Basic Routing in Node.js

Routing in Node.js allows you to handle different URL paths and send appropriate responses. This guide will walk you through creating a simple HTTP server with basic routing.

Setting Up a Basic Server

First, create a simple HTTP server using the http module:

import { createServer } from 'http';

const server = createServer((req, res) => {
// Basic routing logic will go here
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('Server is running on http://localhost:3000');
});

Handling Different URL Paths

You can handle different URL paths by checking the req.url property:

const server = createServer((req, res) => {
if (req.url === '/') {
  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
  res.end('Welcome to the homepage!');
} else if (req.url === '/about') {
  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
  res.end('This is the about page.');
} else {
  res.writeHead(404, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
  res.end('Page not found!');
}
});

Responding with Different Data

const server = createServer((req, res) => {
if (req.url === '/json') {
  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
  res.end(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Hello, JSON!' }));
}
});

In the above example, the server sends different responses based on the URL path. You can easily extend this to serve HTML, JSON, or other content types.