In this article, we will see how to use Express in TypeScript. The TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that provides type notation with the JavaScript, so we can handle our server, and very scalable for the future. Express is web framework helps to create server-side handling with the help of Nodejs
Prerequisite:
- Basic knowledge of NodeJS and Express.
- Basic knowledge of TypeScript.
Steps to create an Express server in Typescript:
Step 1: Initiate the package.json file with your working folder with the following command.
npm init -y
Note: The ‘-y’ flag is used to make the default configuration.
After creating package.json file, the following will be the output.
Step 2: Install the required modules using the following command.
- Add an express module for our server.
npm install express
- Add typescript and ts-node for run typescript on the NodeJS.
npm i typescript ts-node nodemon --save-dev
Note: The ‘–save-dev’ is used to add dev dependency.
- Add type declaration.
npm i @types/node @types/express
Step 3: Create a tsconfig.json file with the below code.
{ "compilerOptions": { "target": "es6", "module": "commonjs", "rootDir": "./", "outDir": "./build", "esModuleInterop": true, "strict": true } }
Step 4: Make the following change in the package.json file to run typescript directly.
Step 5: Create an index.ts file with the following code. Here we have created a minimal express server in typescript. Here, file name is index.ts.
Javascript
// Import the express in typescript file import express from 'express' ; // Initialize the express engine const app: express.Application = express(); // Take a port 3000 for running server. const port: number = 3000; // Handling '/' Request app.get( '/' , (_req, _res) => { _res.send( "TypeScript With Express" ); }); // Server setup app.listen(port, () => { console.log(`TypeScript with Express http: //localhost:${port}/`); }); |
Step 6: Start the server using the below command.
npm start
Output: We will see the following output on the terminal screen.
Step 7: Open the browser and go to http://localhost:3000, we will see the following output.
Reference:
- If you have to learn more about typescript refer to introduction-to-typescript article.
- If you have to learn more about express refer to introduction-to-express article.