Getting TypeError: Cannot read property ‘name’ of undefined, while posting the form – node.js

I am building a node Js project and i am saving the values of form to a mongoDB database. Despite of trying i couldn’t find what is causing this error. Error is at router.post function on 3rd line.

Please guide me through this through your magical powers of coding and debugging. 😀

const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
const Employee = require('../models/employee');

router.get('/',(req, res) => {
    res.render('index');
});

router.get('/employee/new', (req, res) => {
    res.render('new');
});


router.post('/employee/new', (req, res) => {
    let newEmployee = {
        name : req.body.name,
        designation : req.body.designation,
        salary : req.body.salary
    }
    Employee.create(newEmployee).then(employee => {
        res.redirect('/');
    }).catch(err => {
        console.log(err);
    });
});

module.exports = router;

you can see clearly I have defined the newEmployee Object, so why ‘name’ is the property of undefined.

<div class="container mt-5 w-50">
       <h2 class="mb-4">Add New Employee</h2>
       <form action="/employee/new" method="POST">
           <input type="text" name="name" class="form-control" placeholder="Employee Name">
           <input type="text" name="designation" class="form-control" placeholder="Employee Designation">
           <input type="text" name="salary" class="form-control" placeholder="Employee Salary">
           <button type="submit" class="btn btn-danger btn-block mt-3">Add to Database</button>
       </form>
</div>

Answer

It doesn’t look like you’re using a body parser. Without one, req.body will always be undefined, which looks like your issue. Try putting this before you define any of your routes.

const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
app.use(bodyParser.json()); // for parsing application/json
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true })); // for parsing application/x-www-form-urlencoded

Edit: Also, make sure that you use the body parser middleware before your router.

const employeeRoutes = require('./routes/employees');

app.use(bodyParser.json()); // for parsing application/json
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true })); // for parsing application/x-www-form-urlencoded

// This needs to come AFTER the app.use calls for the body parser
app.use(employeeRoutes);

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