If you're wondering whether there is a manual way to utilize body-parser, the answer is yes and it's actually the recommended method of using it. According to the body-parser documentation:
Express Route-Specific
This example illustrates adding body parsers specifically to the routes that require them. Typically, this is considered the most advisable approach to integrating body-parser with express.
(I included some semi-colons because they bothered me until I did!)
var express = require('express');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var app = express();
// create application/json parser
var jsonParser = bodyParser.json();
// create application/x-www-form-urlencoded parser
var urlencodedParser = bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false });
// POST /login receives urlencoded bodies
app.post('/login', urlencodedParser, function (req, res) {
if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400);
res.send('welcome, ' + req.body.username);
})
// POST /api/users receives JSON bodies
app.post('/api/users', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400);
// create user within req.body
})
Depending on which routes necessitate body-parser, you can implement it utilizing custom middleware. Now, I haven't personally tested this, but my assumption is that you could also integrate it in a similar manner as other express middleware:
// URL encoded bodies
app.use('/api/url/encoded/endpoint', bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
// JSON encoded bodies
app.use('/api/json/encoded/endpoint', bodyParser.json());
Any routes matching the above endpoints, such as
app.use('/api/url/encoded/endpoint/test', function (req, res) { ... });
would be parsed using the appropriate middleware as long as they are declared below the middleware declarations in your code.
To address your entire inquiry, I would suggest attempting to not use either parser globally. Keep your parsers specific to API endpoints and you shouldn't encounter any issues.
Edit:
Your question is somewhat ambiguous. Are you looking to use body parser for multipart/form-data? "Body-parser does not handle multipart bodies, due to their complex and typically large nature." If that's the case, maybe consider trying out the bodyParser.raw({ type: ... }) function. Otherwise, you may need to utilize dicer within a custom middleware function where you verify the correct content type.