This is an introduction to server side programming in Node.js and was created for CoderDojo members.
Install Node from http://nodejs.org
Create the project folder
mkdir coderdojo-start-node
Now create a folder called public, this is the folder whereyou will add the html, css and javascript code
cd coderdojo-start-node
mkdir public
npm is Node Package Manager allows you to install Node Packages, to run a web server we are going to use a node package called express will enable us to create a server easily that can accept web requests.
Now run
npm install express
Now in the home directory coderdojo-start-node save a new file called app.js. Inside app.js add the following code
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.get('/coderdojo', function(req, res){
res.send('Be cool');
});
var server = app.listen(3000, function() {
console.log('Listening on port %d', server.address().port);
});
This code creates your first server and first http call
From inside directory coderdojo-start-node open a command terminal and run
node app
We are running app because the file is called app.js
You should see the following output from this command
$ node app
Listening on port 3000
This is tell you that a server has started on your machine at port 3000
You can stop the server at any time by running CTRL+C
Navigate to
http://localhost:3000
You get an error right! But remember in your code you told the server to reference /coderdojo so you need to navigate to
http://localhost:3000/coderdojo
Now see what happens
Update app.js with the following code
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var path = require('path');
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.get('/coderdojo', function(req, res){
res.send('Be cool');
});
var server = app.listen(3000, function() {
console.log('Listening on port %d', server.address().port);
});<html>
<head>
<style rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
body {
background: blue;
color: white;
font-family: Tahoma;
}
h1 {
color: pink;
}
div.code {
width: 300px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid black;
background: lightgray;
color: navy;
}
div.url {
width: 300px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid orange;
background: navy;
color: lightgray;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>CoderDojo Web Development</h1>
<p>Welcome to CoderDojo DCU Introduction to Node.js</p>
<h2>Install Node:</h2>
<p>Go to <br/>
<div class="url">http://nodejs.org</div>
</p>
<h2>Install express: </h2>
<p><div class="code">npm install express</div>
</p>
<h2>To run your new website: </h2>
<p><div class="code">node app</div>
</p>
<h2>Open your website: </h2>
<p><div class="url">http://localhost:3000</div>
</p>
</body>
</html>Now open your browser and navigate to
http://localhost:3000