CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.js
dade
dade

Reputation: 3570

Flow of Work Working With Node.JS HTTP server

Learning Node.JS at the moment.

Everything is going fine, just that i have a little challenge with the flow of work.

So i create an HTTP server that listens at a particular port. For example

var http = require("http");

http.createServer(function(request, response) {
  response.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
  response.write("Hello World");
  response.end();
}).listen(8888);

It works fine. Only problem is that when i edit the file that has the above code, and try to start the node process again by typing node server.js i get the following error:

Error: EADDRINUSE, Address already in use.

So i learnt I need to kill the node process using ps before the changes can be reflected and before i can restart.

But this looks like a pain. Do i need to kill the node process anytime i make changes to the server i am writing?

I am sure there is a better way. Any help?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 467

Answers (4)

Bulat
Bulat

Reputation: 2466

my solution is as simple as

npm install dev -g
node-dev app.js

node-dev is the same as 'node' but automatically reruns app.js everytime any file in application dir (or subdir) is changed. it means restarting when static files are changed, too, but should be acceptable for development mode

Upvotes: 1

alessioalex
alessioalex

Reputation: 63673

You can use something like nodemon (video tutorial about it here) or node-supervisor so that the server auto-restarts when editing files.
If you want to manually do this, then just interrupt the process (CTRL+C) and re-run last command (node server.js).

Upvotes: 0

user1046334
user1046334

Reputation:

There isn't any easy way. Authors of node do not like hot-reloading idea, so this is the way it works.

You can hack it if you put your server in a module, require it from the main script, fs.watchFile the .js for changes and then manually stop it as a reaction to a file change, manually deleting it from the module cache (require.cache if I am not mistaken), and require it again.

Or run it in child process and kill and respawn it after a file change (that is, doing automatically what you now do by hand).

Upvotes: 0

beny23
beny23

Reputation: 35018

During development I tend to just run node from the command line in a terminal window. When I'm finished with the testing I just Ctrl-C to interrupt the current process which kills node and then press arrow-up enter to restart the process.

Upvotes: 1

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