✅ Option for static files directory

[Isaac-Leonard]

In express there's a .static() method to specify where plain html / css / frontend js / * files are located, would it be possible to add this to the config object please?

[RobinTail]

Well... This method is currently available when using attachRouting() with your own express app.
Besides that, after releasing version 5.0.0, createServer() also returns app... I need to explore my options in this regard.
Thank you @Isaac-Leonard , could be a nice feature.

[Isaac-Leonard]

Returning app actually sounds awesome, especially as it seems to solve another idea I had of allowing express-zod-api to work with next's without breaking its auto-deployment feature.
I'll checkout the docs again to see if this will work with it.

[Isaac-Leonard]

It seems like this doesn't actually work.
Express-zod-api seems to be catching all routes and returning 404 before static gets reached.

[RobinTail]

Thank you for checking this out, @Isaac-Leonard .
Then I will try to find out an elegant approach for implementing static in the library.

[Isaac-Leonard]

A solution might be perhaps only mounting the express-zod-api handler on the actual routes and let express handle the routing so that it doesn't conflict with custom routes attached after express-zod-api has been initialised but then that might be unstable / bug prone.

[RobinTail]

I came up with idea to provide a method serveStatic() identical to express.static() that can be assigned to a path within Routing.
#254
This way it enables me to preserve the single place for describing the routes and providing the flexibility of the static files configuration that the original method has.
@Isaac-Leonard , I hope that would fulfill your needs.

import {Routing, serveStatic} from "express-zod-api";

const routing: Routing = {
  // path /public serves static files from /example/assets
  public: serveStatic(path.join(__dirname, "assets"), {
    dotfiles: "deny",
    index: false,
    redirect: false,
  }),
};

[RobinTail]

Finally I made a decision to change it slightly and make it a class, so it will be also consistent with usage of DependsOsMethods within Routing. The final example looks the following way

import {Routing, ServeStatic} from "express-zod-api";

const routing: Routing = {
  // path /public serves static files from ./assets
  public: new ServeStatic(path.join(__dirname, "assets"), {
    dotfiles: "deny",
    index: false,
    redirect: false,
  }),
};

[RobinTail]

the feature has been released in version 5.2.0 🚀
Happy new year, @Isaac-Leonard !