nhouston

# Houston :: A static files server based on node.js

Yet another static file server, simple as you hear.

The main purpose of Houston is to provide a static, 0 dependencies (just mime), server.

WARNING Houston >1.0.x only runs on node-v0.8.x. The 0.6.x compatible version is 0.2.1 (npm install -g nhouston@0.2.1)

Features

Houston initially was made to provide a cli-server. But the ability to create cli apps with custom servers make me re-think about this. Still Houston is a cli-server but with the followed features in order to you:

• static file server

• spdy, https support

• houston is an instance of a server, so you can tweak an put socket.io in from of it

• cli: true enable cli features like process.argv parser and more -> (houston#config)

• websockets support (see socket.io example)

• If Houston can't handle the event it'll let you the task. (e.g. houston.on('POST', function(req, res){/* the response code */}))

• Custom Actions for Files. E.g. Markdown files rendered on the fly

• Extend method. Customized actions to files like:

   Houston.extend({
           js: function (req, res) {                       
                   var file = req.file
                   res.end('w00t you requested ' + file)
           }
   })
   
   Houston.createServer(/* blah */)
  

curl http://myser.ver/path/to/a/js/file.js => w00t you requested /path/to/a/js/file.js

Installation

Asuming that you have installed node.js and npm

> npm install -g nhouston

Or:

> git clone https://github.com/alejandromg/Houston.git
> cd Houston
> ln -s bin/houston ~/bin

Then:

# To start the server in the current dir 
> houston 

This will open a new window in your browser, or go to http://localhost:8000/

To start the server in a different port:

> sudo houston --port 80
> houston -p 8010
> houston -p=8010

All of them are valid, also you can define a different path:

> houston --path=/home/ --port=8010

Also you can avoid the new browser window with:

> houston -b false

Static server

Houston, as well, has a static file server built-in. So if you want to use Houston as your static files provider use it as follows:

var houston = require('nhouston');
var server = houston(options);

Where options can be:

{ 
  path : __dirname + '/public', // to serve files from public folder
  port : 3001, // the port that houston will bind to listen
  spdy : { // To create an spdy server (npm install spdy), this can be https too
    key: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/keys/spdy-key.pem'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/keys/spdy-cert.pem'),
    ca: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/keys/spdy-csr.pem')
  },
  silent : true, // Log options: false as default
  cli    : true, // to emule cli behavior (list files on dirs, open browser and more)
}

See more in the examples dir.

Screenshot

Help

houston -h houston --help

Houston :: A cool static files server

Available options:
   --port, -p    Listening port to Houston, default to 8000 
   --path, -d    Dir of starting point to Houston, default to actual dir
   --browser,-b  open browser window, (true,false) default to true
   --help, -h    show this info
   --version,-v  Show the current version of Houston

:: end of help ::

Alternatives

For sure that Houston is not the first option to static file servers, there are a bunch of other static file providers, with better support:

• ecstatic
• connect static middleware

And many others.

Contributors

• Alejadro Morales

License

MIT Alejandro Morales (c) 2012