Cannot use basic authentication while serving static files using express

Question

Using the Express framework for node.js, I\'m trying to serve up static files contained in a directory while also putting basic authentication on it. When I do so, I am prompted

Answer 1

I thought I'd post the express 4 answer here, since there's no other post title as fitting as this one for this specific use-case, and it may be relevant for more people.

If you're using express 4, chances are you're using serve-index, serve-static, and http-auth (unless there's an easier way that I'm missing out on):

serveIndex = require('serve-index'),
serveStatic = require('serve-static'),
auth = require('http-auth');     

// Basic authentication
var basic = auth.basic({
        realm: "My Secret Place.",
    }, function (username, password, callback) { // Custom authentication method.
        callback(username === "me" && password === "mepassword");
    }
);

var authMiddleware = auth.connect(basic);

// Serve /secretplace as a directory listing
app.use('/secretplace', authMiddleware, serveIndex(__dirname + '/public/secretplace'));

// Serve content under /secretplace as files
app.use('/secretplace', serveStatic(__dirname + '/public/secretplace', { 'index': false }));

Note, as far as my testing, I didn't need to pass 'authMiddleware' when setting serveStatic.