: 0,
      childCount: 0,
      seniorCount: 0
    },
    solutions: 2,
    refundable: false
  }
};

request('https://www.googleapis.com/qpxExpress/v1/trips/search?key=myApiKey',
        { json: true, body: requestData },
        function(err, res, body) {
  // `body` is a js object if request was successful
});

Aboutship

I tried this but got another error: "400. That’s an error. Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request. That’s all we know." for the full response visit jsfiddle.net/f71opd7p please – Periodontics

@Celle according to the request documentation and the code, json: true should both JSON.stringify() body and JSON.parse() the response. – Aboutship

This IS the answer. Further to it you can also pipe the response request('xxx',{ json: true, body: req.body }).pipe(res).on('error', catchErr); – Hejira

This worked for me when the accepted answer was not. – Bambino

I got this error: [ERR_STREAM_WRITE_AFTER_END]: write after end, how can I fix it? – Paedogenesis

Answer 4

Now with new JavaScript version (ECMAScript 6 http://es6-features.org/#ClassDefinition) there is a better way to submit requests using nodejs and Promise request (http://www.wintellect.com/devcenter/nstieglitz/5-great-features-in-es6-harmony)

Using library: https://github.com/request/request-promise

npm install --save request
npm install --save request-promise

client:

//Sequential execution for node.js using ES6 ECMAScript
var rp = require('request-promise');

rp({
    method: 'POST',
    uri: 'http://localhost:3000/',
    body: {
        val1 : 1,
        val2 : 2
    },
    json: true // Automatically stringifies the body to JSON
}).then(function (parsedBody) {
        console.log(parsedBody);
        // POST succeeded...
    })
    .catch(function (err) {
        console.log(parsedBody);
        // POST failed...
    });

server:

var express = require('express')
    , bodyParser = require('body-parser');

var app = express();

app.use(bodyParser.json());

app.post('/', function(request, response){
    console.log(request.body);      // your JSON

    var jsonRequest = request.body;
    var jsonResponse = {};

    jsonResponse.result = jsonRequest.val1 + jsonRequest.val2;

    response.send(jsonResponse);
});


app.listen(3000);

Cathrinecathryn

Answer 5

Example.

var request = require('request');

var url = "http://localhost:3000";

var requestData = {
    ...
} 

var data = {
    url: url,
    json: true,
    body: JSON.stringify(requestData)
}

request.post(data, function(error, httpResponse, body){
    console.log(body);
});

As inserting json: true option, sets body to JSON representation of value and adds "Content-type": "application/json" header. Additionally, parses the response body as JSON. LINK

Unexampled

Answer 6

According to doc: https://github.com/request/request

The example is:

  multipart: {
      chunked: false,
      data: [
        {
          'content-type': 'application/json', 
          body: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar', _attachments: {'message.txt': {follows: true, length: 18, 'content_type': 'text/plain' }}})
        },
      ]
    }

I think you send an object where a string is expected, replace

body: requestData

by

body: JSON.stringify(requestData)

Cameroncameroon

Answer 7

       var request = require('request');
        request({
            url: "http://localhost:8001/xyz",
            json: true,
            headers: {
                "content-type": "application/json",
            },
            body: JSON.stringify(requestData)
        }, function(error, response, body) {
            console.log(response);
        });

Neighbors

Answer 8

I feel

var x = request.post({
       uri: config.uri,
       json: reqData
    });

Defining like this will be the effective way of writing your code. And application/json should be automatically added. There is no need to specifically declare it.

Drawn

Answer 9

you can pass the json object as the body(third argument) of the fetch request.

Links

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