How to run webpack-dev-server on express.

Example for Auto reloading (live reload) using webpack-dev-middleware and webpack-hot-middleware.

It is licensed under MIT license.

Overview

■ By including webpack-dev-server in express , you can do the following things!

No need to manually reload the browser when you change the front-end' source code.
No need to manually restart server when you change the server-side' source code.

■ Library Use webpack-dev-middleware and webpack-hot-middleware on express.

Let's get started.

(1) Project creation

Create a project from scratch including both front end and server side. Create a directory with a suitable name and create as an npm project.

mkdir webpack-dev-server-on-express
cd webpack-dev-server-on-express
npm init

(2) Installation of required modules

Install required modules

Installation of webpack modules

npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli webpack-dev-server webpack-dev-middleware webpack-hot-middleware

Installation of server modules

npm install --save-dev express multer babel-watch

Installation of front-end modules

npm install --save-dev @babel/core @babel/preset-env babel-loader core-js@3

(3)Make Front-End scripts

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Addition</title>
</head>
<body>

<h3>Addition</h3>
<form action="" method="post" id="myform">
    <input type="number" name="firstValue"><br>
    <span>+</span><br>
    <input type="number" name="secondValue"><br>
</form>
<span>=</span><br>
<input type="number" id="result" readonly><br><br>

<button id="btn-clac">Calc</button>
<script src="js/app.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

index.js

const btnSend = document.querySelector('#btn-clac');

btnSend.addEventListener('click', evt => {

    const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

    xhr.addEventListener('load', evt => {

        if (xhr.status == 200) {
            const result = JSON.parse(xhr.response);
            const resultEle = document.querySelector('#result');
            resultEle.value = result.sum;
        }
    });

    xhr.addEventListener('error', evt => {
        console.error(evt);
    });

    xhr.open('post', 'api/add', true);

    const formEle = document.querySelector('#myform');
    const formData = new FormData(formEle);

    xhr.send(formData);

});

webpack.config.js

const path = require('path');

module.exports = {
    mode: 'development',
    devServer: {
        contentBase: path.join(__dirname, 'public'),
        port: 8080,
        host: `localhost`,
    },
    entry: {
        app: [
            './src_client/index.js'
        ]
    },
    output: {
        path: path.join(__dirname, 'dist'),
        publicPath: '/js/',
        filename: `[name].js`,
    },
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.js$/,
                exclude: /(node_modules|bower_components)/,
                use: [
                    {
                        loader: 'babel-loader',
                        options: {
                            presets: [
                                [
                                    '@babel/preset-env',
                                    {
                                        'modules': 'false',//commonjs,amd,umd,systemjs,auto
                                        'useBuiltIns': 'usage',
                                        'targets': '> 0.25%, not dead',
                                        'corejs': 3
                                    }
                                ]
                            ]
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    },
    resolve: {
        alias: {}
    },
    plugins: [],

};

(4)Make Server-Side scripts

server.js

const express = require('express');
const multer = require('multer');
const multipart = multer();

const webpack = require('webpack');
const webpackDevMiddleware = require('webpack-dev-middleware');
const webpackHotMiddleware = require('webpack-hot-middleware');
const config = require('../webpack.config.js');

const app = express();
const port = 8080;

const devServerEnabled = true;

if (devServerEnabled) {
    //reload=true:Enable auto reloading when changing JS files or content
    //timeout=1000:Time from disconnecting from server to reconnecting
    config.entry.app.unshift('webpack-hot-middleware/client?reload=true&timeout=1000');

    //Add HMR plugin
    config.plugins.push(new webpack.HotModuleReplacementPlugin());

    const compiler = webpack(config);

    //Enable "webpack-dev-middleware"
    app.use(webpackDevMiddleware(compiler, {
        publicPath: config.output.publicPath
    }));

    //Enable "webpack-hot-middleware"
    app.use(webpackHotMiddleware(compiler));
}

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

//API
app.post('/api/add', multipart.any(), function (req, res) {

    //execute addition(tasizan)
    const firstValue = parseInt(req.body.firstValue);
    const secondValue = parseInt(req.body.secondValue);
    const sum = firstValue + secondValue;

    //return result
    res.json({sum: sum, firstValue: firstValue, secondValue: secondValue});

});

app.listen(port, () => {
    console.log('Server started on port:' + port);
});

const express = require('express');
const multer = require('multer');
const multipart = multer();

Here, we are importing the express, and multer for processing multi-part form data . When a form object created by "new FormData()" is sent using the POST method with XMLHttpRequest, the data is encoded in "multipart/form-data". So we can use "multer" instead of "body-parser" for parsing request body on express.

const webpack = require('webpack');
const webpackDevMiddleware = require('webpack-dev-middleware');
const webpackHotMiddleware = require('webpack-hot-middleware');
const config = require('../webpack.config.js');

Import webpack , webpack-dev-middleware , webpack-hot-middleware to server.js. webpack.config.js is read as a config object.

 //reload=true:Enable auto reloading when changing JS files or content
 //timeout=1000:Time from disconnecting from server to reconnecting
 config.entry.app.unshift('webpack-hot-middleware/client?reload=true&timeout=1000');

It means the same as reloading like as follows.

entry: {
    app: [
    'webpack-hot-middleware/client?reload=true&timeout=1000',
    './src_client/index.js'
    ]
},

(5)Starter script into package.json

Add following into package.json.

"start": "babel-watch ./src_server/server.js"

package.json

{
  "name": "webpack-dev-server-on-express",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start:client": "webpack-dev-server --config webpack.config.js",
    "start": "babel-watch ./src_server/server.js"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "webpack": "^4.34.0",
    "webpack-cli": "^3.3.4",
    "webpack-dev-server": "^3.7.1",
    "webpack-dev-middleware": "^3.7.0",
    "webpack-hot-middleware": "^2.25.0",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "multer": "^1.4.1",
    "babel-watch": "^7.0.0",
    "@babel/core": "^7.4.5",
    "@babel/preset-env": "^7.4.5",
    "babel-loader": "^8.0.6",
    "core-js": "^3.1.4"
  }
}

Start the server and try the Auto Reload development environment.

npm start

You can try the app on http://localhost:8080

TIPS

If you got error like this.

WebpackOptionsValidationError: Invalid configuration object. Webpack has been initially used using a configuration object that does not match the API schema.
-Configuration should be an object.

This happens when module.exports of webpack.config.js doesn't returns Object but returns function. For example, in the following webpack.config.js, the lambda function is returned so that it can branch by an argument at startup. The above problem occurs at such times.

webpack.config.js(returning function style)

const path = require('path');
module.exports = (env, argv) => {
    const conf = {
        mode: 'development',
        devServer: {
            contentBase: path.join(__dirname, 'public'),
            port: 8080,
            host: `localhost`,
        },
        entry: {
            app: ['./src_client/index.js']
        },
        output: {
            path: path.join(__dirname, 'dist'),
            publicPath: '/js/',
            filename: `[name].js`,
        },
        resolve: {
            alias: {}
        },
        plugins: [],
    }
    return conf;
};

So you can change your code from this

const config = require('../webpack.config.js');

to this.

const webpackConfigJs = require('../webpack.config.js');
const config = webpackConfigJs();

muuuuminn/webpack-dev-server-on-express