Expressjs not recognizing static files - node.js

Question

I have a nodejs app and am using expressjs. I've defined my static directory, but when I access it, it doesn't load. My express config is:
var app = express.createServer().listen(8001);
app.configure(function(){
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(app.router);
app.use('/public', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.use(express.cookieParser());
app.use(express.session({ secret: "appsession" }));
app.use(express.errorHandler({showStack: true, dumpExceptions: true}));
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
app.set('view engine', 'hbs');
});
Inside my /public directory I have 3 folders, css, js, and img. Inside css I have a style.css. When I try to access it directly via http://localhost:8001/public/css/style.css I get: Cannot GET /public/css/style.css
Any ideas what I could be doing wrong?
Thanks!
EDIT:
It seems to be related to how I have my routes setup. I'm doing it like this:
var routes = require('./routes')(db);
pp.get('/', routes.index);
Then in my index.js file, I have:
module.exports = function(db) {
return {
index: function(req, res, next) {
res.render('index');
}
}
}
I have my error handling enabled, but when I use the routing in this way, it doesn't use expresses error handling, however if I take this out, it does.

Answer 1

You setup the static http middleware as follows:
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
And retrieve a file in ./public/css/style.css with the url:
"/css/style.css"
public is not part of the path when you actually request the file.

Answer 2

Change your static handler to this:
app.use('/public/css', express.static(__dirname + '/public/css'));
Then http://localhost:8001/public/css/style.css should get what you want
Full sample app that allows curl http://localhost:8001/public/css/style.css:
app.js
|-public
|-css
|-style.css
var express = require("express"),
app = express.createServer();
app.use('/public/css', express.static(__dirname + '/public/css'));
app.listen(8001);

Answer 3

Was running into the same issue found the answer here
https://github.com/senchalabs/connect/issues/298
When you have try to use nested files it kinda get lost,
it says fixed on the tracker a year ago, however i tried today and worked fine

Answer 4

I figured it out.
I have two services running on my host. Django is running the site at the root: http://myURL.com, and then Node is running at http://myURL.com/node
The configuration is fine with all the files in Node. The index.html file is requested fine, but the index.html when it requests the stylesheets and static files, the request gets caught by Django before it makes it to Node. Django saw the file and had no idea what it is and returned the 404 error.
By disabling Django from catching the requests to those files it all works fine.