Express.js + EJS complete solution

02 March 2021

People who have less time to invest and are familiar with the Handlebar template engine can quickly set up their website.

Let’s directly jump to work!

Prerequisites

Up and running Node.js

Project structure

# setup project structure

app
|-- public
- styles.css
|-- views
- index.ejs
-- components
- header.ejs
- footer.ejs
|- app.js
|- data.json

Once you create the above file/folder structure we will start configuring our server by installing node modules.

NPM scripts

# initialize npm (please follow the steps)
$ npm init

After executing the above command you will see the package.json file inside the root directory of your project in your case app/package.json.

Now we can start installing our node modules.

$ npm i ejs express

After you install the above two modules, your package.json file should look like this.

/* package.json */

{
  "name": "expressjs-ejs-project",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node app.js",
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {},
  "dependencies": {
    "ejs": "^3.1.6",
    "express": "^4.17.1"
  }
}

Server setup

/* app.js */

const express = require('express');
const server = express();
const data = require('./data.json');

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;

server.set('view engine', 'ejs');
server.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

server.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.render('index', {data: {nav: data.nav, page: data.pages.index}});
});

server.get('/contact', (req, res) => {
  res.render('index', {data: {nav: data.nav, page: data.pages.contact}});
});

server.get('/about', (req, res) => {
  res.render('index', {data: {nav: data.nav, page: data.pages.about}});
});

server.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Sever is started on ${PORT}`);
});

/* data.json */

{
  "nav": [
    {
      "label": "Home",
      "url": "/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Contact",
      "url": "/contact"
    },
    {
      "label": "About",
      "url": "/about"
    }
  ],
  "pages": {
    "index": {
      "title": "Welcome to my website",
      "details": "Dummy text: Its function as a filler or as a tool for comparing the visual impression of different typefaces"
    },
    "contact": {
      "title": "Welcome to my website | Contact",
      "details": "The most well-known dummy text is the 'Lorem Ipsum', which is said to have originated in the 16th century."
    },
    "about": {
      "title": "Welcome to my website | About",
      "details": "One disadvantage of Lorum Ipsum is that in Latin certain letters appear more frequently than others - which creates a distinct visual impression."
    }
  }
}

<!-- views/index.ejs -->

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title><%=data.page.title%></title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css" />
  </head>

  <body>
    <%- include("components/header"); %>
    <main>
      <h1><%=data.page.title%></h1>
      <p><%=data.page.details%></p>
    </main>
    <%- include("components/footer"); %>
  </body>
</html>

<!-- views/conponents/header.ejs -->

<header>
  <ul>
    <% data.nav.forEach((item)=> { %>
    <li><a href="<%= item.url %>"> <%= item.label %> </a></li>
    <% }) %>
  </ul>
</header>

<!-- views/conponents/footer.ejs -->

<footer>
  <p>Made with ❤️ and ExpressJS and EJS</p>
</footer>

/* public/css/style.css */

body {
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 2rem;
}

ul {
  list-style-type: none;
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
}

ul li {
  display: inline-block;
  padding: 0.3rem;
}

header,
footer {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  height: 10rem;
}

footer p {
  width: 100%;
  text-align: center;
}

Run your application

After doing all the above stuff, it’s time to run your website on the local machine.

$ npm start

After running the above command you will see you’re server has been started on the 3000 port and accessible through http://localhost:3000/

Wish you all the best, in case you have any question feel free to drop them below or use my contact page.