We Keep Coding

How to connect to a Node.js server that's using Express using an HTML file?

You run a node.js express server on LocalHost or a service provider (Heroku, AWS). How do I connect this to my website?
E.G -- You go to..
www.yourdomain.com -> Connects to HEROKU server -> HEROKU server sends html file
app.js
const http = require('http'),
path = require('path'),
express = require('express'),
app = express(),
serv = require('http').Server(app);
var htmlPath = path.join(__dirname, 'client');
app.use(express.static(htmlPath));
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(htmlPath + '/index.html');
});
var server = serv.listen(2000, () => {
var host = 'localhost';
var port = server.address().port;
console.log(`listening on http://${host}:${port}/`);
});
In this case, now instead of going to localhost:2000 directly to receive the index.html file, you go to yourdomain.com and the server sends the index.html file

You need to set the DNS system to redirect to the public IP of the machine hosting the Express application. The express application needs to also be listening for GET requests sent to the path you are specifying.
You would also need to configure the firewall on that machine to allow port 80 and 443 to be open.

transferring node app to server

I have a node server file, app.js which uses express.
The file looks like this
var express = require('express')
var app = express();
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'))
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.send('Hello World!')
})
app.listen(3000, function () {
console.log('Example app listening on port 3000!')
});
If I run $ node app.js from my terminal it launches and if I navigate to localhost:3000 on my machine I see Hello World!.
I have uploaded the file to a server and try and navigate to the index.html file , which is in the public folder, however it doesn't work.
Maybe I am missing many steps, but can anyone advise how I can launch the node app on my server?

Your server doesn't send index.html anywhere. It only serves "/" path by sending text "Hello World!".
With Node.js, you have to tell which content you want to send for each route.
You can simply send the specific file : (sure, but dirty)
app.get('/index.html', function (req, res) {
res.send(PATH_TO_FILE/index.html);
});
Or specify which path to use to serve files by default :
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
And you put all your public files to serve automatically in the public folder :
YOUR_PROJECT/public/AUTOMATICALLY_SERVED_FILES
Where AUTOMATICALLY_SERVED_FILES can be index.html or css/style.css for exemple.
NB : NGINX is not useful at this point.

On the server, nodejs is configured right?
I use forever with nodejs, it is useful if you would like to use nodejs like a service on linux base system.

How to combine socket.io with some of the simple static http servers on Node.js?

I have created a Socket.IO application and I even already got some interactivity working. But I still host static content on Apache HTTP server (localhost, XAMPP bundle). Actually when running Node.js, this is my working directory:
C:\xampp\htdocs\game>node nodeGame.js
I'd like to move it all somewhere else, probably convert it into npm package and use Node.js to serve HTML and JavaScript files to user. It would be best if I could just install some simple handler that could be passed into http. Something like:
var http = Http.Server(require("really-simple-http-server"));
var io = SocketIo(http);
// Sockets below
None of the servers I found on StackOverflow seemed that simple, so which is most suitable for this purpose and how to use it?

You can use socket.io with the Express framework (using Express as your web server) and then use express.static() to serve static files:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var server = app.listen(3000, function() {
console.log("server started on port 3000");
});
var io = require('socket.io').listen(server);
// set up static file serving from the public directory
app.use('/static', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
Details on the options for serving static files with Express are here.

Express and node.js run from a folder; all links point to url root

I have installed node inside a folder and am forwarding it through apache. I am doing this because I have several virtualhosts run through apache, and I do not want to take the time to set up everything through node.
Apache and Node.js on the Same Server
However, I am trying to create a chat engine. I try to include some js files, but they search for http://example.org/myscript.js instead of http://example.org/chat/myscript.js
I got around this by using
<base href="/chat/">
However, now I am trying to integrate socket.io. I included socket.io from https://cdn.socket.io/socket.io-1.3.5.js because I could not get the locally serverd /socket.io/socket.io.js to properly be located.
Now socket.io is trying to connect to http://example.org/socket.io
That dierectory does not exist. If anything, the proper path should be http://example.org/chat/socket.io
I have been looking all over the internet for a solution. There must be something fundamental or obvious about how nodejs/express operates that I am missing. Thanks a million!
Server.js - This is the file I start with node.
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var app = express();
var http = require('http').createServer(app);
var io = require('socket.io').listen(http, { log: true, resource:'/socket.io/'});
app.use('/socket.io', express.static(path.join(__dirname,'/node_modules/socket.io/lib/')));
app.use('/bootstrap', express.static(path.join(__dirname,'/node_modules/bootstrap/dist/')));
app.use('/', express.static(__dirname));
var server = app.listen(8000);
io.sockets.on('connection', function(socket) {
console.log('A user connected!');
})

Node.js socket.io.js not found or io not defined

I'm trying to run a node.js application on my freebsd server, but I can't get the socket.io library to work with it. I've tried including:
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
Which gives a 404 error, and if i link directly to the file (i.e. where it is in my public_html folder) I get the io not defined error.
Thanks in advance

Try creating another node.js application that has this single line in it and then run it with node.js
var io = require('socket.io').listen(8000);
Then in your browser visit http://127.0.0.1:8000 and you should get the friendly "Welcome to socket.io." greeting. If you are getting this then socket.io is running and will serve the socket.io.js file.
The only other thing that I can think of that might be happening is that you might not be linking to the alternate port in your client file. Unless you're running the socket.io server on express which is running on port 80. For now create a client file that has the script source for socket.io set to
<script src="http://127.0.0.1:8000/socket.io/socket.io.js"> </script>
This should connect to the socket.io server running on port 8000 and get the socket.io.js file.

Your node.js application still has to serve it - it does not get served automagically. What do you have in your server? It should be something like
var app = require('express').createServer();
var io = require('socket.io').listen(app);
or similar (the listen is important). The location is not a real location on the disk - socket.io library should intercept the URL and serve its clientside library, as far as I understand.

Add the following after body parser:
, express.static(__dirname + "/public")
So something like:
var app = module.exports = express.createServer(
express.bodyParser()
, express.static(__dirname + "/public")
);

For those who got the same kind of issue if they run (open) your html file directly from your local file directory(ex: file:///C:/Users/index.html).
Solution: You have to run(open) the file through localhost (ex: http://localhost:3000/index.html) where the server is listening to.
Below code snippet shows how to create a server and how to wire together with the express and socket.io
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const httpServer = require("http").createServer(app);
const io = require("socket.io")(httpServer);
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Any other server-side code goes here //
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
httpServer.listen(3000, () => {
console.log(`Server listening to port 3000`);
});