How does Node.js render views? - node.js

Question

In a basic Node.js application with a single app.js file and one index.html document where in app.js the following is specified, then firing up a server and visiting localhost:8080 works just fine:
server = http.createServer( function(req, res) {
fs.readFile('index.html', function(err, page) {
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
res.write(page);
res.end();
});
fs.readFile('new.html', function(err, page) {
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
res.write(page);
res.end();
});
});
server.listen(8080);
However, when duplicating index.html to another file like new.html and editing certain content, then adding an link into index.html linking to the new page, clicking on the link will render the same content as in index.html. In fact, linking to any non-existent html page will append the subsequent page to the URL but keep showing index.html's contents.
Following a suggestion of rewriting the fs.readFile line to be:
fs.readFile(req.url, function(err, page) { ...
Then going to localhost:8080 loads new.html's contents for some reason I don't understand. How should one render out these views?

Answer 1

Following on the other answers given and also recommending express. But first, the short answer to the question "how does node.js render views?" is: it doesn't.
When you build a node application you are building a small web server, using the minimal building blocks node gives you like http.createServer(). It's up to you to write the logic to choose what to send in response to a request.
Or you can use an existing framework like Express. Here is the solution using express:
Install express:
npm install express
Then, in your app.js:
var express = require('express');
var app = express.createServer();
app.get('/index.html', function(req,res) {
res.render('index.html');
});
app.get('/new.html', function(req,res) {
res.render('new.html');
});
app.listen(8080)
You can also use EJS or Jade as the template language by adding this before the createServer line:
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
or:
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

Answer 2

Because you need to have conditions on your request access url (req.url).
Right now it closes the response on your first res.end() regardless of your url, and never reach the rest of your code (well it does but the response already fired before so it has no effect).
try this:
server = http.createServer( function(req, res) {
if (req.url == '/index.html') { //will be executed only on index.html
fs.readFile('index.html', function(err, page) {
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
res.write(page);
res.end();
});
}
if (req.url == '/new.html') { //will be executed only for new.html
fs.readFile('new.html', function(err, page) {
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
res.write(page);
res.end();
});
}
});
server.listen(8080);