node.js - a static file server
Previously: Hello world… of node.js
Serving up a plaintext “Hello world” for every file (see previous) isn’t exactly that useful, but it exposed the basic mechanisms we need to make a file server. Today we will update the code to serve any file requested, there’s no validation, it’s stupid like that.
Open up (or create) server.node.js and dump this into it:
/**
* Static file server
* request a file, get a file
*/
// Required libraries
var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');
/***************** Simple file server *****************/
// Create the server
var server = http.createServer(function (request, response) {
// Log the request
console.log(new Date() + ' [' + request.method + '] ' + request.url);
// Serve static files
if (request.method === "GET"){
// Manually translate "/" into "/index.html"
var url = '.' + (request.url == '/' ? '/index.html' : request.url);
// Read the file and return it
fs.readFile(url, function(error, content) {
if (error) {
// Oh dear.
console.log('error loading file ' + url + ': ', error);
// Lets just say missing for now
response.writeHead(404);
response.end();
} else {
// Lookup the mimetype of the file
var tmp = url.lastIndexOf(".");
var ext = url.substring((tmp + 1));
var mime = mimes[ext] || 'text/plain';
// Write the file
response.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': mime });
response.end(content, 'utf-8');
}
});
}
});
// Listen on port 1337 and IP 127.0.0.1
server.listen(1337, "127.0.0.1");
console.log('Server running at 127.0.0.1:1337');
/********************* MIME TABLE *********************/
var mimes = {
'css': 'text/css',
'js': 'text/javascript',
'htm': 'text/html',
'html': 'text/html',
'ico': 'image/vnd.microsoft.icon'
};
Once again, open up the terminal and run:
cd /path/to/folder/ node server.node.js
NOTE - we have changed to the directory of the script file as it would seem that (with my code above) the filesystem library (fs) reads relative to the node process rather than the server file. Which is an interesting learning.
So now you should create a few new files with your own content:
- /index.html
- /style.css
- /script.js
- /favicon.ico
Then navigate to the server URL, the terminal will output messages like so:
Server running at 127.0.0.1:1337 Tue Jan 03 2012 23:54:20 GMT+0000 (GMT) [GET] / Tue Jan 03 2012 23:54:20 GMT+0000 (GMT) [GET] /script.js Tue Jan 03 2012 23:54:20 GMT+0000 (GMT) [GET] /style.css Tue Jan 03 2012 23:54:20 GMT+0000 (GMT) [GET] /favicon.ico
As you can see, index.html references script.js and style.css and my browser has requested favicon.ico on my behalf, they are all served normally. So now we can start making some basic websites with this little server script :-)
