Getting input data from text field in Nodejs - node.js

Question

I'm sure this has already been answered but I can't find the exact question I'm looking for.
I have an ejs file that has this for the form.
<form action="" method="POST">
<div class="input-group">
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="userSearchInput" placeholder="Enter the id of the product you would like to buy" aria-label="Recipient's username" aria-describedby="basic-addon2">
<div class="input-group-append">
<button class="btn btn-outline-secondary" id="searchBTN" type="submit"><i class="fas fa-cart-plus mr-2"></i>Add to Cart</button>
</div>
</div>
</form>
On the node side in my app.js file, I've installed and downloaded both express and body-parser and done the requisite require function.
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
I've set up my middleware for body-parser here:
// middleware for bodyParser
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));
Then, to get the content of what the user types into the input text box, I'm using this:
app.post('/', function(req, res) {
var item = req.body.userSearchInput;
console.log(item);
});
This is my first time using app.post and since nothing is being console logged- I'm not sure where I'm going wrong.
full app.js file
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var http = require('http');
var mysql = require('mysql');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var nodemon = require('nodemon');
var app = express();
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
// setting up views
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// middleware for bodyParser
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));
// create connection to mySQL db
var connection = mysql.createConnection ({
host : 'localhost',
user : 'root',
password : 'root',
database : 'bamazon'
});
// initialize connection
connection.connect();
// run db query and print items to index html home page
connection.query('SELECT * from products', function (error, results) {
if (error) throw error;
console.log(results);
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.render('index', {list: results});
})
});
app.post('/', function(req, res) {
var item = req.body.userSearchInput;
console.log(item);
});
// setting up listen for server function
app.listen(port, function (err) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log("Server is running on port " + port);
});

Answer 1

use
<form action="/" method="post">

Answer 2

Firstly add form action in your ejs file like action="/search".Step 2: try with app.post('/search'

Answer 3

Works fine i just commented out db connections only.
may be try this app.js file with new express project.
Run command node app instant of npm start
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var http = require('http');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
// var nodemon = require('nodemon');
// var mysql = require('mysql');
var app = express();
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
// setting up views
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// middleware for bodyParser
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
/*
create connection to mySQL db
var connection = mysql.createConnection({
host: 'localhost',
user: 'root',
password: 'root',
database: 'bamazon'
});
// initialize connection
connection.connect();
// run db query and print items to index html home page
connection.query('SELECT * from products', function (error, results) {
if (error) throw error;
console.log(results);
});
*/
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.render('index', { list: [], title:"salman" });
})
app.post('/', function (req, res) {
var item = req.body.userSearchInput;
console.log(item);
});
// setting up listen for server function
app.listen(port, function (err) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log("Server is running on port " + port);
});