devsrv

A nodejs http(s) server for web development with some cool features.

Motivation

How many days to test all standalone webservers npm module with all simple features i'm looking for, vs time to code it. I coded it.

Command Line Usage

You can use devsrv as a standalone webserver.

Install

$ npm install -g devsrv

Run

Go into the directory you want to serve (having an index.html file), then just type

$ devsrv
config: use config file [...]
server: start listening on 192.168.1.36:8443
server: ready

Options

$ devsrv
Usage: devsrv [options]

Instant self signed certificate https web server for developer.

Options:
  -V, --version                         output the version number
  -d, --document-root <documentRoot>    DocumentRoot (default: "./")
  -a, --access-log                      Enable access Log
  -e, --explorer                        Directory listing (default: false)
  -l, --listening-port <listeningPort>  Listening port (default: 8443)
  -i, --interface <interfaceRegexp>     Network interface filter (regular expression)
  -o, --open-browser                    Open the browser (default: false)
  -m, --monitor-changes                 Monitor file changes and reload webpage (default: false)
  -c, --config-file <configFile>        Configuration file (default: "./devsrv.config.js")
  -b, --build                           trigger build process (default: false)
  --build-dst <buildDst>                build dist directory (default: "./dist/1.0.0/")
  --build-src <buildSrc>                build src directory (default: "./public")
  -h, --help                            display help for command

Optional config file

When starting, the process try to read ./.devsrv.js in the current directory or in specified --config-file directory config option.

Programmatical usage (nodejs)

You can use devsrv programmatically.

Install

$ npm install devsrv

Minimal js code

const Server = require( 'devsrv' );
const serverInstance = new Server();
serverInstance.start();

With a config object

const Server = require( 'devsrv' );

const config = {

    documentRoot: './',
    listeningPort: 8443,
    regexpInterface: /wi-fi|eth0/i,
    browser: true,
    //features:{
    // see #Features
    //}
};

const serverInstance = new Server( config );

serverInstance.start();

Features config

You can specify theses options if the config object.

const config = {
    documentRoot: './tests',
    interfaceRegexp: /wi-fi|eth0/i,
    openBrowser: true,
    clientRedirects:[
        {
            urlSrc:'/',
            redirectTo:'/tests/index.html'
        }
    ],
    urlRewrites: [
        {
            urlSrcRegexp:/^\/tests2/,
            replaceWith:'/tests'
        }
    ],
    textReplacements: [
        {
            queryVar:'r',
            queryVarRegexp:/^0\.[0-9]{3}$/,
            replaceRegexp:/THREEJSVERSION/g,
            defaultValue:'0.119',
            pathRegexp:/\.(html|js)|(\/)$/
        }
    ],
    monitorOptions:{
        enable:false,
        directories:[ './' ],
        fileRegexp:/\.(html|jsm?)$/,
        excludeRegexp: /node_modules/
    }
};

module.exports = config;

Use with npm

npm install devsrv then add start script in your package.json

  "scripts": {
    "start": "node node_modules/devsrv/bin/devsrv.js -d ."
  },

then

$ npm start
config: use config file [...]
server: start listening on [...]
server: ready

Build process

devsrv -b will trigger build process. You can add this in devsrv.config.js:

"buildOptions": {
        "src":"./tests",
        "dst":"./dist/v1.0.0/threejs.119",
        "replaceRegexp":"THREEJSVERSION",
        "defaultValue":"0.119",
        "fileRegexp":"\\.(html|js)$"
    }

• remove dst directory if already exists
• copy files from src directory into dst directory (recursive),
• find files match regexp fileRegexp, then replace string in file using replaceRegexp with value defaultValue

Monitor changes

devsrv -m will monitor documentRoot recursively and we send an event to the browser each time a file or directory has changed. The browser use a SSE client to receive the event.

Under the wood, fs.watch is used. In tests/index.html you will find the peace of code to use to handle Server Side Event Events ("reload" event only).

monitorOptions:{
    enable:false,
    directories:[ './' ],
    fileRegexp:/\.(html|jsm?)$/,
    excludeRegexp: /node_modules/
}

Debugging

Set env var DEBUG with any value i.e DEBUG=* devsrv.

Changelog

v1.0.0 - 02/18/2022

• [x] Add: use HTTPS with generated self signed SSL certificates by default
• [x] Add: client redirects handler
• [x] Add: url rewriting handler (proxy)
• [x] Add: static content webserver with content rewriting
• [x] Add: open web browser option

v1.1.0 - 02/18/2022

• [x] Add: static webserver with content rewriting using query string variable

v1.3.0 - 02/18/2022

• [x] Add: detect Codesandbox, then use http rather than https, because of Codesandbox reverse proxy ssl termination

v1.3.1 - 02/21/2022

• [x] Change: code refactor
• [x] Change: change config file name
• [x] Add: explorer (directory listing)
• [x] Add: npm build script (releases static files, serverless provider compliant i.e vercel )

v1.4.0 - 02/23/2022

• [x] Add: monitor file changes and reload web page, no websocket but Server Side Events (SSE)
• [x] Add: simple access log

v1.4.1 - 02/23/2022

• [x] Fix: check config before start monitoring file changes
• [x] Add: simple access log

v1.4.2 - 02/24/2022

• [x] Fix: use session to store query var value

v1.5.0 - 03/01/2022

• [x] Add: monitor options, see #1
• [x] Add: js config file, see #2

v1.5.1 - 03/02/2022

• [x] Fix package version pb

v1.5.1 - 03/02/2022

• [x] More delay for file changes

Roadmap

• [ ] CI tests
• [ ] Network level throttling (simulate slow network for testing) ?
• [ ] Systemd template ?
• [ ] Websocket proxy ?
• [ ] WebRTC ?