node-cgi

Node as CGI-module

0.10.0

Use Node.js like PHP as a CGI-module in web servers. Proof of concept, don't use in production.

Getting started

Install node-cgi locally or globally with npm. To use it with an Apache httpd web server create a link to bin/node-cgi inside your cgi-bin directory and add the following lines to your httpd config or .htaccess file:

Action       'node-script'  '/cgi-bin/node-cgi'
AddHandler   'node-script'  '.nd'

assuming that /cgi-bin/ is the path to your CGI directory. This will run all files *.nd through the Node.js CGI module.

An example file hello.nd could look like:

<?js
    header('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
    write('Hello!');
?>

Another example file hello.html.nd is a HTML file and could look like:

<?js
    header('test', true);
    const fac = n => n < 2 ? 1 : n * fac(n - 1);
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <body>
        <h1>hello</h1>
        <h2><?js write(fac(5)) ?></h2>
        <h2><? write(fac(7)) ?></h2>
        <h2><?= fac(10) ?></h2>
    </body>
</html>

Globals

The following globals are defined inside the context of a file:

// environment object, access to the CGI variables
env: object

// set a HTTP header field, "Content-Type" is preset to "text/html"
header(key: String, value: String): undefined

// write s to the HTTP content
write(s: String): undefined

// requires a module, arg might be an module name, an absolute or relative path
require(arg: String): any

// self-reference to the global space
global: object

Mappings

After the initial evaluation of the page content additional renderers are used based on the file extension: *.pug.nd, *.md.nd.

Inject your JavaScript code into files.

<?js /* ... some JavaScript code here ... */ ?>

<?js
    /* ... multiline code is fine too ... */
?>

<?= i ?>        // same as <?js write(i); ?>
<?= 'hello' ?>  // same as <?js write('hello'); ?>
Works best with JavaScript enabled!Works best in modern browsers!