Node.js app.js not displaying HTML page but HTML code instead

Question

Im having problem with my app.js in node not displaying my html page but my html code instead. I don't really know what to do so some help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to be able to load html, javascript and css from my public folder. This is my app.js code:

var http = require("http"),
    url = require("url"),
    path = require("path"),
    fs = require("fs")

http.createServer(function(request, response) {

var uri = url.parse(request.url).pathname
    , filename = path.join(process.cwd(), uri);

path.exists(filename, function(exists) {
  if(!exists) {
    response.writeHead(404, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.write("404 Not Found\n");
    response.end();
    return;
}

if (fs.statSync(filename).isDirectory()) filename += 'public/index.html';

fs.readFile(filename, "binary", function(err, file) {
  if(err) {        
    response.writeHead(500, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.write(err + "\n");
    response.end();
    return;
  }

  response.writeHead(200);
  response.write(file, "binary");
  response.end();
  });
 });
}).listen(process.env.PORT, process.env.IP);

console.log("Static file server running./\CTRL + C to shutdown");

Try `response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'})`; — spacebean, Jan 16 '14 at 11:48
Depending on what file it is you're trying to load you need to adjust the content type: `text/html` or `text/css`, for example. — Andy, Jan 16 '14 at 11:48
thank you! I think its loading css and javascript too even tho I only added respnse.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/html"}); because I was able to link it to a css file? — , Jan 16 '14 at 12:02
oh wait no. How do I display all .css files? I was only able to use css if they were internal in the html page. Do i just add response.writehead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/css"}); in the app.js some random place? also the same for javascript? — , Jan 16 '14 at 13:51
Possible duplicate of [Loading basic HTML in Node.js](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4720343/loading-basic-html-in-node-js) — AliLotfi, Apr 11 '17 at 16:20

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 16 '14 at 11:52

You are not specifying the content type, if you try:

fs.readFile(filename, "binary", function(err, file) {
if(err) {        
    response.writeHead(500, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.write(err + "\n");
    response.end();
    return;
  }

  response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
  response.write(file, "binary");
  response.end();
  });
 });
}).listen(process.env.PORT, process.env.IP);

That should work. If you want to display the error page in html, you will want to update that content type as well.

thanks! To display the error page in html would be awesome. I know how to write in html in the response.write(); but how do I direct it to a lets say 500.html error page? — , Jan 16 '14 at 11:55

Node.js app.js not displaying HTML page but HTML code instead

1 Answers1