npm : http-file-upload

this markdown document is essentially a quick start guide

the complete guide, in html format, is available at

https://javascript-2020.github.io/code-projects/http-file-upload/http-file-upload.html

http-file-upload is a http server whose only function is to upload and download files ( of any size )

the http server has been designed as a single, no dependency, file for ease of use and portability

files can be uploaded and downloaded

• using the built browser interface
• by a http request, such as those made through node.js, php, curl, python, c++, c#, java

install

npm global installation is the recommended way to install

npm install http-file-upload -g

http-file-upload can then be run from anywhere on the file system by typing on the command line

  http-file-upload -version
  

note : windows powershell users

running powershell scripts are disabled by default

to get the script to run normally in powershell users will either have to

run the script via

httpfile-upload.cmd -version

or delete the powershell script

http-file-upload.ps1

from the default npm script installation directory, this is usually

c:/users/<user_name>/AppData/Roaming/npm/

node-x

i also have another utility for running node.js scripts node-x

see also alternative installation methods below

uninstall

after global npm installation

 npm uninstall http-file-upload -g
 

operation

the server listens on all network interfaces, the default port is 3000

the built in user interface is accessible, on all network interfaces, at

https://127.0.0.1:3000/ or https://127.0.0.1:3000/hello

http-file-upload supports the following command line parameters

the parameters can be specified with or without the dash or with a double dash

-p port

sets the port the server listens on, default 3000

-d dir

sets a directory to put new uploads or where to find files for download, its relative to the serving directory, if the directory does not exist it is created, default not used

-cwd

sets the current working directory for the script, default current directory

-https | -http

set whether the server uses https or http, default https

-cert cert-file key-file

specify a public certificate and private key to use, any order, pem format

note: generate https certificates

-version

prints the current version of the program

-help

bring up quick help on the command line

download a file using a http request at url

https://127.0.0.1:3000/download?filename

a list of all files available to download is available from the following url, an array in JSON format is returned

https://127.0.0.1:3000/download-list

upload a file to this url using a http request

https://127.0.0.1:3000/upload?filename

the server public certificate is available to download at

https://127.0.0.1:3000/cert

the server can be quit on the command line by pressing

escape | q | ctrl-c

example useage

upload/download files in the current directory

requires global installation or the launch script on the system path

http-file-upload

requires global installation or the launch script on the system path

http-file-upload -p 4000

if http-file-upload has been installed globally, and you have some files you want to access over http in a directory /work/tmp/

1. change to directory /work/tmp/
2. type http-file-upload press enter
3. open a web browser at https://localhost:3000/ or perform a http request

var url     = 'https://localhost:3000/download?myfile.js';
var opts    = {rejectUnauthorized:false};

require('https').get(url,opts,async res=>{

	var body    = '';
	for await(data of res)body   += data;
	console.log(body);
 
});

to download all files in a directory via nodejs

var url     = 'https://localhost:3000/';
var opts    = {rejectUnauthorized:false};
var https   = require('https');

https.get(`${url}download-list`,opts,async res=>{

	var body    = '';
	for await(data of res)body   += data;
	var json    = JSON.parse(body);
 
	json.files.forEach(file=>{
 
         https.get(`${url}download?${file}`,opts,res=>{
         
               var fd    = fs.createWriteStream(filename);
               res.pipe(fd);
               
         });
         
	});
 
});

to upload a file in nodejs

var url     = 'https://localhost:3000/upload?my-file.txt';
var body    = require('fs').readFileSync('my-file.txt');

var req 	= require('https').request(url,{method:'post'},rec);
req.write(body);
req.end();

req.on('error', function(err){
    console.log(err);
});

async function rec(res){

    var body = '';
    for await(data of res)body+=data;
    console.log(body);
    
}//rec

to upload a file from the browser

var input         = document.createElement('input');
input.type        = 'file';
input.onchange    = onchange;
input.click();

async function onchange(e){

      var file    = input.files[0];
      var url     = `https://localhost:3000/upload?${file.name}`;
      var res     = await fetch(url,{method:'post',body:file});
      var txt     = await res.text();
      console.log(txt);
      
}//onchange

download a file with curl

curl --insecure https://localhost:3000/download?my-file.txt

serving files from an alternate directory

if you installed http-file-upload locally at /work/http-file-upload/ and wish to access files at /work/tmp/

npx http-file-upload -cwd /work/tmp/

if you downloaded the single file http-file-upload.js to /work/http-file-upload/ and wish to access files at /work/tmp/

node http-file-upload -cwd /work/tmp/

alternative installation methods

install locally :

npm install http-file-upload

this will download http-file-upload to ./node_modules/http-file-upload

http-file-upload can then be run using the command, from the directory which you issued the npm install command

npx http-file-upload

install from github

download the project as a zip file

download this project from github

download the single file http-file-upload.js from github, ( right click - save link as )

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/javascript-2020/code-projects/main/http-file-upload/http-file-upload.js

system path environment variable

if you would then like http-file-upload to be accessible from anywhere on the file system, this directory should be added to the system path

http-file-upload/ext/

http-file-upload comes with the following shell scripts to launch the process :

windows ............ http-file-upload/ext/http-file-upload.bat

mac ................ http-file-upload/ext/http-file-upload.sh

linux .............. http-file-upload/ext/http-file-upload.sh

feedback

im usually available in the stackoverflow javascript chat room user matt, come and say hi, id love to hear from you

or by email [email protected]

https://github.com/javascript-2020/http-file-upload

https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-file-upload

other interesting works

https://github.com/javascript-2020/code-projects/tree/main