How can I access data sent via AJAX on Node JS server? - ajax

Question

I would like to make a simple contact form for my website. I know how to use ajax to send data, but I don't know how to access it on the Node JS server.
If I were to send my data using this code:
var request=new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open("POST","url");
request.send("{value:'10'}");
How can I access my value in the JSON object I pass to the server?

Answer 1

There are a lot of ways to do this.
For example you could create an endpoint on your server e.g. with express http://expressjs.com/. It might look like this
router.post('/your/url', function(req, res, data) {
var value = req.body.value;
// do cool things with value
res.send('cool');
});
You define a post endpoint which will handle your request. Using the request object you can access the JSON object from the request

Answer 2

I used request_.on("data", function(data_){}); to get my data.
If in my client JS I use request.send("my data");
I can access my data by adding a listener to the request_ object in my Node JS server function.
request_.on("data", function(data_){
console.log(data_);// my data
}
I can then slice up my data any way I want to and use it how I see fit. No need for Express.
Here's my client function that is called when the submit button on my contact form is pressed:
function clickSubmit(event_) {
var xmlhttprequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttprequest.open("POST", "contact");
xmlhttprequest.send("email=" + html.email.value + "&name=" + html.name.value + "&message=" + html.message.value);
}
And here's my Node JS server function:
function handleRequest(request_, response_) {
switch(request_.url) {
case "/contact":
request_.on("data", function(data_) {
console.log("data: " + data_);// Outputs the string sent by AJAX.
});
break;
}
}