Get a JSON via HTTP request in NodeJS

Question

Here is my model with a JSON response:

exports.getUser = function(req, res, callback) {
    User.find(req.body, function (err, data) {
        if (err) {
            res.json(err.errors);
        } else {
            res.json(data);
        }
   });
};

Here I get it via http.request. Why do I receive (data) a string and not a JSON?

 var options = {
  hostname: '127.0.0.1'
  ,port: app.get('port')
  ,path: '/users'
  ,method: 'GET'
  ,headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
};

var req = http.request(options, function(res) {
  res.setEncoding('utf8');
  res.on('data', function (data) {
       console.log(data); // I can't parse it because, it's a string. why?
  });
});
reqA.on('error', function(e) {
  console.log('problem with request: ' + e.message);
});
reqA.end();

How can I get a JSON?

JSON is a serialization. It's only JSON if it's in a string, or otherwise not-yet-parsed as JavaScript. Are you looking for JSON.parse()? — Matt Ball
– Matt Ball, Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 13:42
I thought the data event was called multiple times each time with an argument that is a chunk of the string data. Wouldn't it be quite likely that the data returned in that event be broken JSON because it's only a fraction of the total document? I think you need to buffer the data and then use JSON.parse() in your end event. — Sukima
– Sukima, Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 2:01
You're right, it sends in chunks , so the best way is create a Buffer array and push it there — jeveloper
– jeveloper, Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 0:58

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:34:11Z

93

http sends/receives data as strings... this is just the way things are. You are looking to parse the string as json.

var jsonObject = JSON.parse(data);

How to parse JSON using Node.js?

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:34

CommunityBot

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answered Jul 23, 2013 at 13:43

MobA11y

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Comments

dpineda · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-11 03:35:47Z

76

Just tell request that you are using json:true and forget about header and parse

var options = {
    hostname: '127.0.0.1',
    port: app.get('port'),
    path: '/users',
    method: 'GET',
    json:true
}
request(options, function(error, response, body){
    if(error) console.log(error);
    else console.log(body);
});

and the same for post

var options = {
    hostname: '127.0.0.1',
    port: app.get('port'),
    path: '/users',
    method: 'POST',
    json: {"name":"John", "lastname":"Doe"}
}
request(options, function(error, response, body){
    if(error) console.log(error);
    else console.log(body);
});

answered Nov 11, 2015 at 3:35

dpineda

2,44828 silver badges27 bronze badges

2 Comments

Chris Watts Over a year ago

I knew that request was able to give a JSON body but the documentation really wasn't clear on that part! Saves doing a redundant parse. I also get the feeling you can do response.toJSON()

arve0 Over a year ago

This does not work for http.request, rather request.

Syscall · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-01 16:44:01Z

25

Just setting json option to true, the body will contain the parsed JSON:

request({
  url: 'http://...',
  json: true
}, function(error, response, body) {
  console.log(body);
});

edited Apr 1, 2021 at 16:44

Syscall

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answered Sep 18, 2017 at 19:37

José Antonio Postigo

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1 Comment

Steven Vachon Over a year ago

this doesn't work for me. It must be for request lib, not http.request

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