CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsexpress
Naresh
Naresh

Reputation: 25763

How does express know the difference between a static and a dynamic request?

This is the code that I see everywhere for a simple static web server using node.js and express:

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

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

app.listen(8080);

My question is how does express know when the request is for a static page vs. a dynamic page? For example, why would /index.html be served from the public folder and not from dynamic templates?

Thanks.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 752

Answers (1)

user1207456
user1207456

Reputation:

You can think of the routes you define as a chain of checks on the path defined in the URL. Express iterates one by one through each check looking for a match; once it finds one, it executes that callback.

In this case, express.static is defining a bunch of path checks for each file in the public directory. If you app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public')); before your app.get('/index.html', function(req, res) { ... code, and there is an index.html file in there, it will use the static file over the dynamic one.

That's basically it.

Upvotes: 1

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