Develop Reference

How to send web-project to my localserver?

I don't quite understand how to link my web application and server. Tried to use
res.sendFile(path.resolve('./public/index.html'));
But it doesn't connect components written in vue.js

In vue.config.js (make one in your client src folder if you haven't already), add the target directory for the build:
const path = require("path");
module.exports = {
outputDir: path.resolve(__dirname, "path/to/server/directory/public")
};
Now when you run npm run build the static files will be bundled there.
Then, all you need to do is point your server to that folder.
If you're using Node/Express as a backend:
// Handle production
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
// Static folder
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public/'));
}
Also, if your Vue app is an SPA, add this inside the if block, after app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public/'));, to handle routing:
// Handle SPA
app.get(/.*/, (req, res) => res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/index.html'));

How to send headers in Express [MEAN]

I'm a beginner in Express. So I might've failed to frame the question properly. I have created a MEAN application wherein I've separated my frontend and backened. Frontend runs on port:4200 and server runs on port:3000. I wanted to run both frontend and backend on same port as part of deployment. I'm getting MIME type errors, someone told me that there is some problem with my server environment. Maybe I'm not sending headers properly. Here is my code:
I have mentioned tried solutions in the code itself as <----TRIED THIS
server.js
const express = require('express');
express.static.mime.define({'application/javascript': ['js']}); <----TRIED THIS
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const path = require('path');
// express.static.mime.define({'application/javascript': ['js']}); <----TRIED THIS
const api = require('./routes/api');
const PORT = 3000;
const app = express();
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist')));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use('/api', api);
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
// res.send('Hello from the server'); <----TRIED THIS
// res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'}); <----TRIED THIS
// res.set('Content-Type', 'text/plain'); <----TRIED THIS
// res.setHeader("Content-Type","application/json"); <----TRIED THIS
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/application/index.html'));
})
app.listen(PORT, function() {
console.log('Server listening on PORT '+PORT);
});
api.js
For instance I'm showing you GET function only
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
const mongoose = require('mongoose');
const db = <my db string>;
const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');
mongoose.connect(
...
)
function verifyToken(req, res, next) {
...
}
router.get('/myarticles', (req, res) => {
var person="Tanzeel Mirza";
console.log('Get request for tanzeel articles');
Article.find({contributor: person}, (error, article) => {
if(error) {
console.log(error)
}
else {
if(!article) {
res.status(401).send('Invalid email')
}
else if(2>4) {
console.log("test passed");
}
else {
res.json(article);
}
}
})
})
module.exports = router;
But still I'm getting
Loading module from “http://localhost:3000/runtime-xxx.js” was blocked because of a disallowed MIME type (“text/html”).
Loading module from “http://localhost:3000/polyfills-xxx.js” was blocked because of a disallowed MIME type (“text/html”).
Loading module from “http://localhost:3000/main-xxx.js” was blocked because of a disallowed MIME type (“text/html”).
Please correct me.
PS: I asked separate questions for MIME error here. But no answers.

Since your assets are inside dist/application folder, Use app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/application')));
To match all web app routes, Use app.get('*', function(req, res) {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/application/index.html'));
}).
This a generic route and will be called into action only if express can't find any other routes and always serve index.html. For example any valid /api route will never reach this handler, as there a specific route that handles it.
Final code for server.js
const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const path = require('path');
const api = require('./routes/api');
const PORT = 3000;
const app = express();
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/application')));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use('/api', api);
app.get('*', function(req, res) {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/application/index.html'));
})
app.listen(PORT, function() {
console.log('Server listening on PORT '+PORT);
});
A few points to not.
To serve static files, you need not set any headers manually. Express looks up the files in the folder (dist folder in your case) you set as static directory with the express.static middleware function. Express also sets the response headers based on the file extension.
So you don't need express.static.mime.define in your code anymore.
In your case you have defined app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist'))); which listens for static files at dist folder. In this app.use command, you haven't used a mount path which means that all the requests will go through the static middleware. If the middleware finds an asset with the same name, path and extension in dist folder it returns the file, else the request is passed to the other route handlers.
Also, If you are using static middleware, as long as there is an index.html in dist folder (immediate child of dist folder), your route handler for "/" will never get invoked as the response will be served by the middleware.
If you don't have an index html file in dist folder(immediate child of dist), but it's present somewhere in subfolders of dist, and still you need to access it using root path "/", only then you need a route handler for path "/" as below.
app.get("/", function(req, res) {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, "dist/application/index.html"));
});
JS files referred using "./" in dist/application/index.html are referred relative to dist folder itself and NOT dist/application folder.
You can refer this REPL for updated code 👉.
https://repl.it/repls/SoreFearlessNagware
Try below urls
/api/myarticles - Rendered by "/api" route handler
/api/myarticles.js - Rendered by static asset middleware because the file exists in dist/api folder
/ - rendered using "/" route handler and res.sendFile because index.html doesn't exist in dist folder.
/test.js - Rendered using static middleware because file exists in dist folder
Additional links for reference.
https://expressjs.com/en/api.html#res.sendFile
https://expressjs.com/en/starter/static-files.html

1.Build your angular project, either inside or outside the server folder using ng build cmd.
2.To build your project inside server, change the dist-folder path in angular-cli.
3.To change path, either use cli cmd or edit the angular-cli.json file's "outDir": "./location/toYour/dist"
Or by using this cli cmd ng build --output-path=dist/example/
4.Then In your server root file include the static build/dist folder using express.
5.Like this app.use(express.static(path.join( 'your path to static folder')));
6.Now restart your server.

How can I handle routing with express when I use a static site?

When the user goes to mydomain.com/game, I want the user to see what is displayed in my public folder. This works completely fine when I do this:
app.use('/game', express.static('public'))
The problem is that I want to extract some information from the URL, but as I do not know how to continue the routing when using a static site, I can't extract any information. For example, if the user inputs mydomain.com/game/123, I want to retrieve 123, but still route the person to my public folder, like mydomain.com/game does.
Any ideas on how to handle this problems?

This has worked for me in a similar situation
app.use('/game/:id', (req, res) => {
// do something with id
res.redirect(302, '/game');
}

Try to use two middlewares: first is your static middleware, the secont is the fallback, with id (123)
app.use('/game', express.static('public'));
app.use('/game/:id', function(req, res) { // when static not found, it passed to this middleware, this process it
console.log('your id', req.params.id);
res.send('ok');
});

If you are using react static files and you want to serve all react routes using express then you have to do thing like below-
1.First of all you have to run command in your react folder
npm run build
this will create your build folder in react app having one index.html file which you have to serve through express.
Now come to your server.js file and write there
const express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
const app = express();
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'client/build')));
app.get('*', (req,res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname+'/client/build/index.html'));
});
const port = process.env.PORT || 5000;
app.listen(port, () => console.log(`Server up and running on port ${port} !`));

express.js to GET json file in terminal

How do I GET a JSON file with express.js? I want to be able to access it in my Mac terminal. I'm working on a college assignment that asks me to write an HTTP server that will act as a simple data store. It must respond to GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE requests. I must use express.js instead of fs for this app.
So far, in my root directory I have a server.js file and I have a subdirectory called lib that holds another subdirectory called notes. Notes is where the JSON files will live.
In my root directory, I have a server.js file. This is all I have so far:
'use strict'
var express = require('express');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var app = express();
var notes = './lib/notes';
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
//
//this is the part I need help with
//
}
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(port, function() {
console.log('Server started on port ' + port;
});
Once I have this GET request working, from my Mac terminal I should be able to send a GET request and receive all JSON files inside the notes directory.

...from my Mac terminal I should be able to send a GET request and
receive all JSON files inside the notes directory.
Provided you do not want to use fs module(well you dont need one either),
you can simply set a route for GET requests and send the json file in response with app.sendFile()
app.get('/',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.normalize(__dirname + '/foo.json'))
//assuming your app.js and json file are at same level.
//You may change this to 'lib/notes/foo.json' to fit you case
})
path is a module that you would need to require().
__dirname is the directory that the currently executing script is in.
and finally foo.json is the file containing your json
{
"name":"nalin",
"origin":"stackoverflow"
}
Here's the complete code for app.js
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var app = express();
app.get('/',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.normalize(__dirname + '/foo.json'))
})
app.listen(3000);
Which will help you run the node server with node app.js.
Finally you can access the json with by
visiting http://localhost:3000/ on your browser
by running curl command on your mac terminal curl localhost:3000
Hope this helps.

You can serve your .json files as static:
app.use('/notes', express.static( notes ));
http://expressjs.com/starter/static-files.html
Or you can do it manually width path pattern:
app.get('/notes/:file', function(req, res) {
fs.readFile(notes + "/" + req.params.file, function(err, data) {
if(err) {
res.status(404).send('Not found');
} else {
res.contentType(req.params.file);
res.send(data);
}
res.end();
});
});

Basic webserver with node.js and express for serving html file and assets

I'm making some frontend experiments and I'd like to have a very basic webserver to quickly start a project and serve the files (one index.html file + some css/js/img files). So I'm trying to make something with node.js and express, I played with both already, but I don't want to use a render engine this time since I'll have only a single static file, with this code I get the html file but not the assets (error 404):
var express = require('express'),
app = express.createServer();
app.configure(function(){
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/static'));
});
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
app.listen(3000);
Is there a simple way to do it (in one file if possible) or Express requires the use of a view and render engine ?

I came across this because I have a similar situation. I don't need or like templates. Anything you put in the public/ directory under express gets served as static content (Just like Apache). So I placed my index.html there and used sendfile to handle requests with no file (eg: GET http://mysite/):
app.get('/', function(req,res) {
res.sendfile('public/index.html');
});

Following code worked for me.
var express = require('express'),
app = express(),
http = require('http'),
httpServer = http.Server(app);
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/folder_containing_assets_OR_scripts'));
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
app.listen(3000);
this loads page with assets

You could use a solution like this in node.js (link no longer works), as I've blogged about before.
The summarise, install connect with npm install connect.
Then paste this code into a file called server.js in the same folder as your HTML/CSS/JS files.
var util = require('util'),
connect = require('connect'),
port = 1337;
connect.createServer(connect.static(__dirname)).listen(port);
util.puts('Listening on ' + port + '...');
util.puts('Press Ctrl + C to stop.');
Now navigate to that folder in your terminal and run node server.js, this will give you a temporary web server at http://localhost:1337

Thank you to original posters, but their answers are a bit outdated now. It's very, very simple to do. A basic setup looks like this:
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const dir = `${__dirname}/public/`;
app.get("/", (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(dir + "index.html");
});
app.get("/contact", (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(dir + "contact.html");
});
// Serve a 404 page on all other accessed routes, or redirect to specific page
app.get("*", (req, res) => {
// res.sendFile(dir + "404.html");
// res.redirect("/");
});
app.listen(3000);
The above example is if you want to serve individual HTML files. If you were serving a single page JS app, this would work.
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const dir = `${__dirname}/public/`;
app.get("*", (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(dir + "index.html");
});
app.listen(3000);
If you need to serve other static assets from within a folder, you can add something like this before you start defining the routes:
app.use(express.static('public'))
Let's say you have a js folder inside public like: public/js. You could include any of those files inside of your html files using relative paths. For example, let's say /contact needs a contact.js file. In your contact.html file, you can include the script as easy as:
<script src="./js/contact.js"></script>
Building off of that example, you can do the same with css, images etc.
<img src="./images/rofl-waffle.png" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/o-rly-owl.css" />
Hope this helps everyone from the future out.