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lack-middleware-staticweb

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This middleware can be used to serve files from a directory. However, I don't recommend using it for production because it should be inefficient because a few lambdas are created on each request.

The middleware should be parametrized with two arguments: path and root.

The path is a prefix from the URL. The root is the root directory on the local filesystem. For example, if root is /tmp/files/ and path is /static/ then for URL http://my-site.com/static/some/file.txt Lack will return content of the /tmp/files/some/file.txt.

Here is a small example, showing how does it work:

POFTHEDAY> (defparameter *app*
             (lambda (env)
               '(200 (:content-type "text/plain")
                 ("A main app's response"))))

POFTHEDAY> (clack:clackup
            (lack:builder
             (:static
              ;; This is a path of URL
              ;; to serve static files
              :path "/static/"
              ;; from this directory
              ;; on the filesystem
              :root #P"./static-files/")
             *app*)
            :port 8082)
Hunchentoot server is started.
Listening on 127.0.0.1:8082.

POFTHEDAY> (values (dex:get "http://localhost:8082/static/the-file.txt"))
"My static file"

POFTHEDAY> (values (dex:get "http://localhost:8082/static/missing.txt"))
; Debugger entered on #<DEXADOR.ERROR:HTTP-REQUEST-NOT-FOUND {100B944133}>

POFTHEDAY> (values (dex:get "http://localhost:8082/other/path"))
"A main app's response"

Also, you can pass a function as a path argument. This way some sort of filtering may be done. The function should return another path and you probably will need to remove a prefix from it.

For example, if we want to serve only a css files from the static-files directory:

POFTHEDAY> (alexandria:write-string-into-file
            "Some secret README"
            #P"static-files/README.txt")

POFTHEDAY> (alexandria:write-string-into-file
            "Just CSS file"
            #P"static-files/the.css")

POFTHEDAY> (clack:clackup
            (lack:builder
             (:static
              ;; This is a function to filter filename
              ;; of the served static files:
              :path (lambda (original-path)
                      ;; When this function returns nil,
                      ;; the request is passed to the main application.
                      (when (and (str:ends-with-p ".css"
                                                  original-path)
                                 (str:starts-with-p "/static/"
                                                    original-path))
                        ;; you need to rewrite the path manually:
                        (subseq original-path 7)))
              ;; from this directory
              ;; on the filesystem
              :root #P"./static-files/")
             *app*)
            :port 8085)
Hunchentoot server is started.
Listening on 127.0.0.1:8085.

POFTHEDAY> (dex:get "http://localhost:8085/static/the.css")
"Just CSS file"

POFTHEDAY> (dex:get "http://localhost:8085/static/README.txt")
"A main app's response"

There is no any way to return 404 or 403 error in this case. This should be done on the main app's level.

That is it for today. Tomorrow we'll how to protect your app with basic auth!