Thursday, January 31, 2013

Using Nodejs as a fileserver


Creating a Simple Fileserver.
Tip #2
I wanted a simple fileserver, I tried looking for a variety of search terms, but finally came upon simple file server. I came across the post linked by Tip #2 above, but it wasn't exactly clear what it was doing exactly.

The documentation isn't 100% clear so I played with it a little, (and added some comments to one of the posters).

I used connect.

Install it with npm connect.

Next use the following code:

var connect = require('connect'),
    http = require('http');
connect()
    .use(connect.static('pathyouwishtoserve'))
    .use(connect.directory('pathyouwishtoserve'))
    .listen(8080);
.use(connect.static('pathyouwishtoserve')) tells the server where to look for files.
.use(connect.directory('pathyouwishtoserve')) tells the server to return the following directories contents.

If you now navigate to http://your-ip-address:3000 you'll get a list of the directory contents,
if you add a /filename to that path you'll get the file.


I'll be posting tips as I come across them of using NodeJS as an intranet fileserver.
Long story short, I want to build a Roku app that will refer to the NodeJS server for where to find the files. I figure it'll be simpler than PLEX, and also faster (I'm hoping). Once I get the stuff running I'll plan on running it on my Pogo Plug as a media server for my Roku, totally awesome!