Step 8: Extracting the blog post

So now we have a handler for /create-post. Next step is to actually find our blog post.

The contents of your blog post is hidden in your req object somewhere. Normally you would extract it using req.body. Try to console.log req.body now.

Getting undefined? Not to worry, that's normal. When data has been POSTed to the server as FormData, we need to do things slightly differently to access the data that's come through in the request.

We need another middleware function. Something that can get extract the contents out of the special FormData object. For this we will use express-formidable. express-formidable is another Express middleware. It will extract the form data from the request and make it available to you when you do req.fields.

This time though, express-formidable is not built-in, we need to explicitly install it.

Installing express-formidable

Go to your terminal and install express-formidable:

Command line

npm install express-formidable --save

Next, you need to require the express-formidable library so you can use it in your code. You can't use dashes in JavaScript variable names, so just call it var formidable. Require it somewhere near the top of server.js, near the other required code.

server.js

var formidable = require('express-formidable');

Now somewhere between your requires and your /create-post endpoint, add this:

server.js

// require stuff above

app.use(formidable());

// endpoint stuff below

Finally, inside your /create-post function, add this:

server.js

console.log(req.fields);

Refresh your server and have another go at writing a blog post.

You should now see an object in the console. The key should be blogpost, just like the name attribute in the form on the HTML page. The value of blogpost will be your message!