How to render static file not in public or view folder after middlware in express js

Question

I have a folder

api-docs inside that I have index.html some css and js file

I need to render api-doc for authenticated user.

I am not using it in views as In project I am using jade in view and api-doc is in html

I have tried

router.get('/v1/secure-api-documentation',(req,res)=>{
     console.log('A')
     res.sendFile(__dirname + '/../api-doc/index.html');
 });

and

router.get('/v1/secure-api-documentation',ensureAuthenticate,(req,res)=>{     
     express.static(path.join(__dirname,'../api-doc'))
 });

Answer 1

express.static(path, [options]) returns a function. So basically what your code is doing is :

router.get('/v1/secure-api-documentation',ensureAuthenticate,(req,res)=>{
    express_static_function // this function further accepts arguments req, res, next
    //there is no function call happening here, so this is basically useless
 });

However, this is not what express.static is used for What express.static does is, takes the request path and looks for a file with the same name in the folder you specified.

Basically, if a GET request comes to '/v1/secure-api-documentation' , it will take the request path after '/v1/secure-api-documentation' and look for that inside api_docs folder. Passing express.static to router.get() will call it for the very SPECIFIC path. This is important. GET '/v1/secure-api-documentation/index.html' will fail. Because such a route is not handled.

What you need to do this is call express static for any path like '/v1/secure-api-documentation/*' .

For this you need to take the express app object, and write the following code:

//make sure to use the change the second argument of path.join based on the file where your express app object is in.
app.use('/v1/secure-api-documentation',express.static(path.join(__dirname,'../api-doc')));

This will now work for not only the index.html file but any js/css file inside api_docs that is requested.