Basic static file server in NodeJS

Question

I\'m trying to create a static file server in nodejs more as an exercise to understand node than as a perfect server. I\'m well aware of projects like Connect and node-stati

Answer 1

How about this pattern, which avoids checking separately that the file exists

        var fileStream = fs.createReadStream(filename);
        fileStream.on('error', function (error) {
            response.writeHead(404, { "Content-Type": "text/plain"});
            response.end("file not found");
        });
        fileStream.on('open', function() {
            var mimeType = mimeTypes[path.extname(filename).split(".")[1]];
            response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': mimeType});
        });
        fileStream.on('end', function() {
            console.log('sent file ' + filename);
        });
        fileStream.pipe(response);

Answer 2

I made a httpServer function with extra features for general usage based on @Jeff Ward answer

1. custtom dir
2. index.html returns if req === dir

Usage:

httpServer(dir).listen(port);

https://github.com/kenokabe/ConciseStaticHttpServer

Thanks.