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spa-express-static-server

An opinionated static server library for Angular single page applications (SPAs).

Synopsis

The spa-express-static-server is specifically meant as a reusable static file server and Angular "HTML5 Mode" route handler. It could be replaced by Apache Web Server, Nginx, or other static web servers. No web API/REST calls allowed here.

This static server project is meant to accompany a SPA client and a set of separate Node.js microservices (REST webservice, Chat Server, Reverse Proxy). It is designed with portability and scalability in mind (see Twelve Factors).

Configuration options are passed in by the consumer or via environment variables at runtime.

Quick Start / Usage

$ npm install spa-express-static-server --save

Create a server.js wrapper script, passing in the configuration options that apply for your app:

// server.js
var staticServer = require('spa-express-static-server');
staticServer.start({
    webRootPath: './dist/web-root',
    spaBoot:     require('./spa-boot'),
    sslKeyFile:  './keys/my-domain.key',
    sslCertFile: './keys/my-domain.cert'
});

And run your server.js with optional runtime environment variables:

$ STATIC_COMPRESSION=1 STATIC_SSL=1 STATIC_PORT=443 node server.js

See src/config.js for a full list of the available configuration options.

Default Environment Variables

• STATIC_WEBROOT : Path to the web root directory.
• STATIC_COMPRESSION : Enables gzip compression when set to "1".
• STATIC_GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN : Wait for connections to close before stopping server when set to "1".
• STATIC_SESSION_MAXAGE : The time in ms until the session ID cookie should expire (default: 2 hours). This is just a tracking cookie, no session storage is used here.
• STATIC_REV_PROXY : The server is behind a reverse proxy when set to "1".
• STATIC_PORT : The port to run on (default: 8000).
• STATIC_SSL : Use a HTTPS server when set to "1". Enforces HTTPS by redirecting HTTP users when used with a reverse HTTP/HTTPS proxy.
• STATIC_SSL_KEY : Path to the SSL key file.
• STATIC_SSL_CERT : Path to the SSL cert file.

Features

• AngularJS HTML5 mode: Catch all non-file routes and forward to index.html.
• Security headers using Helmet middleware.
• Correlation ID Cookies: Creates unique request and "conversation" id cookies. Useful for tracking client API requests throughout a user's session lifetime.
• SPA Boot Configuration: JSONP launcher that provides runtime configuration for the client.
• Graceful shutdown: Listens for SIGTERM/SIGINT and unhandled exceptions, and waits for open connections to complete before exiting.
• JSON format access logs: Great for log analysis and collectors such as Splunk, Fluentd, Graylog, Logstash, etc.
• Enforce HTTPS: Redirects users from HTTP urls to HTTPS.

Contributing

1. Install Node.js
2. Install Gulp: npm -g i gulp
3. Clone this repo
4. Install dependencies: npm i
5. Start the app in dev mode: npm start
6. Point browser to http://localhost:3000/ and watch the console for server logs

After installation, the following actions are available:

• npm start : Runs in development mode, starting the server and a local webserver, running linting and unit tests, and restarting upon file changes.
• npm test : Runs JavaScript file linting and unit tests.
• npm run watch : Alternative development mode - does not run servers. Only runs linting and unit tests upon file changes.

Please ensure linting and unit tests pass when submitting Pull Requests.

Folder Structure

├── coverage          # Coverage reports
├── example           # Example client assets for testing
└── src
    ├── middleware    # Express middleware utilities
    ├── lib
    │   ├── app.js               # Creates and configures an express app
    │   ├── errors.js            # Custom error classes
    │   └── graceful-shutdown.js # Attempts a graceful server shutdown
    │
    ├── config.js     # Configuration options
    └── server.js     # Starts the express app on a port

Libraries & Tools

The functionality has been implemented by integrating the following 3rd-party tools and libraries:

• Express: Fast, minimalist web framework for node
• Helmet: Secure Express apps with various HTTP headers
• Bunyan: A simple and fast JSON logging module for node.js services
• Gulp: Streaming build system and task runner
• Node.js: JavaScript runtime environment for server-side development
• Mocha: The fun, simple, flexible JavaScript test framework
• Chai: BDD/TDD assertion library for node and the browser
• Sinon: Standalone test spies, stubs and mocks for JavaScript
• Mockery: Mock Node.js module dependencies during testing

License

MIT License Copyright © 2015 Christopher Martin