In my express.js project, I am serving up the dist folder of my project like so:
server.use(express.static('dist'))
In my dist folder, I have an img/fileicons folder that contains PNG files that represent various file types, e.g. 'txt.png', 'html.png', 'pdf.png', etc. In case an image doesn't exist for a given file type, I want to set up a default route that would serve up 'blank.png' with a generic file image. For example, if the URL '/img/fileicons/[doesn't exist].png' is hit, then 'blank.png' is returned. However, if I navigate to another path that doesn't exist, like '/html/[doesn't exist].html', then I don't want the 'blank.png' file served up.
How can I set up my express.js routing to accommodate this need?
All you need to do is put some middleware at the bottom of your stack and use res.sendfile(). Don't forget to use res.statusCode(404) so that crawlers don't think they're hitting a real resource.
At the bottom of the routes, make a default one:
app.get('/dist/img/fileicons/*', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile('path/to/blank.png')
});