How to File Upload using React JS and Node JS?

Hello Friends,

ReactJS + Node.js Express file/image upload with form data example. In this tutorial, you will learn how to upload a file/image in a ReactJS app with Node.js ExpressJS. For the backend, this tutorial will use a simple Node.js server.

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Create React Frontend App

Step 1: Create React App

Open your terminal and execute the following command on your terminal to create a new react app:

npx create-react-app my-react-app

To run the React app, execute the following command on your terminal:

npm start

Check out your React app on this URL: localhost:3000

Step 2: Install Axios and Bootstrap 4

Then execute the following command to install axios and boostrap 4 library into your react app:

npm install bootstrap --save

npm install axios --save

Add bootstrap.min.cssfile in src/App.js file:

import React from 'react';
import '../node_modules/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';
 
function App() {
    return (
    <div>
        <h2>react node js file upload example</h2>
    </div>
    );
}
 
export default App;

Step 3: Create File Upload Form Component

In this step, visit src directory of your react js app and create a form component named FileUpload.js. And add the following code into it:

import React from 'react'
import axios from 'axios';
 
class FileUpload extends React.Component{
 
    const [file, setFile] = useState();
    const [fileName, setFileName] = useState("");
 
    const saveFile = (e) => {
        setFile(e.target.files[0]);
        setFileName(e.target.files[0].name);
    };
 
    const uploadFile = async (e) => {
        const formData = new FormData();
        formData.append("file", file);
        formData.append("fileName", fileName);
        try {
            const res = await axios.post(
            "http://localhost:3000/upload",
            formData
            );
            console.log(res);
        } catch (ex) {
            console.log(ex);
        }
    };
 
    render(){
        return (
            <div className="App">
                <input type="file" onChange={saveFile} />
                <button onClick={uploadFile}>Upload</button>
            </div>
        );
    }
}
 
export default FileUpload;

Step 4: Import Component in App.js

In this step, you need to add FileUpload.js file in src/App.js file:

import React from 'react';
import '../node_modules/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';
import FileUpload from './FileUpload'
 
function App() {  
    return ( 
    <div className="App">  
        <FileUpload/>  
    </div>  
    );  
}  
 
export default App;

Create Node Express JS Backend

Step 1: Create Node JS App

Open your terminal and execute the following command to create node js app:

mkdir my-app

cd my-app

npm init -y

Step 2: Install Express body parser and cors Dependencies

Execute the following commands to install imperative npm packages which will help us to create REST APIs for your react file upload app:

npm install express cors body-parser express-fileupload

npm install nodemon --save-dev

Step 3: Create Server.js File

In this step, create server.js file and add the following code into it:

const express = require("express");
const fileupload = require("express-fileupload");
const cors = require("cors");
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
 
const app = express();
 
app.use(cors());
app.use(fileupload());
app.use(express.static("files"));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
 
app.post("/upload", (req, res) => {
    const newpath = __dirname + "/files/";
    const file = req.files.file;
    const filename = file.name;
 
    file.mv(`${newpath}${filename}`, (err) => {
        if (err) {
            res.status(500).send({ message: "File upload failed", code: 200 });
        }
        res.status(200).send({ message: "File Uploaded", code: 200 });
    });
});
 
app.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log("Server running successfully on 3000");
});

Step 4: Start Node JS App

Start the server with the following command and then you can test the form:

npm start

OR

nodemon server.js