viewing site on http://localhost instead of file://, using node.js - html

Question

I am learning to use node.js.
The site looks fine when run from file:///C:/.../myfolder/index.html
I have my jquery and bootstrap files in the directories myfolder/css/ and myfolder/js.
but when I run node index.js and go to localhost:3000, these css and js files cannot be found.
This is what is in my index.html file:
<link href="/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<script src="/js/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
Is there some folder in nodejs that I'm supposed to store these files? Or do I have to put some code in index.js that imports all the css and js files?

Answer 1

You can simply follow the quick start instructions for Express.js here:
https://www.npmjs.org/package/express
Then browse to http://localhost:3000 to test
You can use the Atom text editor or Brackets and place your files under the public folder and reference them.
http://atom.io
http://brackets.io
By default Express uses a template engine called Jade. You can look here to work with that:
http://jade-lang.com/
Using HTML in Express instead of Jade
Node.js + Express without using Jade
Good luck!

Answer 2

Your localhost begins in a specific directory on you machine. If you use Xampp, you must put all your server files in C:\xampp\htdocs\ in order to acces these via your localhost URL. Some other servers use a folder called 'www'.
Find your server root path en put your files there. Or create a symlink from your server root to your files.

Answer 3

Did you require the path module?
var path = require('path');
It's best to create a public directory to store your files in.
public/index.html
public/css/style.css
public/js/scripts.js

Answer 4

The reason that you couldn't get access to localhost:3000/folder/file is that localhost:port is just a virtual port. There is no such directory called localhost:3000/css/ or localhost:3000/js.
To fix this, you need to use express module to configure the root directory from which to serve static assets.
Basically, you need to add the following code:
var express=require('express');
var app=express();
var path=require('path');
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname,'public')));
and your static files directory will be currentWorkingDirectory/public/, which contains all of your assets.
In your code, to link any source file,
href='/fileName.extention'
Here is the documentation link express-static-files