Add --spa option

README.md

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ This will install `http-server` globally so that it may be run from the command
 |`-c` |Set cache time (in seconds) for cache-control max-age header, e.g. `-c10` for 10 seconds. To disable caching, use `-c-1`.|`3600` |
 |`-U` or `--utc` |Use UTC time format in log messages.| |
 |`--log-ip` |Enable logging of the client's IP address |`false` |
+|`--spa` |Fallback to index.html (for single page applications)` |`false`|
 |`-P` or `--proxy` |Proxies all requests which can't be resolved locally to the given url. e.g.: -P http://someurl.com | |
 |`--proxy-options` |Pass proxy [options](https://github.com/http-party/node-http-proxy#options) using nested dotted objects. e.g.: --proxy-options.secure false |
 |`--username` |Username for basic authentication | |
@@ -73,17 +74,10 @@ This will install `http-server` globally so that it may be run from the command
 ## Magic Files
 
 - `index.html` will be served as the default file to any directory requests.
-- `404.html` will be served if a file is not found. This can be used for Single-Page App (SPA) hosting to serve the entry page.
+- `404.html` will be served if a file is not found.
 
-## Catch-all redirect
+For Single-Page App (SPA) hosting, use the `--spa` option. That will serve the entry page by `index.html`.
 
-To implement a catch-all redirect, use the index page itself as the proxy with:
-
-```
-http-server --proxy http://localhost:8080?
-```
-
-Note the `?` at the end of the proxy URL. Thanks to [@houston3](https://github.com/houston3) for this clever hack!
 
 ## TLS/SSL
 

bin/http-server

@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ if (argv.h || argv.help) {
     '  -U --utc     Use UTC time format in log messages.',
     '  --log-ip     Enable logging of the client\'s IP address',
     '',
+    '  --spa        Fallback to index.html (for single page applications)',
+    '',
     '  -P --proxy       Fallback proxy if the request cannot be resolved. e.g.: http://someurl.com',
     '  --proxy-options  Pass options to proxy using nested dotted objects. e.g.: --proxy-options.secure false',
     '',
@@ -148,6 +150,7 @@ function listen(port) {
     robots: argv.r || argv.robots,
     ext: argv.e || argv.ext,
     logFn: logger.request,
+    spa: argv.spa,
     proxy: proxy,
     proxyOptions: proxyOptions,
     showDotfiles: argv.dotfiles,

lib/core/defaults.json

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
   "brotli": false,
   "defaultExt": ".html",
   "handleError": true,
+  "spa": false,
   "contentType": "application/octet-stream",
   "weakEtags": true,
   "weakCompare": true,

lib/core/index.js

@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ module.exports = function createMiddleware(_dir, _options) {
   const baseDir = opts.baseDir;
   let defaultExt = opts.defaultExt;
   const handleError = opts.handleError;
+  const spa = opts.spa;
   const headers = opts.headers;
   const weakEtags = opts.weakEtags;
   const handleOptionsMethod = opts.handleOptionsMethod;
@@ -359,6 +360,11 @@ module.exports = function createMiddleware(_dir, _options) {
                 url: `${parsed.pathname}.${defaultExt}${(parsed.search) ? parsed.search : ''}`,
                 headers: req.headers,
               }, res, next);
+            } else if (spa) {
+              middleware({
+                url: `/${path.join(baseDir, `index.${defaultExt}`)}`,
+                headers: req.headers,
+              }, res, next);
             } else {
               // Try to serve default ./404.html
               const rawUrl = (handleError ? `/${path.join(baseDir, `404.${defaultExt}`)}` : req.url);

lib/core/opts.js

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ module.exports = (opts) => {
   let brotli = defaults.brotli;
   let defaultExt = defaults.defaultExt;
   let handleError = defaults.handleError;
+  let spa = defaults.spa;
   const headers = {};
   let contentType = defaults.contentType;
   let mimeTypes;
@@ -117,6 +118,10 @@ module.exports = (opts) => {
       return false;
     });
 
+    if (typeof opts.spa !== 'undefined' && opts.spa !== null) {
+      spa = opts.spa;
+    }
+
     aliases.cors.forEach((k) => {
       if (isDeclared(k) && opts[k]) {
         handleOptionsMethod = true;
@@ -193,6 +198,7 @@ module.exports = (opts) => {
     gzip,
     brotli,
     handleError,
+    spa,
     headers,
     contentType,
     mimeTypes,

lib/http-server.js

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ function HttpServer(options) {
   this.autoIndex = options.autoIndex !== 'false';
   this.showDotfiles = options.showDotfiles;
   this.gzip = options.gzip === true;
+  this.spa = options.spa === true;
   this.brotli = options.brotli === true;
   if (options.ext) {
     this.ext = options.ext === true
@@ -133,6 +134,7 @@ function HttpServer(options) {
     autoIndex: this.autoIndex,
     defaultExt: this.ext,
     gzip: this.gzip,
+    spa: this.spa,
     brotli: this.brotli,
     contentType: this.contentType,
     mimetypes: options.mimetypes,