Upload a file to Amazon S3 with NodeJS

I ran into a problem while trying to upload a file to my S3 bucket. Everything works except that my file paramters do not seem appropriate. I am using Amazon S3 sdk to upload from nodejs to s3.

These are my routes settings:

var multiparty = require('connect-multiparty'),
    multipartyMiddleware = multiparty();
app.route('/api/items/upload').post(multipartyMiddleware, items.upload);

This is items.upload() function:

exports.upload = function(req, res) {
	var file = req.files.file;
	var s3bucket = new AWS.S3({params: {Bucket: 'mybucketname'}});
	s3bucket.createBucket(function() {
		var params = {
			Key: file.name,
			Body: file
		};
		s3bucket.upload(params, function(err, data) {
			console.log("PRINT FILE:", file);
    		if (err) {
      			console.log('ERROR MSG: ', err);
   			} else {
     			console.log('Successfully uploaded data');
  			}
  		});
	});
};

Setting Body param to a string like "hello" works fine. According to doc, Body param must take (Buffer, Typed Array, Blob, String, ReadableStream) Object data. However, uploading a file object fails with the following error message:

[Error: Unsupported body payload object]

This is the file object:

{ fieldName: 'file',
  originalFilename: 'second_fnp.png',
  path: '/var/folders/ps/l8lvygws0w93trqz7yj1t5sr0000gn/T/26374-7ttwvc.png',
  headers: 
   { 'content-disposition': 'form-data; name="file"; filename="second_fnp.png"',
     'content-type': 'image/png' },
  ws: 
   { _writableState: 
      { highWaterMark: 16384,
        objectMode: false,
        needDrain: true,
        ending: true,
        ended: true,
        finished: true,
        decodeStrings: true,
        defaultEncoding: 'utf8',
        length: 0,
        writing: false,
        sync: false,
        bufferProcessing: false,
        onwrite: [Function],
        writecb: null,
        writelen: 0,
        buffer: [],
        errorEmitted: false },
     writable: true,
     domain: null,
     _events: { error: [Object], close: [Object] },
     _maxListeners: 10,
     path: '/var/folders/ps/l8lvygws0w93trqz7yj1t5sr0000gn/T/26374-7ttwvc.png',
     fd: null,
     flags: 'w',
     mode: 438,
     start: undefined,
     pos: undefined,
     bytesWritten: 261937,
     closed: true },
  size: 261937,
  name: 'second_fnp.png',
  type: 'image/png' }

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

So it looks like there are a few things going wrong here. Based on your post it looks like you are attempting to support file uploads using the connect-multiparty middleware. What this middleware does is take the uploaded file, write it to the local filesystem and then sets req.files to the the uploaded file(s).

The configuration of your route looks fine, the problem looks to be with your items.upload() function. In particular with this part:

var params = {
  Key: file.name,
  Body: file
};

As I mentioned at the beginning of my answer connect-multiparty writes the file to the local filesystem, so you'll need to open the file and read it, then upload it, and then delete it on the local filesystem.

That said you could update your method to something like the following:

var fs = require('fs');
exports.upload = function (req, res) {
    var file = req.files.file;
    fs.readFile(file.path, function (err, data) {
        if (err) throw err; // Something went wrong!
        var s3bucket = new AWS.S3({params: {Bucket: 'mybucketname'}});
        s3bucket.createBucket(function () {
            var params = {
                Key: file.originalFilename, //file.name doesn't exist as a property
                Body: data
            };
            s3bucket.upload(params, function (err, data) {
                // Whether there is an error or not, delete the temp file
                fs.unlink(file.path, function (err) {
                    if (err) {
                        console.error(err);
                    }
                    console.log('Temp File Delete');
                });

                console.log("PRINT FILE:", file);
                if (err) {
                    console.log('ERROR MSG: ', err);
                    res.status(500).send(err);
                } else {
                    console.log('Successfully uploaded data');
                    res.status(200).end();
                }
            });
        });
    });
};

What this does is read the uploaded file from the local filesystem, then uploads it to S3, then it deletes the temporary file and sends a response.

There's a few problems with this approach. First off, it's not as efficient as it could be, as for large files you will be loading the entire file before you write it. Secondly, this process doesn't support multi-part uploads for large files (I think the cut-off is 5 Mb before you have to do a multi-part upload).

What I would suggest instead is that you use a module I've been working on called S3FS which provides a similar interface to the native FS in Node.JS but abstracts away some of the details such as the multi-part upload and the S3 api (as well as adds some additional functionality like recursive methods).

If you were to pull in the S3FS library your code would look something like this:

var fs = require('fs'),
    S3FS = require('s3fs'),
    s3fsImpl = new S3FS('mybucketname', {
        accessKeyId: XXXXXXXXXXX,
        secretAccessKey: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    });

// Create our bucket if it doesn't exist
s3fsImpl.create();

exports.upload = function (req, res) {
    var file = req.files.file;
    var stream = fs.createReadStream(file.path);
    return s3fsImpl.writeFile(file.originalFilename, stream).then(function () {
        fs.unlink(file.path, function (err) {
            if (err) {
                console.error(err);
            }
        });
        res.status(200).end();
    });
};

What this will do is instantiate the module for the provided bucket and AWS credentials and then create the bucket if it doesn't exist. Then when a request comes through to upload a file we'll open up a stream to the file and use it to write the file to S3 to the specified path. This will handle the multi-part upload piece behind the scenes (if needed) and has the benefit of being done through a stream, so you don't have to wait to read the whole file before you start uploading it.

If you prefer, you could change the code to callbacks from Promises. Or use the pipe() method with the event listener to determine the end/errors.

If you're looking for some additional methods, check out the documentation for s3fs and feel free to open up an issue if you are looking for some additional methods or having issues.

I found the following to be a working solution::

npm install aws-sdk

Once you've installed the aws-sdk , use the following code replacing values with your where needed.

var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
var fs =  require('fs');

var s3 = new AWS.S3();

// Bucket names must be unique across all S3 users

var myBucket = 'njera';

var myKey = 'jpeg';
//for text file
//fs.readFile('demo.txt', function (err, data) {
//for Video file
//fs.readFile('demo.avi', function (err, data) {
//for image file				
fs.readFile('demo.jpg', function (err, data) {
  if (err) { throw err; }

  

     params = {Bucket: myBucket, Key: myKey, Body: data };

     s3.putObject(params, function(err, data) {

         if (err) {

             console.log(err)

         } else {

             console.log("Successfully uploaded data to myBucket/myKey");

         }

      });

});

I found the complete tutorial on the subject here in case you're looking for references ::

---

How to upload files (text/image/video) in amazon s3 using node.js

Or Using promises:

const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
AWS.config.update({
    accessKeyId: 'accessKeyId',
    secretAccessKey: 'secretAccessKey',
    region: 'region'
});

let params = {
    Bucket: "yourBucketName",
    Key: 'someUniqueKey',
    Body: 'someFile'
};
try {
    let uploadPromise = await new AWS.S3().putObject(params).promise();
    console.log("Successfully uploaded data to bucket");
} catch (e) {
    console.log("Error uploading data: ", e);
}

Using aws SDK v3

npm install @aws-sdk/client-s3

Upload code

import { S3Client, PutObjectCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";

/**
* advisable to save your AWS credentials and configurations in an environmet file. Not inside the code
* AWS lib will automatically load the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY if available in your environment
*/
const s3Client = new S3Client({ region: process.env.AWS_S3_REGION });

/**
* upload a file
* @param file the file object to be uploaded
* @param fileKey the fileKey. could be separated with '/' to nest the file into a folder structure. eg. members/user1/profile.png
*/
export function uploadFile(file, fileKey){
    s3Client.send(new PutObjectCommand({
       Bucket: process.env.MY_AWS_S3_BUCKET,
       Key: fileKey,
       Body: file
    }));
}

And if you want to download

import { GetObjectCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";
/**
 * download a file from AWS and send to your rest client
 */
app.get('/download', function(req, res, next){
    var fileKey = req.query['fileKey'];

    var bucketParams = {
        Bucket: 'my-bucket-name',
        Key: fileKey,
    };

    res.attachment(fileKey);
    var fileStream = await s3Client.send(new GetObjectCommand(bucketParams));
    // for TS you can add: if (fileStream.Body instanceof Readable)
    fileStream.Body.pipe(res)
});

Uploading a file to AWS s3 and sending the url in response for accessing the file.

Multer is a node.js middleware for handling multipart/form-data, which is primarily used for uploading files. It is written on top of busboy for maximum efficiency. check this npm module here.

When you are sending the request, make sure the headers, have Content-Type is multipart/form-data. We are sending the file location in the response, which will give the url, but if you want to access that url, make the bucket public or else you will not be able to access it.

upload.router.js

const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
const multer = require('multer');
const storage = multer.memoryStorage()
const upload = multer({storage: storage});

const s3Client = new AWS.S3({
    accessKeyId: 'your_access_key_id',
    secretAccessKey: 'your_secret_access_id',
	region :'ur region'
});

const uploadParams = {
         Bucket: 'ur_bucket_name', 
         Key: '', // pass key
         Body: null, // pass file body
};


router.post('/api/file/upload', upload.single("file"),(req,res) => {
	const params = uploadParams;
	
	uploadParams.Key = req.file.originalname;
	uploadParams.Body = req.file.buffer;
		
	s3Client.upload(params, (err, data) => {
		if (err) {
			res.status(500).json({error:"Error -> " + err});
        }
		res.json({message: 'File uploaded successfully','filename': 
        req.file.originalname, 'location': data.Location});
	});
});
 
module.exports = router;

app.js

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
 
const router = require('./app/routers/upload.router.js');
app.use('/', router);
 
// Create a Server
  const server = app.listen(8080, () => {
  console.log("App listening at 8080"); 
})

Upload CSV/Excel

const fs = require('fs');
const AWS = require('aws-sdk');

const s3 = new AWS.S3({
    accessKeyId: XXXXXXXXX,
    secretAccessKey: XXXXXXXXX
});

const absoluteFilePath = "C:\\Project\\test.xlsx";

const uploadFile = () => {
  fs.readFile(absoluteFilePath, (err, data) => {
     if (err) throw err;
     const params = {
         Bucket: 'testBucket', // pass your bucket name
         Key: 'folderName/key.xlsx', // file will be saved in <folderName> folder
         Body: data
     };
      s3.upload(params, function (s3Err, data) {
                    if (s3Err) throw s3Err
                    console.log(`File uploaded successfully at ${data.Location}`);
                    debugger;
                });
  });
};

uploadFile();

Works for me :)

  const fileContent = fs.createReadStream(`${fileName}`);
  return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
    fileContent.once('error', reject);
    s3.upload(
      {
        Bucket: 'test-bucket',
        Key: `${fileName + '_' + Date.now().toString()}`,
        ContentType: 'application/pdf',
        ACL: 'public-read',
        Body: fileContent
      },
      function (err, result) {
        if (err) {
          reject(err);
          return;
        }
        resolve(result.Location);
      }
    );
  });```

var express = require('express')

app = module.exports = express();
var secureServer = require('http').createServer(app);
secureServer.listen(3001);

var aws = require('aws-sdk')
var multer = require('multer')
var multerS3 = require('multer-s3')

    aws.config.update({
    secretAccessKey: "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
    accessKeyId: "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
    region: 'us-east-1'
    });
    s3 = new aws.S3();

   var upload = multer({
   storage: multerS3({
    s3: s3,
    dirname: "uploads",
    bucket: "Your bucket name",
    key: function (req, file, cb) {
        console.log(file);
        cb(null, "uploads/profile_images/u_" + Date.now() + ".jpg"); //use  
     Date.now() for unique file keys
    }
  })
   });

 app.post('/upload', upload.single('photos'), function(req, res, next) {

 console.log('Successfully uploaded ', req.file)

 res.send('Successfully uploaded ' + req.file.length + ' files!')

})

Thanks to David as his solution helped me come up with my solution for uploading multi-part files from my Heroku hosted site to S3 bucket. I did it using formidable to handle incoming form and fs to get the file content. Hopefully, it may help you.

api.service.ts

public upload(files): Observable<any> {  
    const formData: FormData = new FormData(); 
    files.forEach(file => {
      // create a new multipart-form for every file 
      formData.append('file', file, file.name);           
    });   
    return this.http.post(uploadUrl, formData).pipe(
      map(this.extractData),
      catchError(this.handleError)); 
  }
}

server.js

app.post('/api/upload', upload);
app.use('/api/upload', router);

upload.js

const IncomingForm = require('formidable').IncomingForm;
const fs = require('fs');
const AWS = require('aws-sdk');

module.exports = function upload(req, res) {
    var form = new IncomingForm();

    const bucket = new AWS.S3(
      {
        signatureVersion: 'v4',
        accessKeyId: process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
        secretAccessKey: process.env.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
        region: 'us-east-1'       
      }
    ); 

    form.on('file', (field, file) => {

        const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(file.path);
       
        const s3Params = {
            Bucket: process.env.AWS_S3_BUCKET,
            Key: 'folder/' + file.name,
            Expires: 60,             
            Body: fileContent,
            ACL: 'public-read'
        };

        bucket.upload(s3Params, function(err, data) {
            if (err) {
                throw err;
            }            
            console.log('File uploaded to: ' + data.Location);
            fs.unlink(file.path, function (err) {
              if (err) {
                  console.error(err);
              }
              console.log('Temp File Delete');
          });
        });
    });              
    
    // The second callback is called when the form is completely parsed. 
    // In this case, we want to send back a success status code.
    form.on('end', () => {        
      res.status(200).json('upload ok');
    });

    form.parse(req);
}

upload-image.component.ts

import { Component, OnInit, ViewChild, Output, EventEmitter, Input } from '@angular/core';
import { ApiService } from '../api.service';
import { MatSnackBar } from '@angular/material/snack-bar';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-upload-image',
  templateUrl: './upload-image.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./upload-image.component.css']
})

export class UploadImageComponent implements OnInit {
  public files: Set<File> = new Set();
  @ViewChild('file', { static: false }) file;
  public uploadedFiles: Array<string> = new Array<string>();
  public uploadedFileNames: Array<string> = new Array<string>();
  @Output() filesOutput = new EventEmitter<Array<string>>();
  @Input() CurrentImage: string;
  @Input() IsPublic: boolean;
  @Output() valueUpdate = new EventEmitter();
  strUploadedFiles:string = '';
  filesUploaded: boolean = false;     

  constructor(private api: ApiService, public snackBar: MatSnackBar,) { }

  ngOnInit() {    
  }

  updateValue(val) {  
    this.valueUpdate.emit(val);  
  }  

  reset()
  {
    this.files = new Set();
    this.uploadedFiles = new Array<string>();
    this.uploadedFileNames = new Array<string>();
    this.filesUploaded = false;
  }

  upload() { 
 
    this.api.upload(this.files).subscribe(res => {   
      this.filesOutput.emit(this.uploadedFiles); 
      if (res == 'upload ok')
      {
        this.reset(); 
      }     
    }, err => {
      console.log(err);
    });
  }

  onFilesAdded() {
    var txt = '';
    const files: { [key: string]: File } = this.file.nativeElement.files;

    for (let key in files) {
      if (!isNaN(parseInt(key))) {

        var currentFile = files[key];
        var sFileExtension = currentFile.name.split('.')[currentFile.name.split('.').length - 1].toLowerCase();
        var iFileSize = currentFile.size;

        if (!(sFileExtension === "jpg" 
              || sFileExtension === "png") 
              || iFileSize > 671329) {
            txt = "File type : " + sFileExtension + "\n\n";
            txt += "Size: " + iFileSize + "\n\n";
            txt += "Please make sure your file is in jpg or png format and less than 655 KB.\n\n";
            alert(txt);
            return false;
        }

        this.files.add(files[key]);
        this.uploadedFiles.push('https://gourmet-philatelist-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/folder/' + files[key].name);
        this.uploadedFileNames.push(files[key].name);
        if (this.IsPublic && this.uploadedFileNames.length == 1)
        {
          this.filesUploaded = true;
          this.updateValue(files[key].name);
          break;
        } 
        else if (!this.IsPublic && this.uploadedFileNames.length == 3)
        {
          this.strUploadedFiles += files[key].name;          
          this.updateValue(this.strUploadedFiles); 
          this.filesUploaded = true;
          break;
        }
        else
        {
          this.strUploadedFiles += files[key].name + ",";          
          this.updateValue(this.strUploadedFiles); 
        }      
      }
    }    
  }

  addFiles() {
    this.file.nativeElement.click();  
  }

  openSnackBar(message: string, action: string) {
    this.snackBar.open(message, action, {
      duration: 2000,
      verticalPosition: 'top'
    });
  }   

}

upload-image.component.html

<input type="file" #file style="display: none" (change)="onFilesAdded()" multiple />
&nbsp;<button mat-raised-button color="primary" 
         [disabled]="filesUploaded" (click)="$event.preventDefault(); addFiles()">
  Add Files
</button>
&nbsp;<button class="btn btn-success" [disabled]="uploadedFileNames.length == 0" (click)="$event.preventDefault(); upload()">
  Upload
</button>