How to download file using node.js and http?

Question

I have a file in D: Drive of my local system. I need to download the file into the E: Drive. How to do this using node.js and http request? I am a beginner in node.js. Please give me valuable suggestions.

Note: The file may be in any type.

Answer 1

Here is an example:

// upload.js
var fs = require('fs')

var newPath = "E:\\newPath";
var oldPath = "D:\\oldPath";

exports.uploadFile = function (req, res) {
    fs.readFile(oldPath, function(err, data) {
        fs.writeFile(newPath, data, function(err) {
            fs.unlink(oldPath, function(){
                if(err) throw err;
                res.send("File uploaded to: " + newPath);
            });
        });
    });
};

// app.js
var express = require('express'), // fetch express js library
upload = require('./upload'); // fetch upload.js you have just written

var app = express();
app.get('/upload', upload.uploadFile); 

app.listen(3000);

Basically there are two parts, one doing the copying from one drive to another, and the other one is for triggering. Once you run you app.js and make a GET request to localhost:3000/upload it will copy the file from newPath to the oldPath. For further information have a look to expressjs and fs.

Answer 2

Assuming it's a text file, you would have to write two node.js server.

The first would answer (all/specific, your choice) http get with the content of the file, the other would make a get and download the file.

server.js: Will work only for text file

var http = require('http'),
    fs = require('fs'),
    server = http.createServer(function (req, res){
        res.writeHead(200, {'content-type': 'text/text'});
        fs.readFile('E:/path/to/file.txt', function (data) {
            res.write('' + data);
            res.end();
        });
}).listen(8080);

client.js

var http = require('http'),
    fs = require('fs'),
    file = fs.createWriteStream('D:/path/to/new.txt', {flags: 'w'});
http.get('http://localhost:8080', function (res) {
    res.pipe(file, {end: 'false'});
    res.on('end', function() {
        file.end();
    });
});

EDIT:

The only advantage versus anvarik's solution is that I don t use express...