50

I have a simple html page with angular js as follows:

    //Application name
    var app = angular.module("myTmoApppdl", []);

    app.controller("myCtrl", function ($scope) {
        //Sample login function
        $scope.signin = function () {
            var formData =
                    {
                        email: $scope.email,
                        password: $scope.password
                    };
        console.log("Form data is:" + JSON.stringify(formData));
    };
});

HTML file:

<html>
    <head>
        <link href="bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
    </head>

    <body ng-app="myTmoApppdl" ng-controller="myCtrl">
        <div class="container">
            <div class="form-group">
                <form class="form" role="form" method="post" ng-submit="signin()">
                    <div class="form-group col-md-6">
                        <label class="">Email address</label>
                        <input type="email" class="form-control" ng-model="email" id="exampleInputEmail2" placeholder="Email address" required>
                    </div>
                    <div class="form-group col-md-6">
                        <label class="">Password</label>
                        <input type="password" class="form-control" id="exampleInputPassword2" ng-model="password" placeholder="Password" required>
                    </div>
                </form>
                <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary btn-block">Sign in</button>
            </div>
        </div>
    </body>

    <script src="angular.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

    <!--User defined JS files-->
    <script src="app.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="jsonParsingService.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</html>

I am new to node js. I have installed node js server in my system but I am not sure how to run a simple html file using node js?

kittu
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  • "Actually this will run even copy/pasted somewhere in your desktop." – daniel Mar 14 '16 at 18:33
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    You can't "run html file" with node.js. Node.js is a JavaScript environment for developing server-side Web applications. Html files are usually run by web-browsers. – Leonid Beschastny Mar 14 '16 at 18:35
  • Node.js does not "run" HTML files. You probably just want a server that serves static files. – SLaks Mar 14 '16 at 18:35

11 Answers11

48

You can use built-in nodejs web server.

Add file server.js for example and put following code:

var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');

const PORT=8080; 

fs.readFile('./index.html', function (err, html) {

    if (err) throw err;    

    http.createServer(function(request, response) {  
        response.writeHeader(200, {"Content-Type": "text/html"});  
        response.write(html);  
        response.end();  
    }).listen(PORT);
});

And after start server from console with command node server.js. Your index.html page will be available on URL http://localhost:8080

Alexandr
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33

Just install http-server globally

npm install -g http-server

where ever you need to run a html file run the command http-server For ex: your html file is in /home/project/index.html you can do /home/project/$ http-server

That will give you a link to accessyour webpages: http-server Starting up http-server, serving ./ Available on: http://127.0.0.1:8080 http://192.168.0.106:8080

Vijaya Simha
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    This is probably the most straightforward, no? – Sergei Wallace Jul 15 '18 at 17:06
  • I don't think this is a great solution. You should not install npm packages globally when it can be avoided. The whole entire Node infrastructure has moved decidedly away from throwing a -g into everything. – Raydot Aug 01 '18 at 23:09
  • I tried installing installing `http-server` without `-g` and node through an error when I tried to start the server. It seems that `-g` is still required when instaling this particular package. – shieldgenerator7 Apr 04 '19 at 20:11
  • Installing globally requires sudo so I installed without the `-g` in my project directory. Then, I ran `index.html`, which is in the project directory, as `node_modules/http-server/bin/http-server`. – tash Dec 14 '20 at 16:54
  • Actually, I ran into a question--how to daemonize it? In the above method, it would run on a shell. So unless I use `screen` like app or able to keep my shell open forever, the server would get cut-off at some point. – tash Dec 15 '20 at 05:12
18

I too faced such scenario where I had to run a web app in nodejs with index.html being the entry point. Here is what I did:

  • run node init in root of app (this will create a package.json file)
  • install express in root of app : npm install --save express (save will update package.json with express dependency)
  • create a public folder in root of your app and put your entry point file (index.html) and all its dependent files (this is just for simplification, in large application this might not be a good approach).
  • Create a server.js file in root of app where in we will use express module of node which will serve the public folder from its current directory.

  • server.js

    var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public')); //__dir and not _dir
var port = 8000; // you can use any port
app.listen(port);
console.log('server on' + port);

  • do node server : it should output "server on 8000"

  • start http://localhost:8000/ : your index.html will be called

File Structure would be something similar

Pierre C.
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TylerDurden
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  • I found a better solution than mine : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6084360/using-node-js-as-a-simple-web-server?noredirect=1&lq=1 check out Tony's answer and upvote there. – TylerDurden Jan 09 '17 at 16:27
  • I actually liked your answer more. It's quick and easy and uses native Node functionality without installing excessive packages. – jean d'arme May 05 '18 at 20:19
11

Move your HTML file in a folder "www". Create a file "server.js" with code :

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

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/www'));

app.listen('3000');
console.log('working on 3000');

After creation of file, run the command "node server.js"

Ved Prakash
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    This is the simplest configuration I see and worked like charm :) – Irfan Raza Jun 08 '19 at 15:04
  • cannot find module 'express' – MindRoasterMir Dec 07 '21 at 16:14
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    @MindRoasterMir That's because [express is a package/framework](https://stackoverflow.com/a/32303730/1028230). You'd have to add it to your package.json first -- `npm install express` etc etc. More [at that other question](https://stackoverflow.com/a/32303730/1028230). It is _much_ easier to use than `http`, however, especially if you want to serve, say, the CSS and other associated includes for your html file. – ruffin Jul 01 '22 at 14:21
  • npm install --save express is a prerequisite – abhi Apr 04 '23 at 15:48
7

The simplest command by far:

npx http-server

This requires an existing index.html at the dir at where this command is being executed.

This was already mentioned by Vijaya Simha, but I thought using npx is way cleaner and shorter. I am running a webserver with this approach since months.

Docs: https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server

codepleb
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5

http access and get the html files served on 8080:

>npm install -g http-server

>http-server

if you have public (./public/index.html) folder it will be the root of your server if not will be the one that you run the server. you could send the folder as paramenter ex:

http-server [path] [options]

expected Result:

*> Starting up http-server, serving ./public Available on:

http://LOCALIP:8080

http://127.0.0.1:8080

Hit CTRL-C to stop the server

http-server stopped.*

Now, you can run: http://localhost:8080

will open the index.html on the ./public folder

references: https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server

Ricardo Figueiredo
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2

This is a simple html file "demo.htm" stored in the same folder as the node.js file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <body>
    <h1>Heading</h1>
    <p>Paragraph.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Below is the node.js file to call this html file.

var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');

var server = http.createServer(function(req, resp){
  // Print the name of the file for which request is made.
  console.log("Request for demo file received.");
  fs.readFile("Documents/nodejs/demo.html",function(error, data){
    if (error) {
      resp.writeHead(404);
      resp.write('Contents you are looking for-not found');
      resp.end();
    }  else {
      resp.writeHead(200, {
        'Content-Type': 'text/html'
      });
      resp.write(data.toString());
      resp.end();
    }
  });
});

server.listen(8081, '127.0.0.1');

console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/');

Intiate the above nodejs file in command prompt and the message "Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/" is displayed.Now in your browser type "http://127.0.0.1:8081/demo.html".

ocodo
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Divyasshree
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  • Your code is pretty unreadable with that spacing and indentation. Please correct these to make it easier for future readers. – Adam Barnes Feb 27 '18 at 17:29
1

Either you use a framework or you write your own server with nodejs.

A simple fileserver may look like this:

import * as http from 'http';
import * as url from 'url';
import * as fs from 'fs';
import * as path from 'path';

var mimeTypes = {
     "html": "text/html",
     "jpeg": "image/jpeg",
     "jpg": "image/jpeg",
     "png": "image/png",
     "js": "text/javascript",
     "css": "text/css"};

http.createServer((request, response)=>{
    var pathname = url.parse(request.url).pathname;
    var filename : string;
    if(pathname === "/"){
        filename = "index.html";
    }
    else
        filename = path.join(process.cwd(), pathname);

    try{
        fs.accessSync(filename, fs.F_OK);
        var fileStream = fs.createReadStream(filename);
        var mimeType = mimeTypes[path.extname(filename).split(".")[1]];
        response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type':mimeType});
        fileStream.pipe(response);
    }
    catch(e) {
            console.log('File not exists: ' + filename);
            response.writeHead(404, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
            response.write('404 Not Found\n');
            response.end();
            return;
    }
    return;
    }
}).listen(5000);
Matthias
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  • @SLaks Nice I did not know this package. PS. the posted code was only my debug version. The release version consists only of one `server.js` file. – Matthias Mar 14 '16 at 18:38
  • @Matthias I followed the other answer posted by @JILeXanDR but it prints only `It Works!! Path Hit: /index.htm` after running. Could you please tell what I am doing wrong? – kittu Mar 14 '16 at 18:50
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    @Satyadev Yes, this is because of the line `response.end('It Works!! Path Hit: ' + request.url);` Maybe you should read a short tutorial about nodejs – Matthias Mar 14 '16 at 18:53
  • You can replace the `import` statements by the `require` statements. Ans save this code. In `server.js` file too. – Matthias Mar 14 '16 at 18:57
1

In order to deploy a html pages via Node JS project, For example to deploy an Angular build file where the all the requests needed to be redirected to index.html in that case we can use the wild card route of node js to serve the Angular project but we need to make sure that there are no naming conflicts of Angular route and Node js API route.

app.js

//Angular App Hosting Production Build
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/dist/ShoppingCart'));

// For all GET requests, send back index.html (PathLocationStrategy) (Refresh Error)
app.get('*', (req,res) => {
  res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, '/dist/ShoppingCart/index.html'));
});
Sai Hemanth Talasila
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1
app.get('/home', (req, res) => {
    res.sendFile(__dirname + '/home.html');
});
براء مبارك
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    This answer is in the "low quality answers queue" and **may** be voted for deletion. I suggest you try to expand the content detail to avoid that happening. – moken Aug 07 '23 at 04:19
  • Although this code might answer the question, I recommend that you also provide an explanation what your code does and how it solves the problem of the question. Answers with an explanation are usually more helpful and of better quality, and are more likely to attract upvotes. – Mark Rotteveel Aug 09 '23 at 09:07
0
const http = require('http');
const fs = require('fs');
var mimeTypes = {
    "html": "text/html",
    "jpeg": "image/jpeg",
    "jpg": "image/jpeg",
    "png": "image/png",
    "js": "text/javascript",
    "css": "text/css"
};

var server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    if (req.url === '/') {
        res.writeHeader(200, { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
        fs.createReadStream('./public/index.html').pipe(res)
    }
    var filesDepences = req.url.match(/\.js|.css/);
    if (filesDepences) {
         var extetion = mimeTypes[filesDepences[0].toString().split('.')[1]];
        res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': extetion });
        fs.createReadStream(__dirname + "/public" + req.url).pipe(res)
    }
})

server.listen(8080);
Tyler2P
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Rafael Peña Jimenez
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