res.download for file downloads in Express - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using res.download for File Downloads in Express

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Express server that allows users to download a file from your server.

🎯 Goal: Create an Express route that uses res.download to send a file named example.txt to the user when they visit /download.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an Express app instance

Create a route handler for GET requests to /download

Use res.download to send the file example.txt

Set a custom filename for the downloaded file as user-file.txt

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

File downloads are common in web apps for delivering reports, images, or documents to users.

💼 Career

Knowing how to serve files securely and correctly is important for backend developers working with Express.

1

Set up Express app and import modules

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

Express

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

Need a hint?

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

2

Create a GET route for /download

Add a GET route handler on app for the path /download that takes req and res as parameters.

Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use app.get('/download', (req, res) => { ... }) to create the route.

3

Use res.download to send example.txt

Inside the /download route handler, use res.download to send the file example.txt from the current directory. Set the downloaded filename to user-file.txt.

Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/download', (req, res) => {
  // Your code here
});

Need a hint?

Use path.join(__dirname, 'example.txt') to get the file path and then call res.download(filePath, 'user-file.txt').

4

Start the Express server

Add code to start the Express server on port 3000 using app.listen.

Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const path = require('path');

app.get('/download', (req, res) => {
  const filePath = path.join(__dirname, 'example.txt');
  res.download(filePath, 'user-file.txt');
});

// Your code here

Need a hint?

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