Minimal server
Continuing my journey through the Odin Project, I go along w3school NodeJS introduction. Here's a minimal server that return "Hello Node!" to localhost:8080:
// code/01-minimal-server.js
var http = require('http');
http
.createServer(function (req, res) {
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/html' });
res.end('Hello Node!');
})
.listen(8080);
Modules
We can also create our own modules using the exports keyword:
// code/01-exports-module.js
exports.myDateTime = function () {
return Date();
};
The FileStystem module fs includes methods to work with files:
-
Read a file on the system:
fs.readFile('file.html', (err, data) => {...}); -
Create a file with
appendFile,open(withwflag) orwriteFile -
Update a file with
appendFileorwriteFile -
Delete a file with
unlink. -
Rename a file with
rename.
The url module helps to retrieve url's parts:
// code/01-url-module.js
var url = require('url');
var adr = 'http://localhost:8080/default.html?year=2017&month=february';
var q = url.parse(adr, true);
console.log(q.host); //returns 'localhost:8080'
console.log(q.pathname); //returns '/default.html'
console.log(q.search); //returns '?year=2017&month=february'
var qdata = q.query; //returns an object: { year: 2017, month: 'february' }
console.log(qdata.month); //returns 'february'
We may use the modules http, url and fs to serve specific files depending on path the user navigates to.
We can use npm the same way as in front end: npm i module-name and then use is with var module = require('module-name'). Here's two useful modules:
- [formidale][https://www.npmjs.com/package/formidable] to parse file upload
- [nodemailer][https://www.npmjs.com/package/nodemailer] to send emails
Events
Node is perfect for event-driven application ! Every action is an event, like a when a connection is made, or a file opened. Some objects can fire events, like readStream that listen for opening or closing a file: fs.createReadStream('./file.txt').on('open', () => {...}).
Then module events let us create, fire and listen for our own events:
// code/01-events-module.js
var events = require('events');
var customEvent = new events.EventEmitter();
// handler
var handleNodeLearned = () => console.log('Congrats, you learned Node!');
// listener
customEvent.on('nodeLearned', handleNodeLearned);
// fire events with emit()
customEvent.emit('nodeLearned');
Simple Site
The assignment is to create a simple site with and index, two pages, and a 404-page handler. Here's the server and index page, and you'll find the full code here.
// code/01-simple-site/index.js
var http = require('http');
var url = require('url');
var fs = require('fs');
var writeAndEnd = function (res, data) {
res.write(data);
res.end();
};
http
.createServer((req, res) => {
var pathname = url.parse(req.url, true).pathname;
if (pathname === '/') pathname = '/index.html'; // handle root path
fs.readFile(`.${pathname}`, (err, data) => {
if (err) {
res.writeHead(404, { 'Content-Type': 'text/html' });
fs.readFile('404.html', (err, data) => {
if (err) {
writeAndEnd(res, '404 not handled :('); //
} else {
writeAndEnd(res, data);
}
});
} else {
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/html' });
writeAndEnd(res, data);
}
});
})
.listen(8080);
<!--code/01-simple-site/index.html-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Simple Site</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to the Simple Site</h1>
<p>
You may navigate to the
<a href="/about.html">about</a>
or
<a href="/contact.html">contact</a>
pages. You also may try others routes:
</p>
<form onsubmit="window.location.href = event.target[0].value; return false">
<input type="text" />
<button type="submit">Go !</button>
</form>
</body>
</html>
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