How to host an application React js with node js backend. Couldn't find anything on the internet. Do I need to run the
build
command on the backend? Help me please.
Thanks in advance.
The way I do it:
I build my react project and host it on the server.
As for node js, I run it on it’s own, and use Pm2 to run it on the server ( https://pm2.keymetrics.io/docs/usage/quick-start/ ) but there’s plenty of other ways you can find on google.
I hope I answered your question
I suggest you use Heroku, you get to host your full stack application for free, directly from your GitHub reposity, it takes care of automatic redeploys whenever you push something on your repo.
The only – slight – downside is having to wait ~5 seconds for the server to start up if your app hasn't been visited for a while and becomes idle (if you use a free option that is).
There are plenty of tutorials on how to do so.
As for serving the static version to your app in production — this could be of use:
server.js
/* If in production mode - serve compressed/static react content to server. i.e. what would be otherwise localhost:5000 would display frontend content.
/!\ Do not forget to generate Procfile and script for Heroku to insure proper generation of "build" directory /!\ */
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production") {
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "../frontend/build")));
app.get("*", (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, "../frontend", "build", "index.html"));
});
}
Heroku will take care of it automatically if you tell your server to serve the static version with the code above.
There is also Glitch.com
Related
I'm trying to serve different parts of my app on one server.
For instance, a user could visit,
http://app.my-site.com
or
http://admin.my-site.com
I'm using React on the frontend, conditionally producing the appropriate routes based on the subdomain, meaning I actually have one server serving one frontend that dynamically renders content.
When working with the webpack devserver, I'm able to enable this feature by adding the --allowed-hosts all option.
But then I build the project and try to serve it as follows:
app.register(require('fastify-static'), {
root: path.join(__dirname, 'client', 'dist'),
});
app.setNotFoundHandler((request, reply) => {
reply.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'client', 'dist', 'index.html'));
});
This works, but only locally (Heroku throws a 404 error).
After some research, I've found that express has a package for this purpose called express-subdomain. Is there a similar one for fastify or should I be doing something else entirely? After some research, I found answers online suggesting that I should add a CNAME for every subdomain I use.. which I could try, but I'm honestly just trying to understand why building my project works locally but not when deployed elsewhere.
I start the server like this:
app.listen(PORT, '::', (err, address) => {
if (err) throw err;
app.log.info(`Server listening on port ${address}`);
});
Hi even after lot of search i am still confused what is correct way to deploy my react app created using create-react-app with express as backend.
I ran npm run build which created build folder. I copied the build folder to be served as static folder of express and had put
app.use(express.static('build'));.
It is working fine for homepage, that is homepage opens when i run my express node server but when i go to anyother link outside homepage it gives 404.
Everything is working fine in developer mode, which i run by npm start command. I just want to know what i am doing wrond here. Let me know anymore info required to understand the problem. Thankyou.
It sounds like you don't have the backend server running. You need to npm start your server, and then npm start your front end if that make sense. They are 2 separate things.
Are you using client-side routing? A popular implementation of that is react-router.
Let say you are trying to access /page1, what client-side routing does is use the JS to toggle between different components to "fake" the routing, instead of rending a new HTML.
Yet, by default when you change routes, the browser does the usual stuff and send a GET request to the server asking for the corresponding HTML file. But since you only have index.html served, that's why you received 404.
You need to add the following at the end of your app.js, right before you call app.listen of your express server to tell the server to always return index.html no matter what route does it received.
/* client-side routing.
* For GET requests from any routes (other than those which is specified above),
* send the file "index.html" to the client-side from the folder "build"
*/
app.get("*", (_, res) => res.sendFile("index.html", { root: "build" }));
// your usual app.listen
app.listen(port, () => console.log("Listening"));
My Vue app is set up using Vue CLI (Webpack) and it's working as it should. My NodeJS/Express REST API is also working properly. However, to run them simultaneously I now start a local server for each of them -- each with its own port. I would like to have both of them communicate over one port.
Localhost:8080 should point to the home page of my Vue App and the API requests should follow localhost:8080/api/...
In my production environment I use one and the same port/URL by serving the Vue App as a set of static files ('dist' folder). In my development environment I don't know how to set this up, however.
I looked around for answers online, but feel lost among all the different terms I have come across (.env, crossenv, nginx, cors) and that I am running in circles.
What would be a good way of setting this up?
Thank you
Edit:
I ended up creating three modes to run my application:
Development
I use one script in a package.json to start the frontend and backend server on different ports, using pm2 to run the servers in the 'background' rather than blocking further commands in the terminal/cmd. I use configured a proxy inside my vue.config.js to redirect my API calls made in the frontend to the right base URL and used cors as middleware to allow requests to my API from other domains/ports.
Staging
I use one script in a package.json to build the Vue app into a folder ('dist' folder inside my backend folder) that is a collection of static files and start the backend server. My backend is set up to know when I want to go into staging mode and then serve the static files in the 'dist' folder.
Production
I use one script in a package.json to build the Vue app into a folder ('dist' folder inside my backend folder) that is a collection of static files and push my backend (incl. the built static files) to Heroku.
Well if you need to run both on the same port you could first build your app so that you receive a dist directory or whatever your output directory is named and set up an express server that serves that app and otherwise handles your api requests
const express = require("express");
const path = __dirname + '/app/views/';
const app = express();
app.use(express.static(path));
app.get('/', function (req,res) {
res.sendFile(path + "index.html");
});
app.get('/api', function (req,res) {
// your api handler
}
app.listen(8080)
Assuming that node and the 'app' will always run on the same server you can just use a template library like ejs.
You would then just bundle the app and api together, assuming that the front-end is tied to the backend, realistically you would not even need to hit the API as you could just return the records as part of the view, however if dynamic elements are needed you could still hit the API.
Now, with that said, if the API is something used by many applications then it would probably make sense to build that out as its own microservice, running on its own server and your frontend would be on its own. This way you have separation of concerns with the API and Vue app.
this is the api call i want to make
http://localhost:3000/api/getUserName
but i am using it in proxy in package.json. i tried to build the app but then call goes to
http://localhost:5000/api/getUserName
i am serving on 5000 so its taking api call also on 5000. so i want to mention 3000 om build. also i have check on google and it says mention it in .ENV cause proxy is not for production, but can anyone provide me .ENV structure that can show to me how to use it from env?
During development, the practice is to use to two servers; one server for the client side, generally localhost:3000, and a second one for the server, generally localhost:5000. When you build for production, reactjs compiles and builds such that it becomes a static resource for the server and the server serves these files.So, your app will be served, wherever you host your server. The production config will depend on what you folder structure looks like. If you are using CRA for your application, you can use this piece of code:
I am assuming that you have your client directory inside your server directory.
if(process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'){
app.use(express.static('client/build') //path to your build directory
const path = require('path');
app.get('*', (req, res)=>{
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, 'build','public','index.html');
}
}
Again, I am assuming that you are using CRA to bootstrap your react application and have your client directory inside your server directory. If you are using webpack, then the config will change to indicate the path of the build directory.
I have built an angular5 client app and a nodejs (using express) server app working on ports 4200 and 3000 respectively. Now I want to merge them both in a single app as a deliverable.
Will just copying the angular folder into nodejs work?
Not sure how to go about it.
From a code organizing perspective.
For development, keep each app in its own folder, something like
nodejs
angular-app
In production,
nodejs
public
angular-dist-folder
Deployment scripts can handle this for you, you should avoid doing manual copy pasting of stuff, It is important to keep code organized, it is absolutely important and vital for the success and health of any project.
Edit:
I ld like to add, modern JS projects makes use of some sort of file system watchers, Ex fs.watch . Keeping apps in separate directories, prevents the unnecessary rerun of processes during development.
In your angular folder, run ng build --watch. This will build your project and create a dist folder. Also, it will watch for any code changes and rebuild.
You can copy this dist folder in your node project's public folder and make a few changes in your server.js file to integrate that.
You can use nodemon server.js to look for changes in node project.
Below are the changes which I made in my server.js to make it work.
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public/dist')));
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'public/dist/index.html'));
});