Serve File (Try #1)

Initialize the project in the normal way, and install "http-status-codes"

>npm init
>npm install http-status-codes

Add HTML File

In a file browser
Create a project sub-directory "views"
In the sub-dir, create a new file "hello.html"
Copy the HTML shown into the file and save

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
	<body>
		<h1>A Warm Hello to You</h1>
	</body>
</html>

Code

Type in the code shown.

Save the code as file "serve-file.js".

Complexity Note!
When possible, we write single-purpose code to simplify understanding and maintenance. Here we are doing multiple things (i.e., http and file work). We make a note (we'll revisit and simplify).

//serve-file.js

const
	http = require('http'),
	fs = require('fs'),
	httpStatusCodes = require('http-status-codes'),
	path = 'views/hello.html',
	port = 3000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
	res.writeHead(httpStatusCodes.OK, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
	fs.readFile(path, (err, contents) => {
		if (err) throw err;
		res.write(contents);
		res.end();
	});
});
	
server.listen(port);

Run (Start Web Server)

Run in the normal way. This starts the web server, which is now waiting for requests.

>node serve-file

Open Browser

Open web browser
Enter server url as shown
Request is sent to server
Server responds with html content
Browser displays content

http://localhost:3000/

A Warm Hello to You