ExpressJs is not serving index.html

Question

I have an Angular client application that runs entirely in the browser. I am trying to use expressjs to host it. I modeled the server code after the server.js in John Papa's MEAN Hot Towel application that he uses in his Pluralsight Gulp course. This is my server code:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var port = process.env.PORT || 7203;
var environment = process.env.NODE_ENV;

console.log('About to crank up node');
console.log('PORT=' + port);
console.log('NODE_ENV=' + environment);

app.get('/ping', function(req, res) {
    console.log(req.body);
    res.send('pong');
});

console.log('** DEV **');
app.use(express.static('./src/app'));
app.use(express.static('./'));
app.use(express.static('./temp'));
app.use('/*', express.static('./src/index.html'));

app.listen(port, function() {
    console.log('Express server listening on port ' + port);
    console.log('env = ' + app.get('env') +
        '\n__dirname = ' + __dirname +
        '\nprocess.cwd = ' + process.cwd());
});

When I navigate to localhost:port/ping, I get pong back. When I navigate to localhost:port/ I get a 404 error. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong here?

Answer 1

As @tommyd456 stated in the comments above, you need to declare a route for '/', like so:

app.get('/', function(req, res) {
    res.send('Hello!');
});

Answer 2

From the express documentation , it seems that express.static targets a folder .
So, replacing app.use('/*', express.static('./src/index.html')); by app.use('/*', express.static('./src')); fix your problem and index.html will be served under 'localhost:port/'

Answer 3

So after many hours of fiddling and reading I replaced this code:

app.use(express.static('./src/app'));
app.use(express.static('./'));
app.use(express.static('./temp'));
app.use('/*', express.static('./src/index.html'));

with this:

app.use(express.static(__dirname));
app.use(express.static(process.cwd()));

app.route('/*')
    .get(function(req, res) {
        res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
    });

and it appears to have solved the problem