I used create-react-app to initialize my React app, and I am now serving the React client app from an Express server.
My app structure is
project/
build/
server/
src/
where my Express server is in server/, my React app is in src/, and the React app gets built to build/ with npm run build.
Because my Express app serves the "built" app (as shown below, serving files from the build/ directory), I need to npm run build every time I change any client code, in order for my browser to reflect the changes.
// server/app.js
const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const app = express();
var server = require('http').Server(app);
var io = require('socket.io')(server);
// Serve static assets
app.use(express.static(path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'build')));
// sockets
require('./sockets')(io);
// serve main file
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'build', 'index.html'));
});
module.exports = server;
Since the build step takes many seconds, this is obviously a big step down from when just serving the React app with react-scripts start and having it watch for code changes and instantly reflect them in the browser.
I know I can use NODE_ENV === 'production' to check if I'm on production or development, but given I'm on development, where are the files I should serve instead of the ones in build/?
I.e. perhaps a relevant question is "from where are they being served when I run the React server with react-scripts start"? EDIT: and how are they being watched such that building the source files to that spot is extremely quick?
Most of the react boilerplates use [webpack dev server / browserify] + hot reload in dev mode, so your changes (and only your changes) are compiled on the fly and your browser is refreshed by a watcher.
It's basically a middleware you plug to express like that
var compiler = webpack(webpackConfig)
var devMiddleware = require('webpack-dev-middleware')(compiler, {
publicPath: webpackConfig.output.publicPath,
quiet: true
})
app.use(devMiddleware)
It's done under the hood in your case, the files are written in memory.
Related
I have two apps running on heroku, myserverapi(spring boot) and client(Angular app). the server is running on myserver.heroku.com while the client is myclient.heroku.com currently my express server is only serving static files. I am new to express want to know how to make it access my proxy.conf.json file where I have declared the domain it should call. everything works fine locally with Cli but after deployment, it doesn't work.
proxy.Conf.json file below
{
"/api": {
"target": "https://mygramapi.herokuapp.com",
"secure": false,
"changeOrigin": true
}
}
And my express server.js
//Install express server
const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const app = express();
// Serve only the static files form the dist directory
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/dist/mygram'));
app.get('/*', function(req,res) {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname +'/src'));
});
console.log(app);
// Start the app by listening on the default Heroku port
app.listen(process.env.PORT || 4000);
my API's all start with /api eg /api/login, /api/signup etc
is there a comprehensive way of handling this
thank you.
express-http-proxy has the solution but i have a few question about it, does it mean i delete the express.js file and how about my static files , im not sure to add this to my existing code, so im accessing both static files and api's
const url = require('url');
const proxy = require('express-http-proxy');
// New hostname+path as specified by question:
const apiProxy = proxy('https://myserverapi.heroku.com', {
forwardPath: req => url.parse(req.baseUrl).path
});
app.use('/api/*', apiProxy);
how do make them all work
Good day!
As you may know, proxy.conf.json can be used only for webpack dev server - this proxy configuration ignores when you've built the prod bundle and just serve it via express server. For your case, I can suggest to check this npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/express-http-proxy or try to setup nginx.
I have a backend Node API Express server and a React app in two separate folders (one for backend, one for React app). My backend runs on localhost:8000 and on my React app I have a proxy to this target via a setupProxy.js file using http-proxy-middleware. When I run the react app locally on localhost:3000, it can send requests to my backend correctly.
However, when I run yarn build on my React app for production, it doesn't seem to work. On the React app's repo, I have installed Express to serve the static files on localhost:9000. When I try to make a call to the backend, it just returns the index.html of the build folder. I'm wondering if I am doing something wrong or if I am missing something. What I would like is:
When user goes on localhost:9000, it shows the index.html of the build folder.
When a user clicks a button, it should send a request to localhost:8000, rather than sending back the index.html.
Here are some files in case it is needed:
src/setupProxy.js (this is on the React app)
const proxy = require('http-proxy-middleware');
module.exports = function(app) {
app.use(proxy('/auth/google', { target: 'http://localhost:8000/' }));
app.use(proxy('/api/**', { target: 'http://localhost:8000/' }));
};
server.js (also on React app, to serve the build folder)
const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const app = express();
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'build')));
app.get('/*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'build', 'index.html'));
});
app.listen(9000, () => {
console.log('Listening on port 9000.');
});
Have you added the dependency of cors in your node API.
It is needed when we are communicating to different type of environment
I have a dist folder containing CSS, fonts, JS folder and an index.html file minimized for Vue.js, ready to deploy and use. I want to use Node.js to run this application. How can I set this up to just run npm run server and have it deployed on a specific port requested? Not sure how to structure this or if I need to build it in a specific way to run this Vue app. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Since Vue is only a frontend library, the easiest way to host it and do things like serve up assets is to create a simple Express friendly script that you can use to start a mini-web server. Read up quickly on Express if you haven’t already. After that, add express:
npm install express --save
Now add a server.js file to your project’s root directory :
// server.js
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var serveStatic = require('serve-static');
app = express();
app.use(serveStatic(__dirname + "/dist"));
var port = process.env.PORT || 5000;
var hostname = '127.0.0.1';
app.listen(port, hostname, () => {
console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
});
after that you could run :
node server
and your project will be served at the given host and port
Assuming that you have already the dist directory, if you don't have it run :
npm run build
in order to generate it
I have a current front-end only Angular 2 application using the Angular-CLI and NPM. I want visitors to be able to send me emails through the contact form.
For this I obviously need a back-end, express and node, in which I have no experience in using.
I need to intergrate express and node into my app but I dont know how to do this correctly.
I have found THIS similar question on SO but its not relevant to my situation.
Other tutorials only show how to scaffold a MEAN stack app not intergrate the backend after the front end has been built.
What I would like to know:
How do I set up my Angular 2 App to use express and node for the back end?
What are the relevant files I need?
Can I do this by using the Angular-CLI?
The best way to setup a project that is built using angular-cli to use a nodejs/express backend is to simple create an express project that serves up a directory. In your client project, if it has been created using the angular-cli, you should be able to just type in ng build and it will compile everything into a dist directory.
From there, you can create an express server that serves up that dist directory like so:
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/index.html'));
});
The most simple server you could build would probably something like
var express = require('express')
var path = require('path');
var app = express()
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/index.html'));
});
app.listen(3000, function () {
console.log('Example app listening on port 3000!')
});
This will intercept all routes and redirect them to the index.html file in the dist/ folder that was created.
For more information on how to set this up and some more advanced settings, check out these links:
http://expressjs.com/en/starter/installing.html
https://scotch.io/tutorials/mean-app-with-angular-2-and-the-angular-cli
Just think about the dist/ folder as static files that will be served over an express server, and because routing and everything is handled through angular, you'll be set.
I have started a react application using create-react-app and ran the npm run eject script to gain access to all files. I afterwards installed express and created server.js file that sits on same level as package.json file
these are server.js file contents:
const express = require('express');
const app = express;
app.set('port', 3031);
if(process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
app.use(express.static('build'));
}
app.listen(app.get('port'), () => {
console.log(`Server started at: http://localhost:${app.get('port')}/`);
})
Nothing crazy here, just setting up for future api proxies where I need to use secrets and as I don't want to expose my api.
after this I added a "proxy": "http://localhost:3001/" to my package.json file. I am now stuck as I need to figure out how to start my server correctly and use this server.js file in development mode and afterwards in production.
Ideally It would also be good if we could use more that one proxy i.e. /api and /api2
You didn't have to eject to run your server.js. You can just run it with node server.js together with create-react-app.
You can still do npm start even after ejecting to start your dev server.
To run /api1 and /api2, you just have to handle it in your server.js file and it should work just fine. You need to match the port in your server.js and the one in proxy settings inside package.json - in this case, it should be "proxy": "http://localhost:3031"