Node JS uploading file field as a field of an object in the request body using Formidable - node.js

Question

I am building a Node JS application using Express JS. I need to implement the file upload logic for my application. I am using Formidable, https://www.npmjs.com/package/formidable for uploading file(s). I could upload the files using that library without any issue when the request body format is simple. Now, I am trying to upload the file which is a property/ field of an object in the request body. The following is the dummy request body structure.
{
users: [
{
name: `Test User 1`,
photoFile: {{ here I want to upload file for this user }}
},
{
name: `Test User 2`,
photoFile: {{ here I want to upload file for this user }}
},
// the list goes on
]
}
I am trying to send the test payload/ data in the Postman as in the screenshot below.
This is my code to parse the form
private getForm = async (
req: Request,
options: FormOptions = {
multiples: false
}
) => {
const tempUploadDir = this.getTempUploadDirectory(req);
if (!(await this.storage.exits(tempUploadDir))) {
await this.storage.mkdir(tempUploadDir);
}
return new IncomingForm({
multiples: options.multiples,
uploadDir: tempUploadDir,
maxFileSize: config.fileSystem.maxUploadLimit
});
};
public parseFormData = async <T>(
request: Request,
options: FormOptions = {
multiples: false
}
): Promise<T> => {
const form = await this.getForm(request, options);
return new Promise<T>((resolve) => {
form.parse(request, (err, fields, files) => {
if (err) {
if (err.code === FILE_TOO_LARGE_ERROR_CODE) {
// file too large
throw new UploadMaxFileSizeException(
`Upload file size limit exceeded.`
);
}
throw err;
}
let filesData: {
[key: string]: IUploadedFile[];
} = {};
for (let fileField in files) {
if (`length` in files[fileField]) {
filesData[fileField] = files[fileField] as IUploadedFile[];
} else {
filesData[fileField] = [files[fileField] as IUploadedFile];
}
}
return resolve({
...fields,
...files
} as T);
});
});
};
When I print out the result of parseFormData, I am getting the following result.
As you can see, the field field, 'users[0][photoFile]' is not parsed putting into the corresponding field of the request body object. Instead, the entire field name is string, 'users[0][photoFile]'. What is wrong with my code and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

I my project, file will upload to server when user upload files and get the link back
And when submit form, user avatar just is a link, not a file