List static content on server and return it as JSON using Express

Question

I have a very simple app serving static files:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/files'));
app.listen(process.env.PORT || 8080);

I'd like to make this app slightly smarter by responding to GET for folders. I mean, to list the full list of files of the folder, in a JSON.

For instance, for a GET at localhost:8080/, I would like the app to return:

[{
  "type" : "file",
  "name" : "file1.ext"
},
{
  "type" : "file",
  "name" : "file2.ext"
},
{
  "type" : "dir",
  "name" : "a-folder"
}]

instead of:

Cannot GET /

Is there a way to extend Express's static behaviour to achieve this? If not, what approach would you recommend?

EDIT: I tried to use the serve-index middleware (formerly directory), which works well but unfortunately returns directly html, when I need raw JSON.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

2

As said in http://expressjs.com/starter/static-files.html

You need to use express.static:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use("/files",express.static('files'));
app.listen(process.env.PORT || 8080);

Then you will be able to access the files as:

http://yourdomain.com/files/file.jpg

EDIT I just realized, you need the list of files in the dir.

There you have an API to do that: https://github.com/expressjs/serve-index
Also, there is a directory option in Express:https://stackoverflow.com/a/6524266/3617531

There you have the answers, then, I´ll mark as duplicate

As commented here, maybe installing node utility glob (npm install glob), and code some express function for GET in /files dir this way:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var glob = require("glob")


//EDIT: As you commented, you should add this also here, to allow 
//  accessing the files inside the dir. It should not be a problem as 
//  GET only manages the requests to "/files" url, without a file name    
//  after it.

app.use("/files", express.static("/files"));

app.get('/files', function (req, res) {

//EDIT: USE WALK INSTEAD OF WALK TO GO UNDER CHILD DIRS
glob("*.ext", options, function (er, files) {
  // files is an array of filenames.
  // If the `nonull` option is set, and nothing
  // was found, then files is ["**/*.js"]
  // er is an error object or null.
  res.send(files);
});


});

var server = app.listen(8080, function () {

  var host = server.address().address;
  var port = server.address().port;

  console.log('Example app listening at http://%s:%s', host, port);

});

WALK MODE: (FOR SUBDIRS, AS REQUIRED)

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var walk    = require('walk');
var ALLfiles   = [];

app.use("/files", express.static("/files"));

app.get('/files', function (req, res) {

//EDIT: If you need to go under subdirs: change glob to walk as said in https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2727167/getting-all-filenames-in-a-directory-with-node-js/25580289#25580289
  var walker  = walk.walk('./files', { followLinks: false });
   walker.on('file', function(root, stat, next) {
       // Add this file to the list of files
       ALLfiles.push(root + '/' + stat.name);
       next();
   });

   walker.on('end', function() {
    res.send(ALLfiles);
   });

});

var server = app.listen(8080, function () {

  var host = server.address().address;
  var port = server.address().port;

  console.log('Example app listening at http://%s:%s', host, port);

});

edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

Community

1
1

answered Jun 10 '15 at 09:21

Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz

2,758
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Thanks Alejandro. I tried this, but this middleware returns HTML when I need JSON... Any suggestion ? – Eric Leibenguth Jun 10 '15 at 09:56
you will still need some coding, but i think it will be the easy way, maybe you´ll also need to JSON encode the array, but I think you will reach through it easily – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 10:30
Thanks for the update. One last question though: In this solution the files themselves are not served anymore. Is this code compatible with `app.use(express.static("files"))`? I would expect a logic somewhere like `if(isFile(file)) serveStaticFile(file) else serveFolderAsJSON(file)`. – Eric Leibenguth Jun 10 '15 at 11:20
I think you will not have any problem to combine them like this *** *check the answer edit i did right now plz – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 11:42
***not pretty sure, but sure you can anyway, if it doesn´t work, to restrict the the `use` only to "/files/*" or similar – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 11:47
sorry, corrected to show better the comments. I think get will work anyway with this, as get checks the URL is exactly the same – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 11:55
is it working? maybe `app.use("files/*", app.static("/files"))` is the solution? – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 11:56
Thanks again! We're getting closer, but still a problem: As is, it works for the directory `files/`, but not for any subdirectory. Can I use wildcards in the `get` route to get the same behaviour for any subfolder inside `file/`? (Also, from your answer you may remove `options`, and replace `*.ext` with `*`, as I need to list all files and all directories) – Eric Leibenguth Jun 10 '15 at 12:51
I thinks is more a GLOB thing: – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 12:52
yes, you will be able to use wildcards and regular expressions, or to use new get methods appart from this one, for each specific directory. – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 13:12
I undesrstood in my las post you were asking for al files in subdir, not for the subdirs to list their files – Alejandro Teixeira Muñoz Jun 10 '15 at 13:13

List static content on server and return it as JSON using Express

1 Answers1