Force http:// to https:// in a sails.js App

Question

I try to force my Sails.js WebApp which is hosted on heroku(no nginx installed) from http:// to https:// and use this express middleware in my sail.js app:

In Express it would look like this:

app.use(forceDomain({
  hostname: 'www.example.com',
  port: 4000,
  protocol: 'https'
}));

I tried to use it in my config/http.js file in my sails.js app:

middleware: {

        forceDomain: function (req, res, next) {
            forceDomain({
                hostname: 'www.myurl.com',
                port: 4000,
                protocol: 'https'
            });
            next();
        },

        order: [
            'forceDomain',
          ...
}

I don't understand exactly how to use this "app.use()" thing in sails.js. It is here explained , but I didn't really understand. What I now have doesn't work(no errors, but also no redirecting). How can I fix this?

Installed this module - doesn't work either.

Answer 1

Here is the solution how to force ssl on a sails.js app running on heroku without nginx and without external modules:

In the config/http.js file there is an example of custom middleware:

****************************************************************************
*      Example custom middleware; logs each request to the console.        *  
****************************************************************************

myRequestLogger: function (req, res, next) {
        console.log("Requested :: ", req.method, req.url);
        next();
 }

I made my own custom middleware function which controls if the request is secure, and if not, it redirects the request to https:// or if its a websocket request it redirects the request to wss://

 order: [
         ...
         'forceSSL',
          ...
         ],


forceSSL: function (req, res, next) {

            if (req.isSocket) {
                return res.redirect('wss://' + req.headers.host + req.url);
            } else if (req.headers["x-forwarded-proto"] == "http") {
                return res.redirect('https://' + req.headers.host + req.url);
            } else {
                next(); //it's already secure
            }
}

No need for extern modules or hookups. just that function and it works.

Answer 2

Every value in the sails.config.http.middleware dictionary (besides order ) should be an Express-style middleware function -- that is, a function that accepts req , res , and next , which is exactly what the forcedomain module returns. The issue in your code is that you're wrapping that function in another function instead of just returning it. Try:

middleware: {

    forceDomain: forceDomain({
      hostname: 'www.myurl.com',
      port: 4000,
      protocol: 'https'
    }), // <-- the call to `forceDomain()` returns a configured Express middleware fn.

    order: [
      'forceDomain',
      ...
}

This assumes that you have var forceDomain = require('forcedomain') at the top of that file!