How to upload file with Node.js

There is a very good module for working with file uploads, called "Formidable". You can download the Formidable module and installed using NPM. npm install formidable

After the download you can then include the Formidable module, you can include the module in any application.

Code Sample:

var formidable = require('formidable');

Now, let us create a Node.js file that writes an HTML form, with an upload field.

Code Sample:

var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
  res.write('<form action="fileupload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">');
  res.write('<input type="file" name="filetoupload"><br>');
  res.write('<input type="submit">');
  res.write('</form>');
  return res.end();
}).listen(8080);

After that, Include the Formidable module to be able to parse the uploaded file once it reaches the server. When the file is uploaded and parsed, it gets placed on a temporary folder on your computer.

Code Sample:

var http = require('http');
var formidable = require('formidable');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  if (req.url == '/fileupload') {
    var form = new formidable.IncomingForm();
    form.parse(req, function (err, fields, files) {
      res.write('File uploaded');
      res.end();
    });
  } else {
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
    res.write('<form action="fileupload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">');
    res.write('<input type="file" name="filetoupload"><br>');
    res.write('<input type="submit">');
    res.write('</form>');
    return res.end();
  }
}).listen(8080);

Lastly, when a file is successfully uploaded to the server, it is placed on a temporary folder. The path to this directory can be found in the "files" object, passed as the third argument in the parse() method's callback function. Now to move the file to the folder of your choice, use the File System module, and rename the file.

Code Sample:

var http = require('http');
var formidable = require('formidable');
var fs = require('fs');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  if (req.url == '/fileupload') {
    var form = new formidable.IncomingForm();
    form.parse(req, function (err, fields, files) {
      var oldpath = files.filetoupload.filepath;
      var newpath = 'C:/Users/Your Name/' + files.filetoupload.originalFilename;
      fs.rename(oldpath, newpath, function (err) {
        if (err) throw err;
        res.write('File uploaded and moved!');
        res.end();
      });
 });
  } else {
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
    res.write('<form action="fileupload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">');
    res.write('<input type="file" name="filetoupload"><br>');
    res.write('<input type="submit">');
    res.write('</form>');
    return res.end();
  }
}).listen(8080);

Happy Coding!