Steps to Create Project for testing File Download
Step 1: Create a new directory for your project. Open a terminal and run the following commands:
mkdir express-file-download-example
cd express-file-download-example
Step 2: Run the following command to initialize a new Node.js project and create a package.json file.
npm init -y
Step 3: Install Express by running the following command.
npm install express
Step 4: Create a new file named app.js in your project directory.
Project Structure:
The updated dependencies in package.json file will look like:
"dependencies": {
"express": "^4.18.2"
}
In Postman, you can save the response manually. However, in a real-world scenario, you might want to automate this process using Postman scripts or additional tools. This example provides a basic structure for testing file downloads.
Step 5: Add following code in App.js:
Javascript
//app.jsconst express = require("express");const app = express();app.get("/download", (req, res) => { // Simulate file content for testing const fileContent = "This is the content of the downloaded file.\n"; res.setHeader( "Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=example_document.txt" ); res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain"); res.send(fileContent);});const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;app.listen(PORT, () => { console.log(`Server is running on http://localhost:${PORT}`);}); |
Step 6: Open a terminal and run the following command to start your Express server.
node app.js
Your server should start and listen on port 3000.
Explanation:
This Node code uses the Express framework to set up a server. It responds to GET requests at the ‘/download’ endpoint by sending a simulated text file for download. The server sets headers to indicate that the response should trigger a file download, with the filename ‘example_document.txt’. It runs on either the specified port from the environment variable or defaults to port 3000, and a message is logged to the console upon successful startup. In summary, the code establishes a basic server serving a downloadable text file at a specific endpoint.
Explain the process of testing file downloads using Postman.
In web development, handling file downloads is a major requirement for various APIs. Postman is a powerful tool used for API testing and provides the process of testing file uploads. In this article, we will see how we can test file downloads with the help of Postman.