How to use Node.js to build pages that are a mix between static and dynamic content?

Question

All pages on my 5 page site should be output using a Node.js server.

Most of the page content is static. At the bottom of each page, there is a bit of dynamic conten

Answer 1

First deliver only static HTML files from server to the client. Then use something like AJAX / server.io to serve the dynamic content. IMO Jade is really ugly for writing HTML code and its better to use a template engine.

I did some Google and found some code by this fellow, its good if you are doing it for PoC / learning.

var server = require('./server'); 
var controller = require("./controller"); 
var urlResponseHandlers = require("./urlResponseHandlers");   

var handle = {};   
handle["/"] = urlResponseHandlers.fetch; 
handle["/fetch"] = urlResponseHandlers.fetch; 
handle["/save"] = urlResponseHandlers.save;   
server.start(controller.dispatch, handle); 

Here is how the logic for handling URLs is displayed -

var staticHandler = require('./staticHandler');

function dispatch(handler, pathname, req, res) {
  console.log("About to dispatch a request for " + pathname);
  var content = "Hey " + pathname;
  if (typeof handler[pathname] === 'function') {
      content += handler[pathname](req);
      res.writeHead(200, {
          'Content-Type': 'text/html'
      });
      res.write(content);
      res.end();
  } else {
      console.log("No request handler found for " + pathname);
      staticHandler.handleStatic(pathname, res);
  }

}

Here is how static files can be handled -

function handleStatic(pageUrl, response) {
    var filename = path.join(process.cwd(), pageUrl);
    path.exists(filename, function (exists) {
        if (!exists) {
            console.log("not exists: " + filename);
            response.writeHead(404, {
                'Content-Type': 'text/html'
            });
            response.write('404 Not Found\n');
            response.end();
            return;
        }
        //Do not send Content type, browser will pick it up. 
        response.writeHead(200);
        var fileStream = fs.createReadStream(filename);
        fileStream.on('end', function () {
            response.end();
        });
        fileStream.pipe(response);
        return;
    });
}
exports.handleStatic = handleStatic;

I liked the idea. All code copied from this link! .