Why is express telling me that my default view engine is not defined?

Question

I'm using nodejs and mongodb in the back end for an app I'm working on. I'm using express to test the app, and I'm trying to use ejs to render my html files. However, I'm having the issue of my default view engine not being defined.

Here is my app.js:

/**
* Module dependencies.
*/
var express = require('express')
   , routes = require('./routes')
   , user = require('./routes/user')
   , http = require('http')
   , path = require('path');
var conf = require('./conf');
var app = express();
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
   , Schema = mongoose.Schema
   , ObjectId = mongooseSchemaTypes.ObjectID;
var UserSchema = new Schema({})
   , User;
// all environments
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.engine('.html', require('ejs').renderFile());
app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(app.router);
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// development only
if ('development' == app.get('env')) {
    app.use(express.errorHandler());
}
app.get('/', routes.index);
app.get('/users', user.list);
http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
    console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});

Here is my package.json:

{
  "name": "application-name",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
"express": "3.3.3",
"ejs":">= 0.0.1",
"mongoose-auth": ">= 0.0.12",
"mongoose": ">=2.4.8",
"everyauth": ">=0.2.28"
  }
}

ERRORS:

Express 500 Error: Failed to lookup view "index"

at Function.app.render (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/application.js:494:17)
at ServerResponse.res.render (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/response.js:756:7)
at exports.index (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/routes/index.js:7:7)
at callbacks (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:161:37)
at param (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:135:11)
at pass (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:142:5)
at Router._dispatch (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:170:5)
at Object.router (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/router/index.js:33:10)
at next (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/node_modules/connect/lib/proto.js:190:15)
at Object.methodOverride [as handle] (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/methodOverride.js:49:5)

Now when I try to run it my terminal outputs:

/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/application.js:173
if ('function' != typeof fn) throw new Error('callback function required');
                                 ^
Error: callback function required
    at Function.app.engine (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/application.js:173:38)
    at Function.<anonymous> (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/app.js:26:9)
    at Function.app.configure (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/node_modules/express/lib/application.js:392:61)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/christian/node_modules/nave/create/app.js:23:5)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
    at startup (node.js:119:16)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The source of the error describes the requirements:

if (!ext && !this.defaultEngine) throw new Error('No default engine was specified and no extension was provided.');

Express expects that you either specify the view with its extension:

res.render('index.html');

Or specify a default view engine and name your views after it:

app.set('view engine', 'ejs');

// `res.render('index')` renders `index.ejs`

---

Regarding your edit:

if ('function' != typeof fn) throw new Error('callback function required');

The issue is with this line:

app.engine('.html', require('ejs').renderFile());

As the documentation demonstrates, app.engine() is expecting a function reference. You can do this by simply removing the () that call renderFile:

app.engine('.html', require('ejs').renderFile);