[Question] $request->getParsedBody() returns empty array using PUT/PATCH methods

[weierophinney]

I'm having difficulty in parsing the $request->getParsedBody() for PUT/PATCH method - it only returns empty array.

I've enabled Body Parsing Middleware on my controller and it works with POST method.

https://docs.zendframework.com/zend-expressive/features/helpers/body-parse/

I'm trying to implement the REST Controller by Alejandro Celaya

https://blog.alejandrocelaya.com/2016/06/24/dispatch-rest-like-requests-with-a-single-controller-class-in-zend-expressive/

Appreciate your input here. Thanks in advance.

---

Originally posted by @gabbydgab at zendframework/zend-expressive#371

[weierophinney]

I've tried to use $request->getBody()->getContents() and it shows the body params in string format. I don't know why the getParsedBody() returns an empty array.

You may try this: https://gist.github.com/gabbydgab/0193c4b6a8e02f658e9b5f7b7650235d

---

Originally posted by @gabbydgab at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

It seems it only works with application/json type.

See zendframework/zend-expressive-helpers#19

---

Originally posted by @gabbydgab at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

From the docs (the first link you gave):

Body Parsing Middleware

By default, this middleware will detect the following content types:

• application/x-www-form-urlencoded (standard web-based forms, without file uploads)
• application/json, application/*+json (JSON payloads)

---

Originally posted by @geerteltink at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

Even using the body parsing middleware, on POST request the getParsedBody() is not empty, but when PUT request is sent, it's always empty for some reason.

---

Originally posted by @loter at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

@gabbydgab Which version of zend-expressive-helpers are you using? There was a fix pertaining to JSON requests and parsed body in 2.0.1 (which was released after you opened this issue) that may be related. You might want to check on that as well, @loter.

If that's not the issue, let me know and we can investigate further.

---

Originally posted by @michaelmoussa at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

@michaelmoussa Ah, that would make sense since I can't replicate it. I should read the changelogs more often :)

---

Originally posted by @geerteltink at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

@gabbydgab The getParsedBody() works only with GET/POST for application/x-www-form-urlencoded. XHTML 1.x forms only support GET and POST.
That said, you can also use PUT with x-www-form but you need to parse data using php://input source, because there isn't a $_PUT global. Here you can read an article on how to implement it.

---

Originally posted by @ezimuel at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

Actually... this should work. For people this affects, we need the following information:

• What is the value of the Content-Type header?
• What HTTP request method were you using?
• What was the body content provided by the client?
• What does (string) $request->getBody() return?

---

Originally posted by @weierophinney at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

@ezimuel has indicated that he encountered the problem with Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8. This makes sense that it would fail at this time, as our matching is for the pattern #[/+]json$# currently. This should likely be updated to split the content-type at a ; boundary:

$parts = explode(';', $contentType, 2);
$contentType = $parts[0];
// perform match

@ezimuel Would you like to prepare a PR? If not, I'll do it next week.

---

Originally posted by @weierophinney at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

@weierophinney isn't the strategy as you mentioned in code currently https://github.com/zendframework/zend-expressive-helpers/blob/4aea21e4102661cdafe9ea6d5b45944a68bb8919/src/BodyParams/JsonStrategy.php#L22 .

---

Originally posted by @harikt at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

Unfortunately, when I send JSON using POST/PUT request and then do $request->getParsedBody(), I get an empty array(), too.

My scenario in POSTMAN:

1. I use {"Content-Type":"application/json"}
2. It happens on POST / PUT / PATCH request
3. I send a simple JSON structure like {"email":"email21@gmail.com","password":"1234"}
4. When I do (string) $request->getBody() gets the actual json in string format, and also I implemented an function in my AbstractController to handle the raw body like this:
   (array)json_decode($request->getBody()->getContents());which I consider a rustly way to parse JSON having the getParsedBody(). Does anyone has an update on this?

---

Originally posted by @lvidal1 at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

@harikt Ooof, you're right. I'll still work up a PR with at least the failing test, though, as it's not working. Something's amiss.

@lvidal1 — One issue with getContents() is that it grabs contents from the current pointer. So, if the pointer is already at the end, you'll get an empty string. As such, you should likely either do a $body->rewind() first, or just cast getBody() to a string.

---

Originally posted by @weierophinney at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

I've created a unit test intended to reproduce the issue... but it doesn't. It passes. If this issue affects you, please look at zendframework/zend-expressive-helpers#43, and let me know if any changes need to be made to the tests proposed.

---

Originally posted by @weierophinney at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

Well, I'm really happy to have discovered this thread !

I was really struggling with $request->getParsedBody(), it was always empty when (string)$request->getBody() was not empty (exactly as described by @lvidal1 : zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)).

Following zendframework/zend-expressive-helpers#43, I added Zend\Expressive\Helper\BodyParams\BodyParamsMiddleware::class in my pipeline and now it works just fine ! 🎉

---

Originally posted by @jbelien at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[weierophinney]

Thank you for this thread! It took me forever to figure out that I needed to add BodyParamsMiddleware to my pipeline. I spent about 3 days racking my brain over this until tracing through and figuring out that $request->getParsedBody() was the culprit, returning an empty array.

---

Originally posted by @ramsey at zendframework/zend-expressive#371 (comment)

[settermjd]

I suggest closing this issue as the final comment covers the correct resolution.

[Ocramius]

@spacedog4 please create a new issue instead, but the explanation you gave so far is a bit vague.