React Router, pushState with an Express Server - express

Question

quick question regarding using React-Router. I'm having trouble getting my server to handle pushState (if this is the correct term). Originally, I was using a module called connect-history-api-fallback, which was a middleware that enabled me to only server up static files form my dist directory. Visiting the client www.example.com obviously worked and I could navigate throughout the site, additionally, refreshing at any route like www.example.com/about - could also work.
However, I recently added one simple API endpoint on my Express server for the React app/client to ping. The problem now is that while I can get the initial page load to work (and thus the /api/news call to work, to fetch data from a remote service), I can no longer do a refresh on any other routes. For example, now going to www.example.com/about will result in a failed GET request for /about. How can I remediate this? Really appreciate the help! PS - not sure if it matters, but I'm considering implementing Server Side Rendering later on.
import express from 'express';
import historyApiFallback from 'connect-history-api-fallback';
import config from '../config';
import chalk from 'chalk';
import fetch from 'node-fetch';
import path from 'path';
const app = express();
// FIXME: Unsure whether or not this can be used.
// app.use(historyApiFallback({
// verbose : true
// }));
//// DEVELOPMENT MODE ONLY - USING EXPRESS + HMR ////
/* Enable webpack middleware for hot module reloading */
if (config.get('globals').__DEV__) {
const webpack = require('webpack');
const webpackConfig = require('../build/webpack/development_hot');
const compiler = webpack(webpackConfig);
app.use(require('./middleware/webpack-dev')({
compiler,
publicPath : webpackConfig.output.publicPath
}));
app.use(require('./middleware/webpack-hmr')({ compiler }));
}
//// PRODUCTION MODE ONLY - EXPRESS SERVER /////
if (config.get('globals').__PROD__) {
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/dist'));
}
//// API ENDPOINTS FOR ALL ENV ////
app.get('/api/news', function (req, res) {
fetch('http://app-service:5000/news')
.then( response => response.json() )
.then( data => res.send(data) )
.catch( () => res.sendStatus(404) );
});
// Wildcard route set up to capture other requests (currently getting undexpected token '<' error in console)
app.get('*', function (req, res) {
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, '../dist', 'index.html'));
});
export default app;

Answer 1

Express works by implementing a series of middleware that you "plug in" in order via .use. The cool thing is your routes are also just middlware — so you can separate them out, have them before your history fallback, and then only requests that make it past your routes (e.g., didn't match any routes) will hit the fallback.
Try something like the following:
const app = express();
// ...
var routes = exprss.Router();
routes.get('/api/news', function (req, res) {
fetch('http://app-service:5000/news')
.then( response => response.json() )
.then( data => res.send(data) )
.catch( () => res.sendStatus(404) );
});
app.use(routes);
app.use(historyApiFallback({
verbose : true
}));