express.static middleware - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Serving Static Files with express.static Middleware

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple web server using Express.js. You want to serve static files like images, CSS, and JavaScript from a folder called public. This will allow users to access these files directly through the browser.

🎯 Goal: Create an Express server that uses the express.static middleware to serve files from the public folder.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an Express app

Use express.static middleware to serve static files from the public folder

Listen on port 3000

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web servers often need to serve images, stylesheets, and scripts to browsers. Using express.static middleware makes this easy and efficient.

💼 Career

Knowing how to serve static assets is a fundamental skill for backend developers working with Node.js and Express.

1

Set up Express app

Write code to import express and create an Express app called app.

Express

const express = require('express');
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use require('express') to import Express and call it to create app.

2

Create public folder path

Create a constant called publicPath that stores the string 'public' representing the folder name for static files.

Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Just assign the string 'public' to publicPath.

3

Use express.static middleware

Use app.use with express.static(publicPath) to serve static files from the public folder.

Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const publicPath = 'public';
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Call app.use and pass express.static(publicPath) as the argument.

4

Start the server

Add code to make the app listen on port 3000 using app.listen(3000).

Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const publicPath = 'public';
app.use(express.static(publicPath));
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use app.listen(3000) to start the server on port 3000.