http-server VS Express

Do you run a Webserver during development, even if it is a simple dev-server like https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server ?

I mean, there are ones, like https://github.com/http-party/http-server you can inspect that code, but basically, it’s a job an nginx can do without any JS.

Does the website work correctly when run locally without a server? If so, then it should be fine to be compiled and deployed. You can always check ahead of time by building your website and then running it with a CLI like http-server to replicate what S3 will do.

You can use https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server but you need to build your app before with ng build then serve the generated bundle (be careful to environment file replacement in angular.json)

You probably need a few hundred lines of code and some external modules to be able to build what https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server has. ``` Available Options: Command Description Defaults -p or --port Port to use. Use -p 0 to look for an open port, starting at 8080. It will also read from process.env.PORT. 8080 -a Address to use 0.0.0.0 -d Show directory listings true -i Display autoIndex true -g or --gzip When enabled it will serve ./public/some-file.js.gz in place of ./public/some-file.js when a gzipped version of the file exists and the request accepts gzip encoding. If brotli is also enabled, it will try to serve brotli first. false -b or --brotli When enabled it will serve ./public/some-file.js.br in place of ./public/some-file.js when a brotli compressed version of the file exists and the request accepts br encoding. If gzip is also enabled, it will try to serve brotli first. false -e or --ext Default file extension if none supplied html -s or --silent Suppress log messages from output --cors Enable CORS via the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header -o [path] Open browser window after starting the server. Optionally provide a URL path to open. e.g.: -o /other/dir/ -c Set cache time (in seconds) for cache-control max-age header, e.g. -c10 for 10 seconds. To disable caching, use -c-1. 3600 -U or --utc Use UTC time format in log messages. --log-ip Enable logging of the client's IP address false -P or --proxy Proxies all requests which can't be resolved locally to the given url. e.g.: -P http://someurl.com --proxy-options Pass proxy options using nested dotted objects. e.g.: --proxy-options.secure false --username Username for basic authentication --password Password for basic authentication -S, --tls or --ssl Enable secure request serving with TLS/SSL (HTTPS) false -C or --cert Path to ssl cert file cert.pem -K or --key Path to ssl key file key.pem -r or --robots Automatically provide a /robots.txt (The content of which defaults to User-agent: *\nDisallow: /) false --no-dotfiles Do not show dotfiles --mimetypes Path to a .types file for custom mimetype definition -h or --help Print this list and exit. -v or --version Print the version and exit. Magic Files index.html will be served as the default file to any directory requests. 404.html will be served if a file is not found. This can be used for Single-Page App (SPA) hosting to serve the entry page. Catch-all redirect To implement a catch-all redirect, use the index page itself as the proxy with:

Alternatively, a package like http-server is fast and easy to setup.

Set yourself inside the index folder and let's use http-server package to start a local server executing this:

Let’s go ahead and setup our http-server, for this we will be using http-server npm package to help us with this, this is useful for static sites where we do not want to setup a node server manually.

Whenever your server is doing something, your local environment should do it too. That means you can no longer just open an HTML file in your browser but need to run a local server which mirrors all of the same features that your browser has. For example, http-server is a simple command-line server tool which has an option for "default file extension if none supplied".

Now, we will create API using expressjs. When we created application using --ssr flag, the Angular CLI already took care of installing expressjs for us.

First, we import express. The Express framework allows us to create routes that will respond to webhook POST requests and serve an HTML file when a GET request is made to the root of the site.

Basic Knowledge of Express

Express.js Documentation

In the JavaScript ecosystem, there are guides for enabling SAML-based enterprise single sign-on in AdonisJS, Express.js, Next.js, Remix, and React with an Express.js backend.

Starting off strong with Express.js, the cool kid on the block for building web apps. It's lightweight, flexible, and doesn't throw a tantrum when you ask it to scale. With Express, you can handle HTTP requests like a pro, play around with middleware, set up routes without breaking a sweat, and render views that make your app look stunning. Big names like Netflix and Uber are already on board, and if it's good enough for them, it's definitely worth a peek.

express - one of the most popular middleware tools, lightweight and easy to learn. docs

Now we can install both Express and Socket.io libraries:

app.listen(3000); ``` Now you can run your server by executing `node index.js`. Your web application will be accessible at http://localhost:3000/, where you'll see "Hello, world!" displayed in your browser. Congratulations! 🎉 You've successfully set up basic routing with Express.js! This guide covered only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to utilizing Express.js features. Explore its extensive documentation (https://expressjs.com/) to discover more possibilities. Remember, with Express.js, you have the power to build efficient and scalable web applications. Happy coding!

Converting a large Express.js application from JavaScript to TypeScript can be a challenging task. For many applications, this represents a significant portion of their technical debt, as the process may span many days, if not months, and new changes are typically not allowed during the conversion.