Dynamic app.get URL Switch Case With Node.js?

Question

Dynamic app.get URL Switch Case With Node.js?

I am attempting to simplify some web server code (Node.js and Express) and I would like to use only one app.get statement for simplicity. I tried this:

app.get(url, function(req, res){
    switch(url){
        case "/":
            res.sendfile('index.html');
            res.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
            console.log("Client requested /");
            break;
        case "/profile":
            res.sendfile('profile.html');
            res.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
            console.log("Client requested /profile");
            break;
        default:
            res.sendfile('404.html');
            res.writeHead(404, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
            console.log("Client requested page not found - 404 error");
    }
});

But it's throwing a "reference error: url is not defined" error. Do I really need to code each potentially requested URL as a string literal for the first parameter and have multiple app.get statements or is there a way to use a switch case, or something comparable?

javascript
node.js
express
switch-statement

Answer 1

You can do a map based lookup to map a url and a resource. Package this in a middleware with app.use.

app.use(function(req, res){
    routes = {
      '/': 'index.html',
      '/profile': 'profile.html'
    };

    var url = req.url;

    if (routes[url] !== undefined) {
        res.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
        res.sendfile(route[url]);
        console.log("Client requested", url);
    } else {
        res.writeHead(404, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
        res.sendfile('404.html');
        console.log("Client requested page not found - 404 error");
    }
});