Sending only specified javascript files to the front-end

Question

I have an app like this

/app
    /views
        index.jade
    /controllers
        controllers1.js
        controllers2.js
server.js

Inside server.js I use app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'app'))); and all requests render index.jade. Inside index.jade I call the controllers with regular <script> tags.

My Problem

I'm uncomfortable with exposing all my scripts to the front-end. eg: I don't want people to type www.myurl.com/controllers/controllers1.js and see the script, because I don't want to show all my business logic right away, especially to users who aren't logged in.

Question

Having deactivated express.static() , is it possible through express Middleware to get the contents a certain javascript files and include/send them to index.jade ? Ideally I want to control which script files the front-end can receive/see.

There's probably many ways to do this. Should I be using some kind of library for this (maybe Requirejs, idk much about it)?

Answer 1

deactivating express.static is not required

use public folder for all the content which you want to expose to users like

app

->controllers

public

->js

->->jQuery.js

->->abc.js

->css

->->bootstrap.css

htmls goes here

and use express.static(__dirname,'public') to expose public folder.

Answer 2

One strategy I've used is to separate the public and private node files. The public libraries implement dual purpose node/browser code. I use a folder structure that looks something like this:

/app
    /lib
        /public
            public_library.js
        private_library.js

Then it's simple to expose the public directory so that you can do both:

var mylib = require('public/public_library.js');

in your node files and

<script src="lib/public/public_library.js"></script>

in your browser facing code.

Put all libraries you want to expose in the public directory. Put all libraries you want to keep private outside of the public directory.