Request urlencoded body is empty in express - node.js

Question

I'm trying to get url parameters in express 4.17.3 using the urlencoded middleware but the body is always empty, I reproducted it to a minimal code:
const express = require("express");
(()=>{
const app = express();
app.use(express.urlencoded());
app.get("/", async(req, res)=>{
console.log(req.body); //always print '{}'
res.send();
});
app.listen(83, ()=>{
console.log("test app listening on port 83");
})
})();
Here's my request
http://localhost:83/?param1=42
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

A few things to break down. To answer your question to get params you can use
req.query so your code would be:
app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
console.log(req.query)
res.send()
})
Addressing urlencoded it should be changed from:
app.use(express.urlencoded());
to:
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }))
good habit to not hard code the port so the line of code:
app.listen(83, ()=>{
console.log("test app listening on port 83");
})
should be:
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 83
app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`test app listening on port ${PORT}`)
})
full working code example:
const express = require('express')
const app = express()
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }))
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 83
app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
console.log(req.query)
res.send()
})
app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`test app listening on port ${PORT}`)
})
When using express I also like to implement nodemon and if you add this to your package.json:
"dev": "nodemon node index.js"
then in the terminal you can run:
npm run dev
you wont have to restart your server during development changes.