node-static
a simple, rfc 2616 compliant file streaming module for node
node-static understands and supports conditional GET and HEAD requests. node-static was inspired by some of the other static-file serving modules out there, such as node-paperboy and antinode.
Synopsis
var static = ; //// Create a node-static server instance to serve the './public' folder//var file = './public'; ;
API
Creating a node-static Server
Creating a file server instance is as simple as:
;
This will serve files in the current directory. If you want to serve files in a specific directory, pass it as the first argument:
'./public';
You can also specify how long the client is supposed to cache the files node-static serves:
'./public' cache: 3600 ;
This will set the Cache-Control
header, telling clients to cache the file for an hour.
This is the default setting.
Serving files under a directory
To serve files under a directory, simply call the serve
method on a Server
instance, passing it
the HTTP request and response object:
var static = ; var fileServer = './public'; ;
Serving specific files
If you want to serve a specific file, like an error page for example, use the serveFile
method:
fileServer;
This will serve the error.html
file, from under the file root directory, with a 500
status code.
For example, you could serve an error page, when the initial request wasn't found:
;
More on intercepting errors bellow.
Intercepting errors & Listening
An optional callback can be passed as last argument, it will be called every time a file has been served successfully, or if there was an error serving the file:
var static = ; var fileServer = './public'; ;
Note that if you pass a callback, and there is an error serving the file, node-static will not respond to the client. This gives you the opportunity to re-route the request, or handle it differently.
For example, you may want to interpret a request as a static request, but if the file isn't found, send it to an application.
If you only want to listen for errors, you can use event listeners:
fileServer;
With this method, you don't have to explicitly send the response back, in case of an error.
Server
Options when creating an instance of cache
Sets the Cache-Control
header.
example: { cache: 7200 }
Passing a number will set the cache duration to that number of seconds.
Passing false
will disable the Cache-Control
header.
Defaults to
3600
serverInfo
Sets the Server
header.
example: { serverInfo: "myserver" }
Defaults to
node-static/{version}
headers
Sets response headers.
example: { 'X-Hello': 'World!' }
defaults to
{}
gzip
Enable support for sending compressed responses. This will enable a check for a file with the same name plus '.gz' in the same folder. If the compressed file is found and the client has indicated support for gzip file transfer, the contents of the .gz file will be sent in place of the uncompressed file along with a Content-Encoding: gzip header to inform the client the data has been compressed.
example: { gzip: true }
example: { gzip: /^\/text/ }
Passing true
will enable this check for all files.
Passing a RegExp instance will only enable this check if the content-type of the
respond would match that RegExp using its test() method.
Defaults to
false
indexFile
Choose a custom index file when serving up directories.
example: { indexFile: "index.htm" }
Defaults to
index.html
Command Line Interface
node-static
also provides a CLI.
Installation
$ npm install -g node-static
Example Usage
# serve up the current directory $ staticserving "." at http://127.0.0.1:8080 # serve up a different directory $ static publicserving "public" at http://127.0.0.1:8080 # specify additional headers (this one is useful for development) $ static -H '{"Cache-Control": "no-cache, must-revalidate"}'serving "." at http://127.0.0.1:8080 # set cache control max age $ static -c 7200serving "." at http://127.0.0.1:8080 # expose the server to your local network $ static -a 0.0.0.0serving "." at http://0.0.0.0:8080 # show help message, including all options $ static -h