How to POST/PUT JSON object to an actionhero route?

[danie...@gmail.com]

I was wondering how to POST a json object from a web client to actionhero (simple web server type of), and use it in my action?

I'm trying to get 'userdata' to an action that has a definition like

inputs: { required: [ 'username', 'userdata' ], optional: [] }

where 'userdata' is a complex JSON object.

I saw that there is file-upload support in the form of 'Multipart/form-data'. Does actionhero threat requests with a header of 'Content-Type: application/json' in a special way? Does it ignore this kind of header?

If it does not make any difference, is there some way to 'plug-in' a custom-parser before the connection gets passed into the action?

I also thought about getting the body from the connection.rawConnection.req object and parse it inside the action, but i could not find the actual data sent in the body, nor an obvious way to get that data out from the rawConnection.

Thank You for Your help.

[Evan Tahler]

This kind of thing was discussed a little bit here.

Right now, actionHero doesn't do anything special if the POST is application/json.  We currently follow pattern that github does, in that you can certainly post JSON, but it should be set to a form variable (and probably JSON.stringify'd).  "payload" is the most common param name for this, but I've also seen "body" or "data".  Here's an example:

Action

exports.action = {

  name: "json",

  description: "json",

  inputs: {

    required: ["payload"],

    optional: [],

  },

  blockedConnectionTypes: [],

  outputExample: {},

  version: 1.0,

  run: function(api, connection, next){

    try{

      var payload = JSON.parse(connection.params.payload);

      connection.response.payload = payload;

    }catch(e){

      connection.error = e;

    }

    next(connection, true);

  }

};

Curl:

> curl -X POST -d 'payload={"thing": "stuff"}' 'localhost:8080/json'

{

  "payload": {

    "thing": "stuff"

  },

  "serverInformation": {

    "serverName": "actionHero API",

    "apiVersion": "0.0.1",

    "requestDuration": 7,

    "currentTime": 1378680616429

  },

  "requestorInformation": {

    "id": "1fdb9212c86f0866cd7f3d1995f1abf916d6cd84",

    "remoteIP": "127.0.0.1",

    "receivedParams": {

      "payload": "{\"thing\": \"stuff\"}",

      "action": "json",

      "limit": 100,

      "offset": 0,

      "apiVersion": 1

    }

  }

}

I would be open to a Pull Request which takes the body of POST with application/json and munges that into a param.  Keep in mind that parsing that JSON into a param is probably something folks want to configure, along with the error responses.  Because there are many opinions/patterns for this kind of thing, actionHero has left this up to the developer to implement as needed.  Also, writing a middleware for this is very simple if you have a few actions which will have the same functionality.  

You can access the raw req and res variables of a web-type connection within an action with connection.rawConnection.req and connection.rawConnection.res

[Pehr Johansson]

POSTing JSON works perfectly fine.

Try this curl:
curl -H 'content-type: application/json' -X POST -d '{"username":"superman", "userdata": { "field1": "val", "field2": [ "a1", "a1" ], "field3": { "subfield1": 1 } } }' http://localhost:8080/api/jsonfield

And the params would get parsed as:
2013-09-25 20:59:57 - info: [ action @ web ] to=127.0.0.1, action=jsonfield, params={"username":"superman","userdata":{"field1":"val","field2":["a1","a1"],"field3":{"subfield1":1}},"action":"jsonfield","limit":100,"offset":0,"apiVersion":1}, duration=1, error=null

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[Evan Tahler]

It looks like in newer versions of formidable (v1.0.12 and up), support for parsing "bodies" of POSTs with application/json was added.  actionHero uses formidable, so we gained application/json support for free! 

Normal actionHero rules still apply, so the keys in your POSTed json still need to be listed in `action.inputs` or else they won't make it to your action's run method.  Also, if you pass the same param as a query string and a POST json, the POST value wins.  Also of note, if you pass any form data along with with your post body, the body will not be parsed at all.

[Evan Tahler]

For clarification, this is valid:

exports.action = {

  name: "params",

  description: "params",

  inputs: {

    required: [],

    optional: ["thing"],

  },

  blockedConnectionTypes: [],

  outputExample: {},

  version: 1.0,

  run: function(api, connection, next){

    connection.response.params = connection.params;

    console.log(connection.params);

    next(connection, true);

  }

};

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"thing": "fromBody"}' "http://localhost:8080/params"

`connection.params.thing` will equal "fromBody" in this case.

[acheb...@gmail.com]

Hi Evan,
I have tried the code above but i dont see the "connection.params.thing" being populated with "FromBody". Am i missing something?
Thanks
Azeet

[Evan Tahler]

Looks ok to me... In the newest version of actionhero.  Be sure to name your action 'params.js'.  You may need to curl:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"thing": "fromBody"}' "http://localhost:8080/api/params"

[acheb...@gmail.com]

Evan,
I dont know what am i doing wrong.here is the action i have

exports.action = {
name: "params.js",
description: "params",
authenticated:false,

inputs: {
required: [],
optional: ["thing"],
},
blockedConnectionTypes: [],
outputExample: {},
version: 1.0,
run: function(api, connection, next){

// console.dir(connection.rawConnection);
connection.response.params = connection.params;
console.log(connection.params);
console.log("hello:",connection.params.thing);
next(connection, true);
}
};

and when i curl

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"thing": "fromBody"}' "http://localhost:8080/api/params"

this is the response i am getting
{
"params": {
"action": "params",

"limit": 100,
"offset": 0,
"apiVersion": 1
},

"serverInformation": {
"serverName": "Brainstorm API Server",
"apiVersion": "0.0.1",
"requestDuration": 3,
"currentTime": 1392085067560
},
"requesterInformation": {
"id": "65794f846721902e2440eaf2eced26ceffe71f2f",
"remoteIP": "127.0.0.1",
"receivedParams": {
"action": "params",

"limit": 100,
"offset": 0,
"apiVersion": 1
}
}
}

Appriciate any help.
Thanks
Azeet

[Evan Tahler]

other than the fact that it should be `name: "params",` that all looks correct.  Which OS, actionhero and node version do you have?

--
 Evan Tahler
 412.897.6361
 evant...@gmail.com

Thanks
Azeet

[azeet.c...@gmail.com]

I have changed the name to "params" but still it didnt work:(
I am on Windows 8 with node v0.10.21 and latest actionhero.
Any issue with windows?

[azeet.c...@gmail.com]

OK Evan,
I got it finally.I need to set the config entry "disableParamScrubbing" to true.
Thanks for your help.
Azeet

[azeet.c...@gmail.com]

But i am seeing a new problem now.actionhero is no longer generating the api documentation for me when i access http://localhost:8080/public .i am getting an error in actionheroClient.js saying "Error: {no action} is not a known action or that is not a valid apiVersion."
Any other setting i missed?
Thanks
Azeet

[Evan Tahler]

You shouldn't have to disable param scrubbing.  The param you are sending is in the list, and it works OK.  Disabling param scrubbing doesn't stop the documentation from being sent at the api root (I even checked on windows 8).  Unfortunately, I can't see what you are doing wrong.

--
 Evan Tahler
 412.897.6361
 evant...@gmail.com

[azeet.c...@gmail.com]

Hmm even i am confused.but thanks a lot for trying to help me out.

Azeet