Using Node.js as a simple web server

Question

I want to run a very simple HTTP server. Every GET request to example.com should get index.html served to it but as a regular HTML page (i.e., same experience as when you read normal web pages).

Using the code below, I can read the content of index.html. How do I serve index.html as a regular web page?

var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');
var index = fs.readFileSync('index.html');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end(index);
}).listen(9615);

One suggestion below is complicated and requires me to write a get line for each resource (CSS, JavaScript, images) file I want to use.

How can I serve a single HTML page with some images, CSS and JavaScript?

Have a look at the npm module "connect". It provides such basic functionality and is the basis of many setups and other packages. — Mörre
– Mörre, Commented May 21, 2011 at 20:53
You should put your solution as an answer and mark it correct. — graham.reeds
– graham.reeds, Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 9:04
I was able to find a perfect solution by Eric B. Sowell called Serving static files from node js. Read the whole thing. Highly recommended. — idophir
– idophir, Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 6:38
Have a look at a module I wrote called Cachemere. It also automatically caches all your resources. github.com/topcloud/cachemere — Jon
– Jon, Commented Nov 25, 2013 at 5:07

Post Impatica · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-10 21:44:53Z

2

This is one of the fastest solutions i use to quickly see web pages

sudo npm install ripple-emulator -g

From then on just enter the directory of your html files and run

ripple emulate

then change the device to Nexus 7 landscape.

answered Jul 10, 2015 at 21:44

Post Impatica

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1 Comment

waeltken Over a year ago

What has a Nexus 7 todo with this?

Chen Peleg · Accepted Answer · 2024-05-05 11:43:44Z

With Esm module syntax


import http from 'http';
import { parse as parseUrl } from 'url';
import { join as joinPath, extname } from 'path';
import { existsSync, readFileSync, statSync } from 'fs';

const port = process.argv[2] || 4200;

http.createServer(function (request, response) {
    const uri = parseUrl(request.url).pathname;
    let filename = joinPath(process.cwd(), uri);
    const contentTypesByExtension = {
        '.html': 'text/html',
        '.css':  'text/css',
        '.js':   'text/javascript',
        '.json': 'text/json',
        '.svg':  'image/svg+xml'
    };
    if (!existsSync(filename)) {
        console.log( 'FAIL: ' + filename);
        filename = joinPath(process.cwd(), '/404.html');
    } else if (statSync(filename).isDirectory()) {
        console.log( 'FLDR: ' + filename);
        filename += '/index.html';
    }

    try {
        const file = readFileSync(filename, 'binary');
        console.log('FILE: ' + filename);
        const headers = {};
        const contentType = contentTypesByExtension[extname(filename)];
        if (contentType) {
            headers['Content-Type'] = contentType;
        }

        response.writeHead(200, headers);
        response.write(file, 'binary');
        response.end();
    } catch (err) {
        response.writeHead(500, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
        response.write(err + '\n');
        response.end();
    }

}).listen(parseInt(port, 10));
console.log( 'Static file server running at\n  => http://localhost:' + port + '/\nCTRL' +
    ' + C to shutdown');

Gen4ik · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-08 11:54:59Z

I can also recommend SugoiJS, it is very easy to set up and gives an option to start writing fast and has great features.

Take a look here to get started: http://demo.sugoijs.com/ , documentation: https://wiki.sugoijs.com/

It has request handling decorators, request policies and authorization policies decorators.

For example:

import {Controller,Response,HttpGet,RequestParam} from "@sugoi/server";

@Controller('/dashboard')
export class CoreController{
    constructor(){}

    @HttpGet("/:role")
    test(@RequestParam('role') role:string,
         @RequestHeader("role") headerRole:string){
        if(role === headerRole )
            return "authorized";
        else{
            throw new Error("unauthorized")
        }
    }
}

James Suárez · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-02 10:47:12Z

Is very easy with the tons of libraries presents today. Answers here are functional. If you want another version for start faster and simple

Of course first install node.js. Later:

> # module with zero dependencies
> npm install -g @kawix/core@latest 
> # change /path/to/static with your folder or empty for current
> kwcore "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/voxsoftware/kawix-core/master/example/npmrequire/express-static.js" /path/to/static

Here the content of "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/voxsoftware/kawix-core/master/example/npmrequire/express-static.js" (you don't need download it, i posted for understand how works behind)

// you can use like this:
// kwcore "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/voxsoftware/kawix-core/master/example/npmrequire/express.js" /path/to/static
// kwcore "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/voxsoftware/kawix-core/master/example/npmrequire/express.js" 

// this will download the npm module and make a local cache
import express from 'npm://express@^4.16.4'
import Path from 'path'

var folder= process.argv[2] || "."
folder= Path.resolve(process.cwd(), folder)
console.log("Using folder as public: " + folder)

var app = express() 
app.use(express.static(folder)) 
app.listen(8181)
console.log("Listening on 8181")

gavenkoa · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-13 22:01:13Z

In order to host Next.js static build with trailingSlash: true & skipTrailingSlashRedirect: true I had to re-implement express.static().

Express.js is nice framework for quick low level prototyping. You could replace it with even low-level Connect.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextjs/comments/1bcj1ws/hosting_static_files_locally_to_mimicreproduce/

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const fs = require('fs');

const morgan = require('morgan');
app.use(morgan('dev'));

function isFileExists(p) {
  try {
    return fs.statSync(p).isFile();
  } catch (e) {
    return false;
  }
}

// Emulate express.static(), which suffers from "Express Slashing Syndrome".
app.use("/agent", (req, rsp, next) => {
  const rpath = process.cwd() + "/out" + req.path.split(/[;?]/)[0];
  if (isFileExists(rpath)) {
    rsp.sendFile(rpath);
    return;
  }
  const ipath = rpath + "/index.html";
  if (isFileExists(ipath)) {
    rsp.sendFile(ipath);
    return;
  }
  next();
});

const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware({
    target: 'http://192.168.1.2:8080',
    changeOrigin: true,
    cookieDomainRewrite: {
        "*": ""
    },
}));

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000);

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