Supertest: post(url, data) does not send any data

[SystemParadox]

superagent allows the following syntax:

request(app).post('/url', { foo: 'bar' })

This should set the content-type to json and send the JSON data in the request body.

With supertest the above syntax results in no content-type and no body.

testcase:

  it('.post should work with data', function (done) {
    var app = express();

    app.use(express.bodyParser());

    app.post('/', function(req, res){
      res.send(req.body.name);
    });

    request(app)
    .post('/', { name: 'tobi' })
    .expect('tobi', done);
  })

Thanks.

[JerryC8080]

+1

[gabeio]

use:

it('.post should work with data', function (done) {
    var app = express();

    app.use(express.bodyParser());

    app.post('/', function(req, res){
      res.send(req.body.name);
    });

    request(app)
    .post('/')
    .send({ name: 'tobi' })
    .expect('tobi', done);
  })

[mikker]

Adding .type('form') fixed this for me.

[joncodo]

+1 Mikker.

[fernandoPalaciosGit]

Thanks a lot, mayby fix the Accept POST Header

         testServer
                    .post('/api/book/save/')
                    .type('form')
                    .send(data.book)
                    .set('Accept', /application\/json/)
                    .expect(201)
                    .end(function (err, res) { done(); });

[muneermuhammed]

Can we attach image file along with the same request without changing type('form'
) ?

[montaro]

This worked for me

import bodyParser from 'body-parser';
app.use(bodyParser.json());

[muneermuhammed]

+1 Montaro

[snackycracky]

+1 Montaro

[fritx]

Seems the readme has only this example, which can be very confusing.
Related: #168

request(app)
  .post('/')
  .field('name', 'my awesome avatar')
  .attach('avatar', 'test/fixtures/homeboy.jpg')

---

I didn't know there is another method:

request(app)
  .post('/api/book/save/')
  .type('form')
  .send(data.book)
  .set('Accept', /application\/json/)
  .expect(201)
  .end(function (err, res) { done(); });

---

It's weird that nested form data breaks in .field()
.field('name[en]', 'value') does not work, but .send({ name: { en: 'value' } }) works for me.
Don't know why.

[zanemcca]

+1

[akanshgulati]

@fritx @zanemcca I don`t know how relevant is to see the help from this library for the supertest. But you can try using the documentation from it.
http://unirest.io/nodejs.html

[WwupengP]

Adding .type('form') fixed my problem too

[omar-meshaal]

adding these two lines solves this problem
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));

[RaisonBlue]

Be sure you're not looking for .query(postData) instead of .send(postData)

[calidion]

it should use form as the default type instead of json.
where forms are standard http requests while jsons are file format.

[samueljseay]

I'm having trouble with a basic post with json body not coming through in Express 4.16.3 which has the body parsing stuff for json built in.

[mikelax]

@samueljseay as a heads up expressjs version 4 and above does not include body parsing middleware. See the migration guide. You must use a separate middleware library like body-parser.

[olegario96]

This worked for me

import bodyParser from 'body-parser';
app.use(bodyParser.json());

Nowadays, you should use express.json(), since bodyParser is currently deprecated.