Restful implementation of express routes do not work on the server

Question

I have a Restful API implemented in Nodejs working normally locally, with all routes responding, all right. However, when putting into production on the Kinghost server only the root route works.

I made a basic application to test alternative routes and it didn’t work either.

Follow the code below:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

app.all("*", (req, res, next) => {
    console.log('Time:', Date.now());
    next();
});

app.get("/", (req, res) => res.send("ROOT"));
app.get("/novo", (req, res) => res.send("NOVO"));

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 21265, () => console.log("Server is running!"));

Has anyone ever had a similar problem or am I forgetting something?

EDIT: I contacted through a call with the Kinghost team and they replied that this type of service only works by adding the port to the URL. Unfortunately you have no choice

Answer 1

I also went through this problem in Kinghost, my solution was to use a hack in the api to make work the sub-routes and make use of the Express Router.

I noticed that in the requests in Kinghost, an extra bar is added in the subroutes, see error message Cannot GET//new and not the default that would be Cannot GET/new, so if you do a GET on /test this request arrives in the api as //test, but this only for sub-routes from the root, not to the root. Ex: if the application in the Kinghost panel is mapped to https://domain.com/api (my case), everything that arrives in /api/test will arrive in the application as //test. That’s why a "/test" route does not work, if you put all your routes as "//route", it works, but there is no need to refactor the entire application for this.

The cat jump was, if you map a main route with the "//" for all your routing (hence the use of the Express Router) all come to work, including the root, because you will put all your routes under the same pseudo endpoint, the "//".

Adapting from your example would look like this:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

var router = express.Router(); // USO DO ROUTER

app.all("*", (req, res, next) => {
    console.log('Time:', Date.now());
    next();
});

// ROTAS NO ROUTER E NÃO NO APP
router.get("/", (req, res) => res.send("ROOT"));
router.get("/novo", (req, res) => res.send("NOVO"));

app.use("//", router); // PSEUDO ROTA PRINCIPAL COMO "//" PARA TODO O ROUTER

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 21265, () => console.log("Server is running!"));

I know your question is 1 year old, but I hope you can help others who have the same problem as us.

EDIT: I got in touch through a call with the Kinghost team and they told me that this kind of service only works by adding the port to the URL. Unfortunately you have no choice

Reading this and knowing the real problem, only proves that these supports know nothing, rssss!

Answer 2

Complementing the response of @Christiano Marques, if u want to get around the problem without the possible inconveniences of manually configuring ssl certificates for your Node application and prefer to use the same ssl certificate of the Kinghost hosting, while keeping working in other environments without having to put the routes with // prefixed, you can add both forms at the same time.

For example:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

var router = express.Router(); // USO DO ROUTER

app.all("*", (req, res, next) => {
    console.log('Time:', Date.now());
    next();
});

// ROTAS NO ROUTER E NÃO NO APP
router.get("/", (req, res) => res.send("ROOT"));
router.get("/novo", (req, res) => res.send("NOVO"));

app.use("//", router); // PSEUDO ROTA PRINCIPAL COMO "//" PARA TODO O ROUTER
app.use("/", router); // Para acesso normal sem dupla barra "//"

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 21265, () => console.log("Server is running!"));

(I searched for this answer for a long time because the manual https configuration in the application hosted on Kinghost using the same free ssl certificate of the normal Hosting was not funitioning, THANK YOU @Christiano Marques)