Send a index.html file when server is created - javascript

I want a file like index.html to be loaded when the server is created. When I execute the server.js using node, I send a response as text like this res.end("text"). But I want the index.html to load.
I tried to load it using sendFile() in app.get('/getFile') but when I type in the address bar, I get the text for all the urls..even for localhost:3000/getFile.
This is my server.js:
(function(){
var http = require("http");
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var path = require('path');
// app.use(express.static(__dirname));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(express.static(__dirname+'/views'));
var server = http.createServer(function(request, response) {
response.end("text");
});
server.listen('3000');
console.log("Server is listening");
app.get('/getFile',function(request,response){
// response.end('shi');
response.sendFile(path.join('/index.html'));
})
})();

Change the following in your code:
var server = http.createServer(function(request, response) {
response.end("text");
});
to this:
var server = http.createServer(app);
Now, you can serve your static index.html file with this code:
app.get('/', function(req, res, next){
// Serve the index.html file in the root directory of the website.
res.sendFile(path.join('/index.html'));
});
I hope this helps. If you have any questions, let me know.

EDITED
I just made a folder and wrote the following code and I have checked that this is working.
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/indexz.html');
});
app.listen(1339);
console.log('Open this link http://localhost:1337');
Steps
1 Copy the code given above in a new folder and name it whatever you want, name the file server.js
2 go to your cmd and propagate to location of your code and now npm install express
3 now type node server on console
4 open the link that is there on the console.
Note : Make sure there is folder name public and there is a file named
indexz.html in there.
Edited
Regarding proper client side files arrangement
You will have to keep all your files in public folder, first of all and attach them accordingly in your html document.
Example
<!-- Owl Carousel Assets -->
<link href="css/owl.carousel.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="css/owl.theme.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="js/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="angular.js"></script>
<script src="controller.js"></script>
and then within public folder you'll have folders named js and css and in root of the public folder your html files.

Looks your issue is with all the static assets.
In application server like express you have 3 different kind of elements to serve:
static content: this is all html, client side js, css, images and so on
server side templates or views, are documents you assemble with some sort of templating library like handlebars or jade to produce html
api that provide data in xml or more common json format
Your issue is how to serve a static part.
You should add to the static folder of your express app the folder where you build your angular app.
Not just the index.html you need the client side .js, .css and all images the page require.
UPDATE:
Here you could find the express documentation about static content.
UPDATE:
When you add a static folder to the express middleware, you should be able to access your file directly.
For example, if you have 2 files: $project/static/main.js and $project/static/js/my-lib.js, you should use the following urls:
http://127.0.0.1:3000/main.js
http://127.0.0.1:3000/js/my-lib.js
Considering you're executing the node http server on localhost on port 3000.
If you provide a specific path to access the static content, then you have to rewrite your url so.
If you use a line like:
app.use('/staticFolder', express.static('staticFolder'));
Than the urls to the mentioned files will be:
http://127.0.0.1:3000/staticFolder/main.js
http://127.0.0.1:3000/staticFolder/js/my-lib.js
Also pay attention to the path you provide to express.
You should give a proper path, and it's always safer to use absolute paths:
app.use(express.static(__dirname + 'staticFolder'));
or
app.use('/staticFolder', express.static(__dirname + 'staticFolder'));

Related

Why am i getting a 404 js file, while including a script tag?

index.html
<head>
<script src="/main.js"></script>
</head>
Error:
GET http://localhost:3000/main.js
Structure
Project
app.js
view
index.html
main.js
I've tried src="main.js". /view/main.js
Very basic, but dont want to get stuck on this any longer... sigh.
if it helps my app.js file has this:
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/view/home.html');
});
So, according to your comments - you are serving only the 'index.html' file instead of whole directory.
Try this code:
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var app = express();
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'view')));
//... other settings and server launching further
If you want to set serving static files to particular route - extend 'app.use' line with '/your-route', like this:
app.use('/your-route', express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'view')));
After that you can use <script src="main.js"></script> in your index.html

Node JS - HTML Paths

I recently have the problem that I dont get how the paths for html in node js work. I link my index.html's scripts as normal - relative to the index.html's file (node.js file and index.html are in the same directory "res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');"). But if I open it up in the Browser executed with node js it just stats "cant GET blabla" for the scripts. Instead opening it up by just clicking index.html without node js those paths work! How do I have to write html paths for node js?
var express = require('express'),
app = express(),
server = require('http').createServer(app),
io = require('socket.io').listen(server),
port = Number(process.env.PORT || 3000),
server.listen(port);
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
Thanks for your time! :)
Look at this:
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
You have told Node "When the browser asks for / give it index.html".
What happens when the browser asks for someScript.js?
You haven't told Node what to do then.
(You'll probably want to find a library for serving up static files rather than explicitly handling each one individually).
you should configure express to server static files, for example, put all the static files under a directory called 'public'
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var path = require('path');
// viewed at http://localhost:8080
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname + '/index.html'));
});
app.listen(8080);
ExpressJS to Deliver HTML Files
Render HTML file in ExpressJS
You can use
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "folder-name")));
Usually i put all my static files in a separate folder named "assets"
The I set up a static route as shown below:enter code here
app.use('/assets', express.static('assets'));
When you write:
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
It will only serve index.html file, not the other js scripts and stylesheets which you have added in your html.
There are 2 ways to solve that:
For both of them, I would suggest to use 'path' module.
Solution 1:
var path = require('path')
app.get('/path/to/js/foo.js',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname,'/path/to/js/foo.js')
})
app.get('/path/to/css/bar.css',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname,'/path/to/css/bar.css'))
})
and so on for every .css and.js file you have added in your index.html.
Solution 2:
You can create a public dir in your project's root dir. Inside which all your img, css and js files will be there.
Next,
var path = require('path')
app.use(express.static('public'))
app.get('/',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname,'/index.html')
})

For Node Js Server how to refer static html files from different folder

I have server js set up as
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public/DirName'));
var ipaddress = process.env.OPENSHIFT_NODEJS_IP || '127.0.0.1';
now because of use of dir for express it picks up index.html from /public/DirName but in that index.html if we have to refer a html file from diff folder how to refer that ? using general URL will result into request to the node server and o/p will be
"Cannot GET /public/diffrentFolder/file.HTML"
how to avoid this?
You can mention another path like this
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public/other_DirName'));
Node will look the file in directory depends on the order provided by delcaration.
Like in this case, it look for the file first in /public/DirName and then /public/other_DirName.

nodejs/express include local js file

Here is my current folder structure
css
app.css
js
app.js
node-modules
index.html
node-server.js
package.json
The node-server is hosting index.html, but I can't figure out how to get the app.js and app.css files to get loaded.
index.html loads them with:
<script src="js/app.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/app.css"/>
Here is the error message:
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found)
2http://localhost:3000/css/app.css Failed to load resource: the server
responded with a status of 404 (Not Found)
I know i need to require or load module or something, just can't figure out what.
Thanks
Reason
Node.Js does not server static content on it's own, routes has to defined for serving static content via Node.
Solution(Manual):
var express = require('express'),
path = require('path'),
app = express();
app.get('/index.html',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname + '/index.html'));
});
app.get('/css/app.css',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname + '/css/app.css'));
});
app.get('/js/app.js',function(req,res){
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname + '/js/app.js'));
});
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.redirect('index.html');
});
app.listen(8080);
Better Solution:
Directory Structure:
public
css
app.css
js
app.js
index.html
CODE:
var express = require('express'),
path = require('path'),
app = express();
// Express Middleware for serving static files
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.redirect('index.html');
});
app.listen(8080);
As Tomasz Kasperek pointed out, you need to let Express know that you intend to host these files in a static directory. This is technically called defining static middleware.
This should look something like:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
// first parameter is the mount point, second is the location in the file system
app.use("/public", express.static(__dirname + "/public"));
It's super simple and I suggest you go the route of making some sort of public folder, rather than bothering to make specific files and folders static.
Then the files would simply be referenced like so from the root index.html:
<link href="public/css/reset.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
Hope this helps you!
I got it to work by using this syntax
app.use(express.static('public'));
Copy the css and js files under the 'public' directory
and then add the reference in the index.html file
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/reset.css">
//we are in ./utils/dbHelper.js, here we have some helper functions
function connect() {
// connect do db...
}
function closeConnection() {
// close connection to DB...
}
//let's export this function to show them to the world outside
module.exports = {
connect(),
closeConnection()
};
// now we are in ./main.js and we want use helper functions from dbHelper.js
const DbHelper = require('./utils/dbHelper'); // import all file and name it DbHelper
DbHelper.connect(); // use function from './utils/dbHelper' using dot(.)
// or we can import only chosen function(s)
const {
connect,
closeConnection
} = require('./utils/dbHelper');
connect(); // use function from class without dot

NodeJS / Express / Mean Stack

I am new to Express and semi-new to nodejs and I am trying to run a simple app / webserver as a proof of concept. I have been stuck for hours because my server serves every file as index.html (with the content of index.html).
In my index.html I am making calls to JS files and CSS files and they are all coming back but with a 200 in the console but they are all coming back with index.html content instead of the actual content contained in them. I believe the problem is in my server.js file which is below:
// server.js
// modules =================================================
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var mongoose= require('mongoose');
var path = require('path');
// configuration ===========================================
// config files
var db = require('../config/db');
var port = process.env.PORT || 9999; // set our port
//mongoose.connect(db.url); // connect to our mongoDB database (uncomment after you enter in your own credentials in config/db.js)
app.configure(function() {
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public')); // set the static files location /public/img will be /img for users
app.use(express.logger('dev')); // log every request to the console
app.use(express.bodyParser()); // have the ability to pull information from html in POST
app.use(express.methodOverride()); // have the ability to simulate DELETE and PUT
});
// routes ==================================================
require('../../app/routes')(app); // configure our routes
// start app ===============================================
app.listen(port); // startup our app at http://localhost:9999
console.log('Magic happens on port ' + port); // shoutout to the user
exports = module.exports = app; // expose app
// app/routes.js
module.exports = function(app) {
// server routes ===========================================================
// handle things like api calls
// authentication routes
// sample api route
app.get('/api/nerds', function(req, res) {
// use mongoose to get all nerds in the database
Nerd.find(function(err, nerds) {
// if there is an error retrieving, send the error. nothing after res.send(err) will execute
if (err)
res.send(err);
res.json(nerds); // return all nerds in JSON format
});
});
// route to handle creating (app.post)
// route to handle delete (app.delete)
// frontend routes =========================================================
// route to handle all angular requests
app.get('*', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile('/Users/...../app/public/index.html'); // load our public/index.html file
//res.sendfile(path, {'root': '../'});
});
};
I have been following this tutorial verbatum: http://scotch.io/bar-talk/setting-up-a-mean-stack-single-page-application but haven't had much success.
I cannot confirm without looking at your computer but I get the feeling the paths in your application are wrong.
The crucial parts in the express setup are:
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
and
app.get('*', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile('/Users/...../app/public/index.html');
The first rule catches and returns any static file in __dirname + '/public'.
The second returns index.html for anything else.
The problem is that your server.js is not in the apps directory (I can see this since you use ../../app/routes.js to get to routes.js) this means __dirname + '/public' is not pointing to the public directory. Which is why your static files are being served by the global rule in routes.js.
In order to fix this change __dirname + '/public' to ../../app/public, or better yet place your server.js file where it should be and update your paths.
I can also see you are using an absolute full path to index.html in routes.js instead of a relative one so it seems as if your applications needs to tidied out.
The tutorial that you are following contains this route
app.get('*', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile('./public/index.html'); // load our public/index.html file
});
which explicitly defines the behaviour you described.
In this tutorial it makes sense because it explains how to build a single page application. This type of the application typically returns the same content for all the request while the actual presentation work happens on the client by the client-side library (angular in this example).
So if you what to serve more pages with different content you need to add more routes for them, just like route for /api/nerds in the example.
Update:
After clarifying that the issue is incorrectly served CSS and JS files, the proposed solution is to check the location of the server.js - it should be in the folder together with the folder "public".

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