Serving Node Server and Angular 4 application in one command - node.js

I am starting a new project which is using Angular 4 for frontend designing and the application will need some rest api's for which I have decided to use node. I am using angular cli for creating angular app and I know how to create angular app and node server but I want to know how will I connect these two things such that when I do ng serve both the server and angular app gets compiled and run. What basic changes in the project structure or some file is needed to be done?

I'm currently building a full-stack Angular app with a Node/Express backend and was wondering the exact same thing. However, despite what that scotch.io tutorial tells you, creating both the Express server and the Angular app in the same directory is NOT the best way to go about it.
What you want to do is set up your Express server in one project and serve it in one terminal window, then serve your Angular app in a separate terminal window but have it point to your locally-running Express server instead of the default dev server that's included with the Angular CLI (the ng-serve command).
Here's a Stack Overflow answer and also a Medium article that answered all of my questions for how to set this up (fortunately, it's not too hard).

Here's what I did Shubham. I went into the Angular-Cli and changed "outDir": to "../public"in other words it will look like "outDir": "../public". The ../public folder is my Express static folder set in my app.js file with app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
Keeping in mind I have nodemon installed globally, and in my package.json file, "start": "node app" I simply run nodemon from this dir to start my server and both Angular and Express run on the same server.
I have seen some people say it's not good to run static filed on the Node/Express server, but for development I'm not sure it matters. Although I'm a novice when it comes to js frameworks etc. Here's the project files on my github acct: https://github.com/chriskavanagh/angularauth.
Edit: You must run ng-build (in your Angular dir) whenever you change code.

First, in Angular project do ng build, it will create dist folder (static folder).
Second step, paste the following code in backend servers entry point file.
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/')));
app.get('*', (req, res) =>{
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'dist/index.html'));
});
And after the above thing is done run backend server: node filename
Note: in give proper path where your index.html file is located in dist folder.

The node server and the Angular app are two different things.
In order to run the node server you should use the command:
node ServerName.js
In order to run the angular app you should use the command:
npm start OR ng serve
In your case, the connection between the two is made by http requests.
For example you could use 'express' in order to implement rest services in your node server and then send an http request to the server in the current route.

Related

How to combine vue-cli development mode with server-side api?

I'm new to vue and kind of confuse here.
I'm using vue-cli to build a vue app, I understand I can run a development server with npm run serve which is referenced as a script in my package.json for vue-cli-service serve
But my app need some data coming from a local node.js server. I cannot request this server from development mode because it's running on a different server.
To make my app work I'm obligated to build for production with
npm run build
Then to ask my node server to render by default the produced index.html file.
How could I combine development mode and my node server?
What would be the best way to make this work?
Thanks a lot
I stumbled across this, and found the answer buried at the bottom of the comments list, so I thought I'd highlight it.
This answer is taken from #Frank Provost comment, which really should be the accepted answer. As mentioned in his link https://cli.vuejs.org/config/#devserver-proxy all you need to do is create/edit vue.config.js file in your (client) project root to include this:
module.exports = {
devServer: {
proxy: 'http://localhost:3000' // enter dev server url here
}
}
Then start your dev server as usual from your server project:
[server-root]$ npm run dev
And run your client project from vue-cli project
[client-root]$ npm run serve
Then when you visit the client url (usually localhost:8080) all api requests will be forwarded to your dev server. All hot module replacement still works on both client and server.

Deploy angular 7, mongo, express, node application on own server

I would like to deploy my angular application with nodejs, mongo, express js on my own server.
My way is:
-> ng build --prod (output is dist folder)
-> ng serve on dist folder
Start backend:
-> node server js file
But I think, it is not correct way od production stage. Added http server on express, there I create another index html view file with hbs, and there I use:
<body>
<my-app>Loading ...</my-app>
<script src="/dist/bundle.js"></script>
</body>
But on dist server, there is multiple js files.
How can I create using ng option (no webpack or must be f.e. webpack?) my angular/mongo/node/express application (in 1, my own server, no aws, heroku, github etc). There is any correct way to do it?
I've been able to deploy an angular app using Caddy Server as the webserver.
Create a build of your Angular code by doing ng build --prod-true.
This creates a set of bundled Js and Html files in the dist
directory.
Copy these files to where you want to run the app.
Next go to the Caddy website and download the version of Caddy for
your os. You can choose all kinds of features but for my deployment
inside a firewall a plain build worked fine.
Drop the caddy file in the directory that you put your compiled
angular code.
Create a caddyfile (just a file named caddyfile), add localhost:(your
favorite port number).
Run caddy and it will automatically serve your app by launching
index.html. You can view your app at localhost:port.
No messy node installation. Caddy has all sorts of add-ons to deal with more complicated scenarios but the deployment is caddy.exe, caddyfile and your built code.

How to create Node.js Express app serving a Vue.js SPA?

I'm trying to set up a Node.js project that uses Express to provide a few backend APIs and serve a SPA built with Vue.js.
When I use the Vue cli to initialize a project, I get e.g. src/main.ts main file and commands npm run serve to run a dev server and watch for changes and npm run build to build a production release.
When I use the Express application generator to create a project, I get ./app.js main file and npm start to start the server and watch for changes.
How can I combine these into a single project, both served by the same Express server? Preferably so that a single command would watch + update changes to both server and client? I want to use Vue single file components and TypeScript, which (probably?) require a build step.
(I don't need dynamic server-side rendering of Vue templates, just the static SPA app provided. I prefer TypeScript, but JavaScript answers are fine as well.)
These will be different for your dev and prod environments...
For development look into concurrently - it basically allows you to create a single script in your package.json to start both the client and server concurrently and will watch for changes etc...
For production, you would need something like this in your app.js:
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
app.use(express.static('client/build'));
const path = require('path');
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, 'client', 'build', 'index.html'));
});
}
(The code above assumes that your directory structure has a client folder with a build folder after having run npm run build I'm more familiar with React than Vue... but the logic should be the same...)

How to deploy Front & Back node.js on the same Heroku app?

To be able to run my app, I need to run these 2 command in 2 different terminal :
cd app && npm install & npm start
cd api && npm install & npm start
I basically launch the front (app) and the back (api).
I want to deploy that on Heroku, but using the free plan.
Is there a way to do that? Do I need to create a package.json file on the root folder? If yes what should be inside?
Whatever I write, it seems to run only the front and never the back.
Many thanks!
You need to build the front-end and then serve it from the server end.
Whatever front-end framework you are using, make sure the build file is kept in the server static directory. Then make a route to load the build file (in most cases index.html).
Your steps might be
First, build the production-ready front-end (in most cases, it will generate the index.html in a distribution directory).
Put the distribution directory in your server public or static directory.
Make route in your server end and server the static file (mainly the index.html)
Now you are ready to go, put the node server to heroku.
For example, your final route might be
app.get("*", (req, res) => {
res.sendFile("static index.html file path");
})

vue files without NodeJS?

I want to host my app outside of node JS, but I want to use .vue files and possible npm as build system (if it's needed). Is it's possible to do?
I do not need any backward compatibility and if it work on latest Chrome dev it's ok for me.
Is there any examples how it can be done?
I tried to build some webpack template, but it's work only inside NodeJS. On other server I am getting 404 when I am accessing to URLs that placed in .vue files. It's seems that they can't be handled by the other server.
VueJS app is not NodeJS app.
VueJS app is interpreted by the browser.
You just have to build your app on computer and host files as any static website, so any server can serve html and files.
To build your app use e.g. Webpack (https://github.com/vuejs-templates/webpack )
NodeJs only use to build *.js files in front-end, your WebApp dosen't have to run on Nodejs.
1, You can create a index.html file that requires *.js file when webpack built it.
2, Use Chrome to open your index.html file so you can see it works.
You don't need to use vue-cli or other servers if you only want a static page.
But you have to know how to set your webpack.config.js, you can look that doc https://webpack.js.org/guides/getting-started/
Your starting point is wrong. Vue + node.js can build a complete site. Vue is the front-end framework, node's server language. The two can be used in combination. But not vue must rely on node to use. The two of them can be perfect to achieve the front and back separation of the development model.
In projects that use vue, individuals do not recommend configuring webpack and vue-loader separately. You can directly use vue official scaffolding, vue-cli. Do not have to consider these configurations, automatically configured.
Vue-cli
If you just started learning Vue, here's an entry-level demo. Although it is only a small application, but it covers a lot of knowledge points (vue2.0 + vue-cli + vue-router + vuex + axios + mysql + express + pm2 + webpack), including front-end, back-end, database and other sites Some of the necessary elements, for me, learning great significance, would like to encourage each other!
Vue Demo
Best way to develop Vue app is run dev server, and after all just build static assets. You don't need use vuex files, even better is use static template because you can easily integrate it with some back-end (WordPress or whatever).
Helpfully will be use some starter, for ex. Vue.js starter
It's true that vue will create static html pages when you run the build script. However, you will need to serve the files from a small server for the site to work. If you notice, when you run npm run build, the terminal will print a notice...
Tip:
Built files are meant to be served over an HTTP server.
Opening index.html over file:// won't work.
You can create a simple http server in your /dist directory with express and then host your site somewhere like Heroku.
Take a look at this article https://medium.com/#sagarjauhari/quick-n-clean-way-to-deploy-vue-webpack-apps-on-heroku-b522d3904bc8#.4nbg2ssy0
TLDR;
write a super simple express server
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var serveStatic = require('serve-static');
app = express();
app.use(serveStatic(__dirname));
var port = process.env.PORT || 5000;
app.listen(port);
console.log('server started '+ port);
add a postinstall script in a package.json within /dist
{
"name": "myApp",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "awesome stuff",
"author": "me oh my",
"private": true,
"scripts": {
"postinstall": "npm install express"
}
}
push only your /dist folder to heroku after you've compiled your site.
proof: I've followed these steps to host my vue.js project
using vue files without NodeJS (nor webpack) is possible with vue3-sfc-loader.
vue3-sfc-loader
Vue3/Vue2 Single File Component loader. Load .vue files dynamically at runtime from your html/js. No node.js
environment, no (webpack) build step needed.
vue3-sfc-loader will parse your .vue file at runtime and create a ready-to-use Vue component.
disclamer: author here
Could you try something as simple as an S3 bucket setup for web serving? How big is your project? How much traffic do you think you'll get? If it's very small, you may be able to host on S3 and use webpack, etc.

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