SimpleW

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Serve Static Files ​

Not only can you serve all your static files, but SimpleW is also great at serving your JavaScript applications — whether they're built with Vue, React, or anything else.

That's the goal of the StaticFilesModule.

Static File Resolution Flow ​

text
Incoming request path
      |
      v
Prefix match?
  | no
  v
next route / 404

  yes
   |
   v
Map URL to file path
   |
   v
File exists?
  | no -------------------------> 404 or auto-index
  |
  yes
   |
   v
Cache enabled?
  | yes --> serve cached entry / refresh via watcher
  | no  --> read from disk
   |
   v
Range header?
  | yes --> Partial Content
  | no  --> Full file
   |
   v
Response sent

Basic ​

To serve static files with very few lines of code :

csharp
using System;
using System.Net;
using SimpleW;
using SimpleW.Modules;

namespace Sample {
    class Program {

        static async Task Main() {

            // debug log
            Log.SetSink(Log.ConsoleWriteLine, LogLevel.Debug);

            // listen to all IPs port 2015
            var server = new SimpleWServer(IPAddress.Any, 2015);

            // use the StaticFilesModule
            server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
                options.Path = @"C:\www\spa\";                  // serve your files located here
                options.Prefix = "/";                           // to "/" endpoint
                options.CacheTimeout = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);    // cached for 24h
                options.AutoIndex = true;                       // enable autoindex if no index.html exists in the directory
            });

            // run server
            await server.RunAsync();
        }
    }
}

Then just point your browser to http://localhost:2015/.

Note : if AutoIndex is false and the directory does not contain a default document index.html, an http 404 error will return.

Note : on Windows, the Firewall can block this simple console app even if exposed on localhost and port > 1024. You need to allow access otherwise you will not reach the server.

Multiple Directories ​

SimpleW can handle multiple directories as soon as they are declared under different endpoints.

csharp
using System;
using System.Net;
using SimpleW;
using SimpleW.Observability;
using SimpleW.Modules;

namespace Sample {
    class Program {

        static async Task Main() {

            // debug log
            Log.SetSink(Log.ConsoleWriteLine, LogLevel.Debug);

            // listen to all IPs port 2015
            var server = new SimpleWServer(IPAddress.Any, 2015);

            // serve directories/endpoints
            server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
                options.Path = @"C:\www\frontend\";
                options.Prefix = "/";
                options.CacheTimeout = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);
            });
            server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
                options.Path = @"C:\www\public\";
                options.Prefix = "/public/";
                options.CacheTimeout = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);
            });

            await server.RunAsync();
        }
    }
}

Options ​

You can change some settings before server start.

To change the default document index.html to your own page

csharp
option.DefaultDocument = "maintenance.html";

Cache ​

By default, the StaticFilesModule() serves directories/files from disk to each request. To enable cache, set the CacheTimeout property to anything but null.

The following example enables cache for 1 day :

csharp
// serve statics files
server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
    options.Path = @"C:\www\";                      // serve your files located here
    options.Prefix = "/";                           // to "/" endpoint
    options.CacheFilter = "*.csv";                  // cache only csv files
    options.CacheTimeout = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);    // cached for 24h
});

NOTE

When cache is enabled, an internal filesystem watcher is keeping this cache up-to-date. It supports realtime file editing even when specific lock/write occurs.

Compressed disk cache ​

To avoid compressing the same static file on every request without keeping its content in memory, enable the compressed disk cache:

csharp
server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
    options.Path = @"C:\www\";
    options.CompressedDiskCache = true;
});

The module generates gzip and Brotli variants on demand next to the original file, then streams those variants directly from disk. The compression extension is appended to the source name: assets/app.js.br or assets/app.js.gz. Stale variants are regenerated when the source modification date changes and remain available across server restarts.

Range requests always use the original uncompressed file.

Range Requests (Streaming Support) ​

The StaticFilesModule automatically supports HTTP Range requests when serving files. This means that clients can request only a portion of a file instead of downloading it entirely.

This feature is particularly important for video files such as .mp4.

Modern browsers use Range requests to :

  • Start playback instantly
  • Jump (seek) to a specific timestamp
  • Avoid downloading the full file

With SimpleW, this works out of the box :

csharp
server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
    options.Path = @"C:\videos\";
    options.Prefix = "/videos/";
});

Then :

http://localhost:2015/videos/movie.mp4

The video will :

  • Start immediately
  • Allow seeking
  • Use efficient partial downloads

How to serve a Vue app ​

This section shows how to serve a Vue.js application.

First, create your vue/vite application :

bash
$ npm create vite@latest my-vue-app

> npx
> create-vite my-vue-app
│
◇  Select a framework:
│  Vue
│
◇  Select a variant:
│  JavaScript
│
◇  Use rolldown-vite (Experimental)?:
│  No
│
◇  Install with npm and start now?
│  Yes
│
◇  Scaffolding project in C:\www\toto\myapp\my-vue-app...
│
◇  Installing dependencies with npm...

added 35 packages, and audited 36 packages in 5s

6 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

found 0 vulnerabilities
│
◇  Starting dev server...

> my-vue-app@0.0.0 dev
> vite

  VITE v7.1.12  ready in 397 ms

  ➜  Local:   http://localhost:5173/
  ➜  Network: use --host to expose
  ➜  press h + enter to show help

Node will create all files and start serving the application using its own built-in web server. But we want SimpleW to serve the application in production mode.

So, build the application release :

bash
$ cd my-vue-app
$ npm run build

> my-vue-app@0.0.0 build
> vite build

vite v7.1.12 building for production...
✓ 16 modules transformed.
dist/index.html                  0.46 kB │ gzip:  0.29 kB
dist/assets/index-CIkLTZfM.css   1.26 kB │ gzip:  0.64 kB
dist/assets/index-Cc-rvdMb.js   61.31 kB │ gzip: 24.69 kB
✓ built in 424ms

To get the location of the dist files, run :

bash
$ pwd
> C:\www\my-vue-app\dist

Now, we will serve this directory using the StaticFilesModule module of SimpleW :

csharp
using System;
using System.Net;
using SimpleW;
using SimpleW.Observability;
using SimpleW.Modules;

namespace Sample {
    class Program {

        static async Task Main() {

            // debug log
            Log.SetSink(Log.ConsoleWriteLine, LogLevel.Debug);

            // listen to all IPs port 2015
            var server = new SimpleWServer(IPAddress.Any, 2015);

            server.UseStaticFilesModule(options => {
                options.Path = @"C:\www\my-vue-app\dist\";      // serve your files located here
                options.Prefix = "/";                           // to "/" endpoint
                options.CacheTimeout = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);    // cached for 24h
                options.AutoIndex = true;                       // enable autoindex if no index.html exists in the directory
            });

            // run server
            await server.RunAsync();
        }
    }
}

Open your browser to http://localhost:2015/ and you will see your vue.js app.

NOTE

You can update any files in this directory without having to reload SimpleW.