How to POST an array with an array of objects inside of it?

Question

CONTEXT

I am learning javascript while building a REST API with node.JS and express. Currently I am stuck on trying to read in my array of objects that has an array of objects in it. Below is a small example of what I am reading in.

[
    {
        "description":"hhhh",
        "goal":"yyyy",
        "goalDate":"12/5/2019",
        "mSubGoalArray":
            [
                {
                    "description":"yyyy",
                    "goal":"ggggg",
                    "goalDate":"12/4/2019",
                    "mSubGoalArray":[]
                }
            ]
    },
    {
        "description":"yy",
        "goal":"gg",
        "goalDate":"12/11/2019",
        "mSubGoalArray":
            [
            ]
    }
]

WHAT HAVE I TRIED

I have tried setting this -> bodyParser.urlencoded({extended:true}) to true and then just reading in the full string. When I go to display the data that has been read in VIA postman it comes up shows that it has been read and recognized however it cannot be displayed within the console it shows up as undefined.

I have also tried mimicking all the fields that are included in the object and just reading them in one at a time. This compiles however when i go to interact with the API i end up receiving an array saying Cannot access 'goal' before initialization.

goals.js

const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();

//getting from the database
router.get('/', (req, res, next) => {
    
});

//posting to the database
router.post('/', (req, res, next) => {
    
    const Array = req.body.data;
    console.log(Array);
    
    /*const goal = [
        goal.description = req.body.description,
        goal.goal = req.body.goal,
        goal.goalDate = req.body.description,
        goal.mSubGoalArray = [
            mSubGoalArray.description = req.body.description,
            mSubGoalArray.goal = req.body.goal,
            mSubGoalArray.goalDate = req.body.description,
            mSubGoalArray.mSubGoalArray['null'],
        ]
    ];*/
    
    res.status(200).json({
        the: 'Updated goal'
    });
});

module.exports = router;

app.js

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const morgan = require('morgan');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');

app.use(morgan('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));
app.use(bodyParser.json());

const goalsRoutes = require('./api/routes/goals');
const loginRoutes = require('./api/routes/login');

app.use('/goals', goalsRoutes);
app.use('/login', loginRoutes);

module.exports = app;

QUESTION#

I know that bodyparser is supposed to allow for inner objects. How can I either display the read in JSON object so that I can confirm that I have successfully transfered the object? How can I get rid of the error goal initilization error doing it the other way.

What is [mSubGoalArray.description = ..., ...] supposed to do? — Jonas Wilms
– Jonas Wilms, Commented Dec 21, 2019 at 22:48
Unrelated: Don't do const Array. Shadowing a native object is asking for trouble. — Ruan Mendes
– Ruan Mendes, Commented Dec 21, 2019 at 23:19
Even with this detailed description I don't understand a single thing about this question. how are you hitting the post request? what do you want to with the array of objects? what are you trying to do after reading/processing the array of object? I am getting that you are new to Node.js so I am not bothered about the syntax errors. But it is not clear what are you trying to do. — Aritra Chakraborty
– Aritra Chakraborty, Commented Dec 21, 2019 at 23:49

Yassine Boumedien · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-21 23:15:42Z

1

router.post('/', (req, res, next) => {

    const tab= req.body;
    console.log(Array);
tab.forEach(element=>{

//HERE WE ARE LOOPING ON THE FIRST ARRAY NOW YOU ACCESS TO THE DATA FOR EXAMPLE element.description element.goal and you can also loop inside this loop on the element.mSubGoalArray

})


    res.status(200).json({
        the: 'Updated goal'
    });
});

answered Dec 21, 2019 at 23:15

Yassine Boumedien

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