I am using NodeJS and ExpressJS to implement a RESTful API server for a simple backend. I am also using BackboneJS to render views in the front. Therefore, right now I have a single index.html file that I want to render when the client sends a /GET to the '/' route. This is what I have so far:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use(express.bodyParser());
var mongo = require('mongodb');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Server = mongo.Server,
DB = mongo.Db,
BSON = mongo.BSONPure;
var server = new Server('localhost', 27017, {auto_reconnect: true});
db = new DB('mydb', server, {safe: true});
db.open(function(err, db) {
if(!err) {
console.log("Connected to 'mydb' database");
db.collection('items', {safe:true}, function(err, collection) {
if (err) {
console.log("Creating collection 'items'");
}
});
}
});
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.engine('.html');
var listItems = function(req, res){
db.collection('items', function(err, collection){
var items = collection.find();
console.log(items);
res.send(items);
});
}
var itemDetails = function(req, res){
}
var deleteItem = function(req, res){
}
var createItem = function(req, res){
}
var updateItem = function(req, res){
}
var routeHome = function(req, res){
// What can I do here to render a plain .html file?
}
app.all('*', function(req, res, next){
res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*");
res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "X-Requested-With");
res.header("Content-Type", "application/json");
next();
});
app.get('/', routeHome);
app.get('/items', listItems);
app.get('/items/:id', itemDetails);
app.del('/users/:id', deleteItem);
app.post('/users', createItem);
app.put('/users/:id', updateItem);
app.listen(port);
console.log("Server started up on port " + port);
As you can see I have everything set up except I cannot figure out how to send a regular .html file to the client. I do not need a rendering engine because Backbone is doing all that for me. I just want to get index.html to go to the client.
How about just using the express.static middleware? Since you're using Backbone, you might have the need for sending static JS files as well:
app.use(express.static(__dirname));
Place that somewhere before your other routes. It will try and find files requested in __dirname (the directory where your app.js file resides, but you can of course change the location where the middleware will try and find files), including index.html.
Step One, Remove app.engine(".html"),
Step Two:
var routeHome = function(req, res){
// Do What Ever
res.sendFile("index.html",function(err){ // Transfer The File With COntent Type Text/HTML
if(err){
res.end("Sorry, Error.");
}else{
res.end(); // Send The Response
}
})
}