README.md (7138B)
1 # Form-Data [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/form-data) [](https://gitter.im/form-data/form-data) 2 3 A library to create readable ```"multipart/form-data"``` streams. Can be used to submit forms and file uploads to other web applications. 4 5 The API of this library is inspired by the [XMLHttpRequest-2 FormData Interface][xhr2-fd]. 6 7 [xhr2-fd]: http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/XMLHttpRequest-2/Overview.html#the-formdata-interface 8 9 [](https://travis-ci.org/form-data/form-data) 10 [](https://travis-ci.org/form-data/form-data) 11 [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/alexindigo/form-data) 12 13 [](https://coveralls.io/github/form-data/form-data?branch=master) 14 [](https://david-dm.org/form-data/form-data) 15 [](https://www.bithound.io/github/form-data/form-data) 16 17 ## Install 18 19 ``` 20 npm install --save form-data 21 ``` 22 23 ## Usage 24 25 In this example we are constructing a form with 3 fields that contain a string, 26 a buffer and a file stream. 27 28 ``` javascript 29 var FormData = require('form-data'); 30 var fs = require('fs'); 31 32 var form = new FormData(); 33 form.append('my_field', 'my value'); 34 form.append('my_buffer', new Buffer(10)); 35 form.append('my_file', fs.createReadStream('/foo/bar.jpg')); 36 ``` 37 38 Also you can use http-response stream: 39 40 ``` javascript 41 var FormData = require('form-data'); 42 var http = require('http'); 43 44 var form = new FormData(); 45 46 http.request('http://nodejs.org/images/logo.png', function(response) { 47 form.append('my_field', 'my value'); 48 form.append('my_buffer', new Buffer(10)); 49 form.append('my_logo', response); 50 }); 51 ``` 52 53 Or @mikeal's [request](https://github.com/request/request) stream: 54 55 ``` javascript 56 var FormData = require('form-data'); 57 var request = require('request'); 58 59 var form = new FormData(); 60 61 form.append('my_field', 'my value'); 62 form.append('my_buffer', new Buffer(10)); 63 form.append('my_logo', request('http://nodejs.org/images/logo.png')); 64 ``` 65 66 In order to submit this form to a web application, call ```submit(url, [callback])``` method: 67 68 ``` javascript 69 form.submit('http://example.org/', function(err, res) { 70 // res – response object (http.IncomingMessage) // 71 res.resume(); 72 }); 73 74 ``` 75 76 For more advanced request manipulations ```submit()``` method returns ```http.ClientRequest``` object, or you can choose from one of the alternative submission methods. 77 78 ### Custom options 79 80 You can provide custom options, such as `maxDataSize`: 81 82 ``` javascript 83 var FormData = require('form-data'); 84 85 var form = new FormData({ maxDataSize: 20971520 }); 86 form.append('my_field', 'my value'); 87 form.append('my_buffer', /* something big */); 88 ``` 89 90 List of available options could be found in [combined-stream](https://github.com/felixge/node-combined-stream/blob/master/lib/combined_stream.js#L7-L15) 91 92 ### Alternative submission methods 93 94 You can use node's http client interface: 95 96 ``` javascript 97 var http = require('http'); 98 99 var request = http.request({ 100 method: 'post', 101 host: 'example.org', 102 path: '/upload', 103 headers: form.getHeaders() 104 }); 105 106 form.pipe(request); 107 108 request.on('response', function(res) { 109 console.log(res.statusCode); 110 }); 111 ``` 112 113 Or if you would prefer the `'Content-Length'` header to be set for you: 114 115 ``` javascript 116 form.submit('example.org/upload', function(err, res) { 117 console.log(res.statusCode); 118 }); 119 ``` 120 121 To use custom headers and pre-known length in parts: 122 123 ``` javascript 124 var CRLF = '\r\n'; 125 var form = new FormData(); 126 127 var options = { 128 header: CRLF + '--' + form.getBoundary() + CRLF + 'X-Custom-Header: 123' + CRLF + CRLF, 129 knownLength: 1 130 }; 131 132 form.append('my_buffer', buffer, options); 133 134 form.submit('http://example.com/', function(err, res) { 135 if (err) throw err; 136 console.log('Done'); 137 }); 138 ``` 139 140 Form-Data can recognize and fetch all the required information from common types of streams (```fs.readStream```, ```http.response``` and ```mikeal's request```), for some other types of streams you'd need to provide "file"-related information manually: 141 142 ``` javascript 143 someModule.stream(function(err, stdout, stderr) { 144 if (err) throw err; 145 146 var form = new FormData(); 147 148 form.append('file', stdout, { 149 filename: 'unicycle.jpg', // ... or: 150 filepath: 'photos/toys/unicycle.jpg', 151 contentType: 'image/jpeg', 152 knownLength: 19806 153 }); 154 155 form.submit('http://example.com/', function(err, res) { 156 if (err) throw err; 157 console.log('Done'); 158 }); 159 }); 160 ``` 161 162 The `filepath` property overrides `filename` and may contain a relative path. This is typically used when uploading [multiple files from a directory](https://wicg.github.io/entries-api/#dom-htmlinputelement-webkitdirectory). 163 164 For edge cases, like POST request to URL with query string or to pass HTTP auth credentials, object can be passed to `form.submit()` as first parameter: 165 166 ``` javascript 167 form.submit({ 168 host: 'example.com', 169 path: '/probably.php?extra=params', 170 auth: 'username:password' 171 }, function(err, res) { 172 console.log(res.statusCode); 173 }); 174 ``` 175 176 In case you need to also send custom HTTP headers with the POST request, you can use the `headers` key in first parameter of `form.submit()`: 177 178 ``` javascript 179 form.submit({ 180 host: 'example.com', 181 path: '/surelynot.php', 182 headers: {'x-test-header': 'test-header-value'} 183 }, function(err, res) { 184 console.log(res.statusCode); 185 }); 186 ``` 187 188 ### Integration with other libraries 189 190 #### Request 191 192 Form submission using [request](https://github.com/request/request): 193 194 ```javascript 195 var formData = { 196 my_field: 'my_value', 197 my_file: fs.createReadStream(__dirname + '/unicycle.jpg'), 198 }; 199 200 request.post({url:'http://service.com/upload', formData: formData}, function(err, httpResponse, body) { 201 if (err) { 202 return console.error('upload failed:', err); 203 } 204 console.log('Upload successful! Server responded with:', body); 205 }); 206 ``` 207 208 For more details see [request readme](https://github.com/request/request#multipartform-data-multipart-form-uploads). 209 210 #### node-fetch 211 212 You can also submit a form using [node-fetch](https://github.com/bitinn/node-fetch): 213 214 ```javascript 215 var form = new FormData(); 216 217 form.append('a', 1); 218 219 fetch('http://example.com', { method: 'POST', body: form }) 220 .then(function(res) { 221 return res.json(); 222 }).then(function(json) { 223 console.log(json); 224 }); 225 ``` 226 227 ## Notes 228 229 - ```getLengthSync()``` method DOESN'T calculate length for streams, use ```knownLength``` options as workaround. 230 - Starting version `2.x` FormData has dropped support for `node@0.10.x`. 231 232 ## License 233 234 Form-Data is released under the [MIT](License) license.