Dynamically create and stream zip to client

Question

I am using NodeJs (w/express) and I am trying to stream a zip file back to the client. The files contained in the zip do not live on the file system, rather they are create

Answer 1

solution with: express.js, wait.for, zip-stream

app.get('/api/box/:box/:key/download', function (req, res) {

    var wait = require('wait.for');

    var items = wait.for(function (next) {
        BoxItem.find({box: req.Box}).exec(next)
    });

    res.set('Content-Type', 'application/zip');
    res.set('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=' + req.Box.id + '.zip');

    var ZipStream = require('zip-stream');
    var zip = new ZipStream();

    zip.on('error', function (err) {
        throw err;
    });

    zip.pipe(res);

    items.forEach(function (item) {

        wait.for(function (next) {

            var path = storage.getItemPath(req.Box, item);
            var source = require('fs').createReadStream(path);

            zip.entry(source, { name: item.name }, next);
        })

    });

    zip.finalize();

});