Not able to receive empty get request with express static in nodejs

Question

I am trying to fetch web pages using express static and below is the server code.

app.use(express.static('DIR/webfiles'));
app.get('/test', function(req, res) {
    console.log("got req");
    res.sendfile("login.html");
});

app.get('/', function(req, res) {
    console.log("got req");
    res.sendfile("login.html");
});

when I request for localhost:port/test (from browser), I am able to see login.html page and it prints "got req" on server end but when I request for localhost:port or localhost:port/ , I am getting some other file in webfiles folder. It does not print "got req". Is empty GET handler overridden by express static?

When I remove "app.use(express.static('DIR/webfiles'));" line, it is able to get empty GET request but doesn't work in way I want it to. Why it is not getting empty request and how to handle empty requests.

As far as i know localhost:port request automatically adds / to your request by default, which then becomes localhost:port/. So practically speaking you should get login page and not some other file. — giri-sh
– giri-sh, Commented Dec 18, 2015 at 12:00
Try using the node core module path = require ('path') then use the __dirname and path.join() on your directory. That will ensure you hit your static target directory. — Ravenous
– Ravenous, Commented Dec 18, 2015 at 12:14

robertklep · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-18 13:44:10Z

1

Express will process the various route handlers (including the static middleware) in order of declaration.

If you request /, the static middleware will check for a file called webfiles/index.html, and if it exists, it will be returned.

To override this behaviour, make sure that you declare your own route handler before the static middleware declaration:

// This will match requests to `/` and since it's declared before
// the static middleware, it will get to handle those requests.
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
  console.log("got req");
  res.sendfile("login.html");
});

app.use(express.static('DIR/webfiles'));

answered Dec 18, 2015 at 13:44

robertklep

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