Browsing static file directory tree in Node.js/express

Question

I have a public/ directory that I have set up as containing static files in express:

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

It has an images directory in it

/public/images

And that has a deep subtree of various images. If I put in the full path to the image, it loads with no problem.

http://mysite.com/images/tiles/grass.png

When I just go to a url such as

http://mysite.com/images/tiles/

It just gives me the error that it gives when it tries to find a non-static path, but the path doesn't exist.

How can I make it so all directories in my static path show something similar to the way Apache shows the navigable directory structure?

Answer 1

Because what you're requesting when putting

http://mysite.com/images/tiles/

is a directory listing request, and it seems that static middleware just serves files not directories. You have to use

app.use(express.directory(your_path));
app.use(express.static(your_path));

This will let you request the URIs you're talking about.

Answer 2

For Express 4 this looks a little different:

var directory = require('serve-index');
app.use(directory(your_path));

Check here for details:

https://github.com/expressjs/serve-index