[nodejs] express and formidable and restful server and sending a file from a REST client

wrote:
I built a restful server based on express (and express relies on
formidable). I used this form to perform my test:
<form action="/docxv" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="submit" value="Upload">
<input type="file" name="uploadfile">
</form>

However customer wants the REST client to send the file to the restful
server *WITHOUT* using multipart/form-data. So I changed the form to be
this:
<form action="/docxv" method="post">
<input type="submit" value="Upload">
<input type="file" name="uploadfile">
</form>

That way, the form is sent as UUEncoded instead of multipart.

My restful server javascript code (I am listing only the important bits):
var app = express();
app.configure(function () {
app.use(express.bodyParser({keepExtensions: true, hash:'md5' }));
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(app.router);
app.use(express.static(path.join(application_root, "public")));
app.use(express.errorHandler({ dumpExceptions: true, showStack: true
}));
});
//router POST /docxv (upload a file and generate a new ID)
app.post(uploadform, function (req, res){
uploadfileMultipart(req, res, 0);
});
//start the server.
app.listen(port);
logger.info('Server running on port ' + port);
//from POST router
function uploadfileMultipart(req, res, id) {
var keys = Object.keys(req.files);
var currentFile = req.files[keys[0]];
var data = fs.readFileSync(currentFile.path,, 'base64');
//...etc...

}


The problem is -- when changing from multipart to non-multipart, the
req.files parameter no longers works correctly. So, I was thinking that I
should try to get the raw data from request but I don't have an easy way to
do that... However I found tantalizing tidbits but no solid examples. One
such tidbit:

http://steelballsafety.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/express-rawbody/
So I added that to my code like this within the app.configure snippet:
app.configure(function () {
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
var data='';
req.setEncoding('utf8');
req.on('data', function(chunk) {
data += chunk;
});
req.on('end', function() {
req.rawBody=data;
next();
});
});
app.use(app.router);
app.use(express.static(path.join(application_root, "public")));
app.use(express.errorHandler({ dumpExceptions: true, showStack: true
}));
});

Unfortunately, when running this, either it hangs (when
using UUEncode) or that req.rawBody is undefined (when using multipart). I
am a noob, and I *did* search but not much luck. I know about the
incoming.onForm function, but there are no solid examples for me to follow
while using ExpressJS (which in turn uses Formidable).

Any help would be appreciated.

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