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Solving the empty body issue in Express with the fetch POST method

Learn how to properly send `POST` requests using `fetch` in Express to avoid empty body issues. --- This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/75286382/ asked by the user 'Nastro' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/10220619/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/75286501/ provided by the user 'Quentin' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/19068/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions. Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Fetch POST method gives empty body on Express server Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/l... The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license. If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com. --- Solving the empty body issue in Express with the fetch POST method It's common to encounter issues when making network requests in web development. One such problem occurs when you make a POST request using the fetch method, and your Express server receives an empty body. If you've found yourself perplexed by this, you're not alone! Let’s dive into the details of the problem and explore how to solve it effectively. The Problem In your scenario, you're attempting to send a POST request from a browser client to an Express server. Here’s the setup: Client-side code: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] Server-side code: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] When you log req.body, you see an unexpected output: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] This indicates that the body is being sent as an object without the desired text property. Understanding the Issue The root of the problem lies in how you are sending the body of your request. When you pass a plain object to the fetch function as the body, it isn't able to convert it properly to a format that your Express server can process. Why This Happens fetch method: When you provide an object directly, fetch tries to convert it to a string using .toString(), which doesn't yield the expected result. Content-Type: You're specifying Content-Type as 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', but without properly formatting the body, your server is left with an unrecognizable payload. The Solution To fix this issue, you need to convert the object into a format that Express can decode. Here’s how to do it: Create a URLSearchParams Object Instead of passing an object directly, use URLSearchParams to format your data correctly: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] Now update your fetch request to use this body: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] Key Points to Note Automatic Content-Type inference: You can omit the Content-Type header altogether in this case, as fetch will automatically set it to application/x-www-form-urlencoded when using URLSearchParams. Avoid using JSON.stringify: Remember, JSON is not the same as application/x-www-form-urlencoded. If you use JSON.stringify, you'll receive an object with encoded values, such as: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] This is not what your server is looking for. Conclusion By using URLSearchParams, you ensure that your POST request body is formatted correctly for the Express server. This not only resolves the issue of receiving an empty body but also streamlines data handling between your client and server. Now that you're equipped with the right knowledge, you can confidently handle POST requests without worrying about empty bodies! Happy coding!