Express JS Project Set up and Basics For Beginners

Express is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework, which provides a robust set of features for web and mobile applications. Setting up an Express project and getting started with its basics can be an important step for anyone looking to get into web development. In this article, we will guide you through the process of setting up an Express project and cover some of the basic concepts for beginners.

Setting up an Express project

The first step in getting started with Express is to set up a new project. Here are the steps to do so:

1. Make sure you have Node.js installed on your computer. If not, you can download it from the official website and follow the installation instructions.
2. Open a terminal or command prompt and create a new directory for your project.
3. Navigate to the newly created directory and run the following command to initialize a new Node.js project:

npm init -y

This will create a new package.json file in the project directory, which will hold information about your project and its dependencies.

4. Next, install Express as a dependency for your project by running the following command:

npm install express

Now that you have Express installed, you can start building your project.

Basics of Express

Express provides a simple and minimalist framework for building web applications. Here are some of the basic concepts to get you started:

Creating a basic server

To create a basic server with Express, you can write the following code in a file named app.js:

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

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello, world!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on port 3000');
});

This code creates a new Express app, defines a route for the root URL (‘/’), and starts the server on port 3000.

Routing

Express allows you to define routes for different URLs in your application. Here’s an example of how you can define a route that handles GET requests to the /users URL:

app.get('/users', (req, res) => {
  res.send('List of users');
});

With this code, whenever a GET request is made to the /users URL, the server will respond with “List of users”.

Middleware

Middleware functions are functions that have access to the request and response objects and can modify them. An example of a middleware function is the built-in express.static middleware, which serves static files from a directory. Here’s how you can use it in your Express app:

app.use(express.static('public'));

This code tells Express to serve static files from the ‘public’ directory.

These are just a few of the basics of Express. There are many more features and concepts to explore, but getting started with these basics can set you on the right path to building web applications with Express.

Conclusion

Express is a powerful and flexible framework for building web and mobile applications with Node.js. Setting up an Express project and getting started with its basics can be a rewarding experience for beginners. We hope this article has provided you with a helpful guide to getting started with Express!