How to run/view ExpressJS server for webpages other than index.html?

Question

So, I want to view/run/display webpages other than the index.html from my public folder which has multiple html files using ExpressJS and NodeJS. Every time I run my server, I can only view the index.html file. Is there a way I can access other html files? I am a beginner and just getting started with the backend part. This is my app.js

 app=express();
const path=require('path');
const Router=express.Router();
const port=process.env.PORT||3000;
require("./db/connectdb");

const static_path=path.join(__dirname,"../../frontend/public");
app.use(express.static(static_path));

app.get('/createelection',(req,res)=>{
    console.log("Create an Election here");
});
app.listen(port,()=>{
    console.log('Server is running at port no. '+ port);
});

My Public Folder

Public
    -index.html
    -createelection.html
    -voterlogin.html

Answer 1

From a comment on the question:

localhost:3000/createelection

By default the static module will:

• Give you index.html if you ask for a path ending in /
• Give you the file you ask for

You are asking for createelection but the file is named createelection.html .

With your current code you need to ask for http://localhost:3000/createelection.html .

Alternatively you can tell Express to try to autocomplete the file extension for you. Look at the documentation for the static module :

extensions : Sets file extension fallbacks: If a file is not found, search for files with the specified extensions and serve the first one found. Example: ['html', 'htm'] .

The setting defaults to false

So you would need:

app.use(express.static(static_path, { extensions: true }));

Answer 2

You can use routes . Routes allow you to enter a path in the browser and the express server will handle the request and output your file, instead of having to enter an absolute path.

Example:

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const path = require("path");
const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
require("./db/connectdb"); // Connect to the database

// Define a static path
const static_path = path.join(__dirname, "../../frontend/public");
// Send all static files to the server
app.use(express.static(static_path));

// Routes
app.get("/", (req,res) => {
    res.sendFile(path.join(static_path, "/index.html");
});
app.get("/create-electron", (req,res) => {
    res.sendFile(path.join(static_path, "/createelectron.html");
});
app.get("/login", (req,res) => {
    res.sendFile(path.join(static_path, "/voterlogin.html");
});

// Run app on a specific port
app.listen(port,() => {
    console.log("Server is running at port no. " + port);
});

After running the code above, if you enter localhost:3000 into your browser, your index.html file will be displayed, if you enter localhost:3000/create-electron you will see createelectron.html , etc.