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JavaScript

Posted by Bill Shannon
Bill Shannon
10,327 Points

Running local server?

I realize it may be easier to use workspaces, however I'd like to implement AJAX using a local express server. It may be beyond the scope of this course, but is there a fairly easy approach to doing that?

Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points

The documentation that comes with the deployment should cover that?

1 Answer

LaVaughn Haynes
LaVaughn Haynes
12,397 Points
LaVaughn Haynes
LaVaughn Haynes
12,397 Points

Getting set up with express was pretty easy. I just started this course http://teamtreehouse.com/library/express-basics

You can also check out installation instructions here http://expressjs.com/starter/installing.html

And the guide for serving static pages here (which is also easy) http://expressjs.com/starter/static-files.html

I did a simple test to see if I could run ajax and it worked. Here is the code. In my project folder I made a src folder. Inside that an app.js file and a public directory for my static files which contained my index.html file.

The comment in app.js is so my javaScript linter doesn't get confused by my node app code and mark it as syntax errors. This may not be necessary of you don't have a javaScript linter.

app.js

/* jshint node: true */
'use strict';

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
app.use(express.static('src/public'));

//route to json
app.get('/ajax', function(req, res){
    res.send({
        "text": "Running local server?",
        "url": "https://teamtreehouse.com/community/running-local-server"
    });
});

app.listen(3000, function(){
    console.log('The frontend server is running on port 3000!');
});

public/index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Ajax Express</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Results</h1>
    <div class="result"></div>
    <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.3.min.js"></script>
    <script>
        $.get( "http://localhost:3000/ajax", function(data){
            var dataText = data.text,
                    dataUrl = data.url;
            $('.result').html('<a href="' + dataUrl + '" target="_blank">' + dataText + '</a>');
        });
    </script>
</body>
</html>