Cannot set express.static from another module - node.js

This works
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var request = require('request');
// initialize session, redis server will be used if it's running otherwise will store in memory
require('./config/session.js')(app, function () {
// configurations
require('./config/bodyparser.js')(app);
require('./config/cookieparser.js')(app);
require('./config/compression.js')(app);
//require('./config/other.js')(app, express);
app.use(express.static('./public', { /*maxAge: 86400000*/}));
app.listen(3000, function () { console.log('running...'); });
});
But if I uncomment require other.js and comment app.use it doesn't. Here is the other.js file.
module.exports = function (app, express)
{
app.use(express.static('../public', { /*maxAge: 86400000*/}));
return app;
}
Tried different relatives paths but all failed. Here is the project structure
-config
--other.js
-public
-app.js
The error I get is
Cannot GET /index.html
on my browser, no error in console.

The issue here is that when you require the other.js file, the relative path is using the cwd of app.js. The best way to avoid this (and avoid the hassle with relative paths) is to use path.resolve and the __dirname variable.
__dirname is a special Node.js variable that always equals the current working directory of the file it's in. So combined with path.resolve you can always be sure that no matter where the file is being require'd it uses the correct path.
In other.js:
var path = require('path');
....
app.use(express.static(path.resolve(__dirname, '../public')));
Or you could simply update other.js to use ./public but I believe the above is better practice as if you move the app.js or require other.js in a different folder it won't resolve correctly
Info on path.resolve here

Related

issue: Router.use requires a middleware function but got a obj

i have looked at all the other solutions around and I still cant seem to fix it
here is my file structure and my home.js where I have my routing which I moved from my routes.js file
i have already tried adding module.exports = router to the bottom of my .js files 1
You must register your router in app.js
More about routes
const homeRouter = require('./web/home');
app.use('/home', homeRouter );

Express---routes and "app"?

I have the following Express code in the initial routes file of my MVC setup. This is the entire file. What I am trying to determine is whether the app after the require statement is able to reference the var app = express() declaration in my main server.js file?
module.exports = function(app){
require('./main')(app);
};

Can I pass variable to required file?

In express, I'm trying to move my minification to a requierd file:
app.js:
var app = express();
var minify = require("./minify.js");
In that file I try to set my template engine.
minify.js:
var app = express();
app.engine('html', mustacheExpress());
Later when I try to use to use the rendering engine in app.js, I get the error that no template-engine is set. It works if I run it all in the same file. I think the problem is that I declare the app-variable twice. How can I pass the app-variable into minify.js?
The problem is that you define new app variable, and you currently instantiate brand new express instance by calling express().
What you need to do is start using functions so that you can pass params (there are other methods too, but this is one that will work for you):
// app.js
var app = express();
var minify = require('./minify'); // don't include .js!
minify(app); // CALL the function that minify.js exports, passing params
// minify.js
module.exports = function(app) {
// because app comes as a parameter, it's the very same you've created in app.js
app.engine('html', mustacheExpress());
}
Again, there are many different methods and maybe proper approaches, depending on what you want to do, but this will do the job in your case. Read more about NodeJS and it's require system.
You can pass 'app' from app.js to your minify by using function in your module like Andrey said. You can do it like this too for example :
minify.js
module.exports = {
setAppEngine : function(app) {
app.engine( [...] );
}
}
And calling it like this in your app.js:
app.js
var app = express();
var minify = require("./minify.js").setAppEngine(app);
This solution is very useful because you can set and call others methods in minify.js. For example, you can do with the same code in minify.js:
app.js
var app = express();
var minify = require("./minify.js");
minify.setAppEngine(app);

Exclude sub directory from static files in express

Is there any way to exclude sub directory from express static middleware in express 4.8.5.
For example if I have :
app.use(express.static(__dirname + 'public'));
And my public directory is like this :
- public
- css
- images
- scripts
- index.html
- exclude_me
- scripts
- views
- index.html
So I need to exclude last sub directory and when user does :
GET /exclude_me
It should call my route rather than returning directory automatically.
I can't just remove it from public dir because it depends on stuff inside it because public directory is angular application and exclude_me is another angular application that fetches scripts from /exclude_me/scripts AND from /public/scripts.
I know it is little confusing but it is how it is and I cannot just remove it from public dir because it won't see public/scripts any more which are needed and I cannot leave it because I cannot authorize it then (all authorization is in public/scripts)
If there is some smarter way to do this, feel free to let me know :)
You can add your own middleware. Here's what I did to exclude some folders:
app.use('/public', (req, res, next) => {
if (env !== 'development') {
var result = req.url.match(/^\/js\/(maps|src)\/.+\.js$/)
if (result) {
return res.status(403).end('403 Forbidden')
}
}
next()
})
app.use('/public', express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/public')))
It's possible by adding regular expressions to the first optional param of use method.
According with Express 4.x API path documentation.
Example, I don't want to give access to my secure folder inside public folder:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use([/^\/public\/secure($|\/)/, '/public'], express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
This will allow you to access all files but not the ones in the secure folder.
You can use it also to restrict a file extension, example files that ends with .js.map:
app.use([/(.*)\.js\.map$/, '/public'], express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
And you also can add multiple rules, like this example where secure folder and files that end with .js.map are ignored from the static folder:
app.use([/^\/public\/secure($|\/)/, /(.*)\.js\.map$/, '/public'], express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
I had a similar problem, which may be the answer you were seeking. Given the following directory:
public
css/
images/
secure/
index.html
The Express Middleware stack I wanted was this:
1. Static files (except the `secure/` directory)
2. Logging
3. Authentication
4. `secure/` static files
Here's how I solved it:
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var app = express();
// path.join here makes it work cross platform with Windows / Linux / etc
var statics = express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public'));
function secureStatic(secure) {
return function (req, res, next) {
if (/^\/secure/.test(req.path) === !!secure) return statics(req, res, next);
return next();
};
}
// add public files
app.use(secureStatic());
app.use(logging());
app.use(authentication());
// add secured files
app.use(secureStatic(true));
This will only serve public files when unauthenticated, and only serve secure files after authentication.
Most solutions above are to use a middleware.
However, there is a just easier way to solve this.
Don't serve static assests directly with the dir public rather than serve dir just what you want to serve with a virtual path prefix .
You can serve like below
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use('/public', __dirname + 'css');
app.use('/public', __dirname + 'images');
...

How to use static in express js on OS X?

Faced with strange problem: can't setup static folder for express js.
Folder that should be static: /Users/user/Sites/move/assets
Server.js file: /Users/user/Sites/move/app/server.js
URL i use: http://localhost:5001/assets/css/bootstrap.css
Server.js file looks like this:
function Run(config) {
var express = require('express'),
ejs = require('ejs');
var app = express();
app.configure(function() {
// express.static(config.APP_BASE_PATH + '/assets' prints /Users/user/Sites/move/assets
app.use(express.static(config.APP_BASE_PATH + '/assets'));
// Also used
// app.use('assets', express.static(config.APP_BASE_PATH + '/assets'));
});
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.render('index.html');
});
app.listen(config.APP_PORT);
}
Where is the problem?
It is also possible to create application skeleton with configured static assets, using npm and expres command.
npm install -g express
express --sessions --css stylus --ejs myapp
When you say this:
app.use(express.static(config.APP_BASE_PATH + '/assets'));
It means that a request for /assets/css/bootstrap.css will be looked up as:
config.APP_BASE_PATH + '/assets' + '/assets/css/bootstrap.css'
Which is clearly not what you want.
Instead, you can prefix the middleware declaration:
app.use('/assets', express.static(config.APP_BASE_PATH + '/assets'));
Which means that if a request starts with /assets, the static middleware will take everything after that prefix (so /css/bootstrap.css) and look that up in the directory that you passed.
The starting / is important, otherwise it won't match the incoming request.

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