Node.js - Array is converted to object when sent in HTTP GET request query - ruby-on-rails

Question

The following Node.js code:
var request = require('request');
var getLibs = function() {
var options = { packages: ['example1', 'example2', 'example3'], os: 'linux', pack_type: 'npm' }
request({url:'http://localhost:3000/package', qs:options},
function (error , response, body) {
if (! error && response.statusCode == 200) {
console.log(body);
} else if (error) {
console.log(error);
} else{
console.log(response.statusCode);
}
});
}();
sends the following http GET request query that is received by like this:
{"packages"=>{"0"=>"example1", "1"=>"example2", "2"=>"example3"}, "os"=>"linux", "pack_type"=>"npm"}
How can I optimize this request to be received like this:
{"packages"=>["example1", "example2", "example3"], "os"=>"linux", "pack_type"=>"npm"}
Note. The REST API is built in Ruby on Rails

Answer 1

If the array need to be received as it is, you can set useQuerystring as true:
UPDATE: list key in the following code example has been changed to 'list[]', so that OP's ruby backend can successfully parse the array.
Here is example code:
const request = require('request');
let data = {
'name': 'John',
'list[]': ['XXX', 'YYY', 'ZZZ']
};
request({
url: 'https://requestb.in/1fg1v0i1',
qs: data,
useQuerystring: true
}, function(err, res, body) {
// ...
});
In this way, when the HTTP GET request is sent, the query parameters would be:
?name=John&list[]=XXX&list[]=YYY&list[]=ZZZ
and the list field would be parsed as ['XXX', 'YYY', 'ZZZ']
Without useQuerystring (default value as false), the query parameters would be:
?name=John&list[][0]=XXX&list[][1]=YYY&list[][2]=ZZZ

Answer 2

I finally found a fix. I used 'qs' to stringify 'options' with {arrayFormat : 'brackets'} and then concatinated to url ended with '?' as follows:
var request = require('request');
var qs1 = require('qs');
var getLibs = function() {
var options = qs1.stringify({
packages: ['example1', 'example2', 'example3'],
os: 'linux',
pack_type: 'npm'
},{
arrayFormat : 'brackets'
});
request({url:'http://localhost:3000/package?' + options},
function (error , response, body) {
if (! error && response.statusCode == 200) {
console.log(body);
} else if (error) {
console.log(error);
} else{
console.log(response.statusCode);
}
});
}();
Note: I tried to avoid concatenation to url, but all responses had code 400

Answer 3

This problem can be solved using Request library itself.
Request internally uses qs.stringify. You can pass q option to request which it will use to parse array params.
You don't need to append to url which leaves reader in question why that would have been done.
Reference: https://github.com/request/request#requestoptions-callback
const options = {
method: 'GET',
uri: 'http://localhost:3000/package',
qs: {
packages: ['example1', 'example2', 'example3'],
os: 'linux',
pack_type: 'npm'
},
qsStringifyOptions: {
arrayFormat: 'repeat' // You could use one of indices|brackets|repeat
},
json: true
};