how to trace nodejs express serving static files

Question

I need to trace all "static" files served by nodejs express

I use app.use( express.static( path.join( __dirname, '/public' ) ) ) ;

Can it be done ?

I'd like to use simple "console.log( "static serving" + filename ) ;

Answer 1

You could create a custom middleware which checks if a request is pointing on some static asset by looking on request.path. For example:

module.exports = (request, response, next) => {

    const {method, path} = request;
    if (method.toLowerCase() === 'get' && path.startsWith('/public'))
        console.log('static serving', path);

    next();
};

Does it help?

Answer 2

I got some code that logs ALL requests :

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

const PORT = 3000 ;

var myLogger = function (req, res, next) {

  const { url, path: routePath }  = req ;
  console.log( 'my LOGGER - URL (' + url + '), PATH (' + routePath + ').' ) ;

  next() ;
}

app.use(myLogger) ;

app.use( express.static( path.join( __dirname, '/public') ) ) ;

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log( 'app is running on port {'+PORT+'}.' ) ;
} ) ;

Even shorter :

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

const PORT = 3000 ;

app.use( function ( req, res, next ) {
  console.log( '### common TimeStamp:', Date.now() ) ;
  next() ;
} ) ; // timestamp all

app.use( express.static( path.join( __dirname, '/public') ) ) ;

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log( 'app is running on port {'+PORT+'}.' ) ;
} ) ;

Ciao.

Answer 3

You can use express to write middleware for the route /public. Something like this:

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

const PORT = 3000;

app.use('/public', (req, res, next) => {
    const { url, path: routePath }  = req;
    console.log(url);
    // or
    console.log(routePath);
    next();
});

app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/public')));

app.listen(PORT, () => {
    console.log(`app is running on ${PORT}`);
});

Answer 4

This code works :

const express = require('express') ;
const path    = require('path') ;
const app     = express() ;
const PORT = 3000 ;

app.use( function ( req, res, next ) {
    const { url, path: routePath }  = req ;
    console.log( '### common TimeStamp:', Date.now(), ' - my LOGGER - URL (' + url + '), PATH (' + routePath + ').' ) ;
    next() ;
} ) ; // timestamp all

app.use( express.static( path.join( __dirname, '/public' ) ) ) ;

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log( `app is running on port ${PORT}.` ) ;
} ) ;

This code dont :

const express = require('express') ;
const path    = require('path') ;
const app     = express() ;
const PORT = 3000 ;

app.use( '/public', function ( req, res, next ) {
    const { url, path: routePath }  = req ;
    console.log( '### common TimeStamp:', Date.now(), ' - my LOGGER - URL (' + url + '), PATH (' + routePath + ').' ) ;
    next() ;
} ) ; // timestamp all

app.use( express.static( path.join( __dirname, '/public' ) ) ) ;

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log( `app is running on port ${PORT}.` ) ;
} ) ;

Why ? I just dont know.

As you can see, the only difference is "app.use" has "/public" or not ...

It seems to me "express.static" takes it all ...