connect-static-transform

Introduction

connect-static-transform is a middleware for Connect and systems based on Connect such as Express. It allows you to serve static files but gives you an opportunity to transform the content of the files before they are sent to the client (e.g., compiling .coffee files or compiling .styl files).

Example Usage

There are a few examples available in example/app.js. Consider the following simple example:

// Dependencies
var http = require('http'),
    connect = require('connect'),
    st = require('connect-static-transform');
 
// Middleware which serves .txt files in all uppercase
var toUpperCase = st({
  root: __dirname,
  match: /.+\.txt/,
  transform: function (path, text, send) {
    send(text.toUpperCase(), {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  }
});
 
// Create application which uses middleware
var app = connect().use(toUpperCase);
 
// Create server and listen
http.createServer(app).listen(3000);

This shows the basic usage. st acts as a factory which creates middleware for use in a Connect-like system. The above example will serve all files in __dirname matching /.+\.txt/ in all uppercase letters.

Examples Directory

Standard Examples

By running node examples/standardExample.js you can access http://localhost:3000/file.txt which serves examples/file.txt in all uppercase or you can access http://localhost:3000/file.css which serves examples/file.styl compiled into compressed css.

Middleware Factory Examples

By running node examples/factoriesExample.js you can access http://localhost:3000/css/file.css which serves examples/file.styl compiled into compressed css or you can access http://localhost:3000/js/file.js which serves examples/file.coffee compiled into compressed JavaScript. See documentation below for examples on how to use the built-in middleware factories.

Options

st takes a single argument: an object containing all configuration options.

Required options

root

This option specifies which directory the static files should come from.

match

This option should be a regular expression which matches the full path of a file as given to the server from the client.

transform

This option should be a function which may operate asynchronously. Three arguments are passed to transform. The first argument is the path to the file which was opened. The second argument is the data from the file which was opened. The third argument is a callback to which the transformed data should be passed. If the argument to the callback is false or otherwise untruthy then the next middleware in the Connect application is invoked. The callback function also accepts a second parameter of headers to use in the response -- it is highly recommended (but not required) that this argument is set (see example usage above).

Optional options

normalize

This option, if presented, will alter the path to the file being opened before it is opened. For example, if the client requested script.js and you wanted to open script.coffee for compilation then there are two things you can do with normalize.

First, you can pass a string which follows regular expression replacement syntax. If match were set to /(.+)\.js, you set normalize to '$1.coffee'. In this case, a request to script.js will result in script.coffee being opened for transformation. match must have capture groups in order for this to work.

Second, you can pass a function which given the path returns the path of the file to open. For example, to accomplish the same as the first example normalize could be set as such:

var compileCoffee = st({
  // other options
  normalize: function (path) {
    return path.substring(0, path.length - 2) + 'coffee';
  },
  // other options
});

pathOnly

If true then the signature for the transformation function becomes function (path, send) { }, i.e., the file is not opened by connect-static-transform.

cache

If set to true or an otherwise truthy value, the transformed data for each path will be cached in memory. Appropriate cache headers will also be set on the HTTP response.

maxage

Used in conjunction with cache, this indicates the maximum age in seconds a client should keep the file cached for. This will not expire the local in-memory cache.

expires

Optionally you can set the Expires response header. Defaults to 1 year.

encoding

The encoding of the files which are opened for transformation. Defaults to 'utf-8'. If set to 'buffer' then the transformation function will receive a raw data buffer (see fs.readFile(...)).

Included Middleware Factories

connect-static-transform includes factory functions for common use-cases. Instead of manually creating middleware using the st function as above, you can simply use the factories outlined in this section.

Stylus

To use the Stylus middleware factory you must have Stylus installed in your project. If you have nib installed in your project it will be automatically included so you can use it. From there, you can create a Stylus middleware using st.stylus(options). See the following example:

// If you have a file `foo.styl` in `__dirname` then you can access the compiled css at the url `/css/foo.css`:
app.use(st.stylus({
  root: __dirname, // where to open the styl files from
  path: '/css', // optional, sets where to serve from
  compress: true, // optional
  cache: true, // optional, caches in memory as well as on the client
  maxage: 3600 // optional, sets the maximum number of seconds a client should keep the compiled file (defaults to one year)
}));

LESS

To use the Less middleware factory you must have LESS installed in your project. From there, you can create a LESS middleware using st.less(options). See the following example:

// If you have a file `foo.less` in `__dirname` then you can access the compiled css at the url `/css/foo.css`:
app.use(st.less({
  root: __dirname, // where to open the less files from
  path: '/css', // optional, sets where to serve from
  cache: true, // optional, caches in memory as well as on the client
  maxage: 3600, // optional, sets the maximum number of seconds a client should keep the compiled file (defaults to one year)
  options: { // optional, options object to send directly to the LESS compiler
    compress: true
  }
}));

CoffeeScript

To use the CoffeeScript middleware factory you must have Snockets and Coffee-Script installed locally. Compilation is handled by Snockets. You can create a CoffeeScript middleware using st.coffee(options). See the following examples:

// If you have a file `foo.coffee` in `__dirname` then you can access the compiles javascript at the url `/js/foo.js`:
app.use(st.coffee({
  root: __dirname, // where to open the coffee files from
  path: '/js', // optional, sets where to serve from
  cache: true, // optional, caches in memory as well as on the client
  maxage: 3600, // optional, sets the maximum number of seconds a client should keep the compiled file (defaults to one year)
  // these options are passed to Snockets:
  options: {
    minify: true
  }
}));

License

The MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.