Error: No default engine was specified and no extension was provided

Question

I am working through setting up a http server using node.js and engine. However, I keep running into issues that I have little information on how to resolve I would apprecia

Answer 1

I just got this error message, and the problem was that I was not setting up my middleware properly.

I am building a blog in the MEAN stack and needed body parsing for the .jade files that I was using on the front end side. Here is the snippet of code from my "/middleware/index.js" file, from my project.

var express = require('express');
var morgan = require('morgan');
var session = require('express-session');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

module.exports = function (app) {
app.use(morgan('dev'));

// Good for now
// In the future, use connect-mongo or similar
// for persistant sessions
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
    extended: true
}));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(session({secret: 'building a blog', saveUninitialized: true, resave: true}));

Also, here is my "package.json" file, you may be using different versions of technologies. Note: because I am not sure of the dependencies between them, I am including the whole file here:

"dependencies": {
    "body-parser": "1.12.3",
    "consolidate": "0.12.1",
    "cookie-parser": "1.3.4",
    "crypto": "0.0.3",
    "debug": "2.1.1",
    "express": "4.12.2",
    "express-mongoose": "0.1.0",
    "express-session": "1.11.1",
    "jade": "1.9.2",
    "method-override": "2.3.2",
    "mongodb": "2.0.28",
    "mongoose": "4.0.2",
    "morgan": "1.5.1",
    "request": "2.55.0",
    "serve-favicon": "2.2.0",
    "swig": "1.4.2"
  }

Hope this helps someone! All the best!

Answer 2

instead of

app.get('/', (req, res) => res.render('Hellooooo'))

use

app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('Hellooooo'))

Answer 3

The above answers are correct, but I found that a simple typo can also generate this error. For example, I had var router = express() instead of var router = express.Router() and got this error. So it should be the following:

// App.js 
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended:false}));
// assuming you put views folder in the same directory as app.js
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views')
app.engine('ejs', ejs.renderFile);
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
// router - wherever you put it, could be in app.js
var router = express.Router();
router.get('/', function (req,res) {
  res.render('/index.ejs');
})

Answer 4

You are missing the view engine, for example use jade:

change your

app.set('view engine', 'html');

with

app.set('view engine', 'jade');

If you want use a html friendly syntax use instead ejs

app.engine('html', require('ejs').renderFile);
app.set('view engine', 'html');

EDIT

As you can read from view.js Express View Module

module.exports = View;

/**
 * Initialize a new `View` with the given `name`.
 *
 * Options:
 *
 *   - `defaultEngine` the default template engine name
 *   - `engines` template engine require() cache
 *   - `root` root path for view lookup
 *
 * @param {String} name
 * @param {Object} options
 * @api private
 */

function View(name, options) {
  options = options || {};
  this.name = name;
  this.root = options.root;
  var engines = options.engines;
  this.defaultEngine = options.defaultEngine;
  var ext = this.ext = extname(name);
  if (!ext && !this.defaultEngine) throw new Error('No default engine was specified and no extension was provided.');
  if (!ext) name += (ext = this.ext = ('.' != this.defaultEngine[0] ? '.' : '') + this.defaultEngine);
  this.engine = engines[ext] || (engines[ext] = require(ext.slice(1)).__express);
  this.path = this.lookup(name);
}

You must have installed a default engine

Express search default layout view by program.template as you can read below:

mkdir(path + '/views', function(){
      switch (program.template) {
        case 'ejs':
          write(path + '/views/index.ejs', ejsIndex);
          break;
        case 'jade':
          write(path + '/views/layout.jade', jadeLayout);
          write(path + '/views/index.jade', jadeIndex);
          break;
        case 'jshtml':
          write(path + '/views/layout.jshtml', jshtmlLayout);
          write(path + '/views/index.jshtml', jshtmlIndex);
          break;
        case 'hjs':
          write(path + '/views/index.hjs', hoganIndex);
          break;

      }
    });

and as you can read below:

program.template = 'jade';
if (program.ejs) program.template = 'ejs';
if (program.jshtml) program.template = 'jshtml';
if (program.hogan) program.template = 'hjs';

the default view engine is jade

Answer 5

Comment out the res.render lines in your code and add in next(err); instead. If you're not using a view engine, the res.render stuff will throw an error.

Sorry, you'll have to comment out this line as well:

app.set('view engine', 'html');

My solution would result in not using a view engine though. You don't need a view engine, but if that's the goal, try this:

app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');
//swap jade for ejs etc

You'll need the res.render lines when using a view engine as well. Something like this:

// error handlers
// development error handler
// will print stacktrace
if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
  app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
    res.status(err.status || 500);
    res.render('error', {
    message: err.message,
    error: err
    });
  });
}
// production error handler
// no stacktraces leaked to user
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
  res.status(err.status || 500);
  next(err);
  res.render('error', {
  message: err.message,
  error: {}
  });
});

Answer 6

set view engine following way

app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');