Uploading images using Node.js, Express, and Mongoose

I'll answer my own question for the first time. I found an example straight from the source. Please forgive the poor indentation. I wasn't sure how to indent properly when copying and pasting. The code comes straight from Express multipart/form-data example on GitHub.

// Expose modules in ./support for demo purposesrequire.paths.unshift(__dirname + '/../../support');/** * Module dependencies. */var express = require('../../lib/express')  , form = require('connect-form');var app = express.createServer(  // connect-form (http://github.com/visionmedia/connect-form)  // middleware uses the formidable middleware to parse urlencoded  // and multipart form data  form({ keepExtensions: true }));app.get('/', function(req, res){  res.send('<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">'    + '<p>Image: <input type="file" name="image" /></p>'    + '<p><input type="submit" value="Upload" /></p>'    + '</form>');});app.post('/', function(req, res, next){  // connect-form adds the req.form object  // we can (optionally) define onComplete, passing  // the exception (if any) fields parsed, and files parsed  req.form.complete(function(err, fields, files){    if (err) {      next(err);    } else {      console.log('\nuploaded %s to %s'        ,  files.image.filename        , files.image.path);      res.redirect('back');    }  });  // We can add listeners for several form  // events such as "progress"  req.form.on('progress', function(bytesReceived, bytesExpected){    var percent = (bytesReceived / bytesExpected * 100) | 0;    process.stdout.write('Uploading: %' + percent + '\r');  });});app.listen(3000);console.log('Express app started on port 3000');

Since you're using express, just add bodyParser:

app.use(express.bodyParser());

then your route automatically has access to the uploaded file(s) in req.files:

app.post('/todo/create', function (req, res) {    // TODO: move and rename the file using req.files.path & .name)    res.send(console.dir(req.files));  // DEBUG: display available fields});

If you name the input control "todo" like this (in Jade):

form(action="/todo/create", method="POST", enctype="multipart/form-data")    input(type='file', name='todo')    button(type='submit') New

Then the uploaded file is ready by the time you get the path and original filename in 'files.todo':

• req.files.todo.path, and
• req.files.todo.name

other useful req.files properties:

• size (in bytes)
• type (e.g., 'image/png')
• lastModifiedate
• _writeStream.encoding (e.g, 'binary')

You can configure the connect body parser middleware in a configuration block in your main application file:

    /** Form Handling */    app.use(express.bodyParser({        uploadDir: '/tmp/uploads',        keepExtensions: true    }))    app.use(express.limit('5mb'));