What is busboy?
The busboy npm package is a Node.js module for parsing incoming HTML form data, particularly file uploads. It is a stream-based parser that can handle multipart/form-data, which is primarily used for uploading files via HTTP.
What are busboy's main functionalities?
File Upload Parsing
This code sample demonstrates how to use busboy to parse file uploads from an HTML form. When a file is received, it logs the file details and the amount of data received.
const Busboy = require('busboy');
const http = require('http');
http.createServer((req, res) => {
if (req.method === 'POST') {
const busboy = new Busboy({ headers: req.headers });
busboy.on('file', (fieldname, file, filename, encoding, mimetype) => {
console.log(`File [${fieldname}]: filename: ${filename}, encoding: ${encoding}, mimetype: ${mimetype}`);
file.on('data', (data) => {
console.log(`File [${fieldname}] got ${data.length} bytes`);
}).on('end', () => {
console.log(`File [${fieldname}] Finished`);
});
});
busboy.on('finish', () => {
console.log('Done parsing form!');
res.writeHead(303, { Connection: 'close', Location: '/' });
res.end();
});
req.pipe(busboy);
} else {
res.writeHead(404);
res.end();
}
}).listen(8000, () => {
console.log('Server listening on port 8000');
});
Field Parsing
This code sample shows how to use busboy to parse non-file fields from an HTML form. It logs the name and value of each field received.
const Busboy = require('busboy');
const http = require('http');
http.createServer((req, res) => {
if (req.method === 'POST') {
const busboy = new Busboy({ headers: req.headers });
busboy.on('field', (fieldname, val, fieldnameTruncated, valTruncated, encoding, mimetype) => {
console.log(`Field [${fieldname}]: value: ${val}`);
});
busboy.on('finish', () => {
res.end('Done parsing form!');
});
req.pipe(busboy);
} else {
res.writeHead(404);
res.end();
}
}).listen(8000, () => {
console.log('Server listening on port 8000');
});
Other packages similar to busboy
formidable
Formidable is an npm package similar to busboy that is used for parsing form data, especially file uploads. It is also stream-based and can handle multipart/form-data. Compared to busboy, Formidable provides a higher-level abstraction and can also handle file uploads to disk, but it might be less efficient for large file uploads due to its buffering approach.
multiparty
Multiparty is another npm package for parsing multipart/form-data. Like busboy, it is stream-based and suitable for handling large file uploads. However, multiparty differs in its API and the way it handles parts of the form data, which may make it more suitable for certain use cases.
multer
Multer is a middleware for Express.js that handles multipart/form-data, which is primarily used for uploading files. It is built on top of busboy for maximum efficiency. Unlike busboy, which is a general-purpose stream parser, multer provides a set of convenient features specifically designed for Express applications.
Description
A node.js module for parsing incoming HTML form data.
Requirements
Install
npm install busboy
Examples
- Parsing (multipart) with default options:
var http = require('http'),
inspect = require('util').inspect;
var Busboy = require('busboy');
http.createServer(function(req, res) {
if (req.method === 'POST') {
var busboy = new Busboy({ headers: req.headers });
busboy.on('file', function(fieldname, file, filename, encoding, mimetype) {
console.log('File [' + fieldname + ']: filename: ' + filename + ', encoding: ' + encoding + ', mimetype: ' + mimetype);
file.on('data', function(data) {
console.log('File [' + fieldname + '] got ' + data.length + ' bytes');
});
file.on('end', function() {
console.log('File [' + fieldname + '] Finished');
});
});
busboy.on('field', function(fieldname, val, fieldnameTruncated, valTruncated, encoding, mimetype) {
console.log('Field [' + fieldname + ']: value: ' + inspect(val));
});
busboy.on('finish', function() {
console.log('Done parsing form!');
res.writeHead(303, { Connection: 'close', Location: '/' });
res.end();
});
req.pipe(busboy);
} else if (req.method === 'GET') {
res.writeHead(200, { Connection: 'close' });
res.end('<html><head></head><body>\
<form method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">\
<input type="text" name="textfield"><br />\
<input type="file" name="filefield"><br />\
<input type="submit">\
</form>\
</body></html>');
}
}).listen(8000, function() {
console.log('Listening for requests');
});
- Save all incoming files to disk:
var http = require('http'),
path = require('path'),
os = require('os'),
fs = require('fs');
var Busboy = require('busboy');
http.createServer(function(req, res) {
if (req.method === 'POST') {
var busboy = new Busboy({ headers: req.headers });
busboy.on('file', function(fieldname, file, filename, encoding, mimetype) {
var saveTo = path.join(os.tmpDir(), path.basename(fieldname));
file.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(saveTo));
});
busboy.on('finish', function() {
res.writeHead(200, { 'Connection': 'close' });
res.end("That's all folks!");
});
return req.pipe(busboy);
}
res.writeHead(404);
res.end();
}).listen(8000, function() {
console.log('Listening for requests');
});
- Parsing (urlencoded) with default options:
var http = require('http'),
inspect = require('util').inspect;
var Busboy = require('busboy');
http.createServer(function(req, res) {
if (req.method === 'POST') {
var busboy = new Busboy({ headers: req.headers });
busboy.on('file', function(fieldname, file, filename, encoding, mimetype) {
console.log('File [' + fieldname + ']: filename: ' + filename);
file.on('data', function(data) {
console.log('File [' + fieldname + '] got ' + data.length + ' bytes');
});
file.on('end', function() {
console.log('File [' + fieldname + '] Finished');
});
});
busboy.on('field', function(fieldname, val, fieldnameTruncated, valTruncated) {
console.log('Field [' + fieldname + ']: value: ' + inspect(val));
});
busboy.on('finish', function() {
console.log('Done parsing form!');
res.writeHead(303, { Connection: 'close', Location: '/' });
res.end();
});
req.pipe(busboy);
} else if (req.method === 'GET') {
res.writeHead(200, { Connection: 'close' });
res.end('<html><head></head><body>\
<form method="POST">\
<input type="text" name="textfield"><br />\
<select name="selectfield">\
<option value="1">1</option>\
<option value="10">10</option>\
<option value="100">100</option>\
<option value="9001">9001</option>\
</select><br />\
<input type="checkbox" name="checkfield">Node.js rules!<br />\
<input type="submit">\
</form>\
</body></html>');
}
}).listen(8000, function() {
console.log('Listening for requests');
});
API
Busboy is a Writable stream
Busboy (special) events
-
file(< string >fieldname, < ReadableStream >stream, < string >filename, < string >transferEncoding, < string >mimeType) - Emitted for each new file form field found. transferEncoding
contains the 'Content-Transfer-Encoding' value for the file stream. mimeType
contains the 'Content-Type' value for the file stream.
- Note: if you listen for this event, you should always handle the
stream
no matter if you care about the file contents or not (e.g. you can simply just do stream.resume();
if you want to discard the contents), otherwise the 'finish' event will never fire on the Busboy instance. However, if you don't care about any incoming files, you can simply not listen for the 'file' event at all and any/all files will be automatically and safely discarded (these discarded files do still count towards files
and parts
limits). - If a configured file size limit was reached,
stream
will both have a boolean property truncated
(best checked at the end of the stream) and emit a 'limit' event to notify you when this happens.
-
field(< string >fieldname, < string >value, < boolean >fieldnameTruncated, < boolean >valueTruncated, < string >transferEncoding, < string >mimeType) - Emitted for each new non-file field found.
-
partsLimit() - Emitted when specified parts
limit has been reached. No more 'file' or 'field' events will be emitted.
-
filesLimit() - Emitted when specified files
limit has been reached. No more 'file' events will be emitted.
-
fieldsLimit() - Emitted when specified fields
limit has been reached. No more 'field' events will be emitted.
Busboy methods