Angular 2 http GET for json file returns 404

Question

I'm doing a POC to prove I have communication between the back end and front end in Angular Universal. I've got a JSON file in the back end called heroes.json that I want to retrieve from the front end service ModelService in model.service.ts.

I have this folder structure:

Within model.service.ts (front end) I want to create an http request to get some data in a method called getStuff().

I have this in model.service.ts:

// domain/feature service
@Injectable()
export class ModelService {
  private heroesUrl = "http://localhost:4000/src/backend/heroes.json"; // URL to JSON file
   // This is only one example of one Model depending on your domain
  constructor(public api: ApiService, public cacheService: CacheService, private http: Http) {

  }

  public getStuff(): Observable<any[]> {
        return this.http.get(this.heroesUrl)
                    .map(this.extractData)
                    .catch(this.handleError);
  }

    private extractData(res: Response) {
    let body = res.json();
    return body.data || { };
  }

    private handleError (error: Response | any) {
    // In a real world app, we might use a remote logging infrastructure
    let errMsg: string;
    if (error instanceof Response) {
      const body = error.json() || "";
      const err = body.error || JSON.stringify(body);
      errMsg = `${error.status} - ${error.statusText || ""} ${err}`;
    } else {
      errMsg = error.message ? error.message : error.toString();
    }
    console.error(errMsg);
    return Observable.throw(errMsg);
  }

    // domain/feature service
    @Injectable()
    export class ModelService {
      private heroesUrl = "http://localhost:4000/src/backend/heroes.json"; // URL to JSON file
       // This is only one example of one Model depending on your domain
      constructor(public api: ApiService, public cacheService: CacheService, private http: Http) {

      }

      public getStuff(): Observable<any[]> {
            return this.http.get(this.heroesUrl)
                        .map(this.extractData)
                        .catch(this.handleError);
      }

        private extractData(res: Response) {
        let body = res.json();
        return body.data || { };
      }

        private handleError (error: Response | any) {
        // In a real world app, we might use a remote logging infrastructure
        let errMsg: string;
        if (error instanceof Response) {
          const body = error.json() || "";
          const err = body.error || JSON.stringify(body);
          errMsg = `${error.status} - ${error.statusText || ""} ${err}`;
        } else {
          errMsg = error.message ? error.message : error.toString();
        }
        console.error(errMsg);
        return Observable.throw(errMsg);
      }

From a front end component I am calling the ModelService.getHeroes:

export class HomeComponent {

      public data: any = {};
      constructor(public modelService: ModelService) {
        // we need the data synchronously for the client to set the server response
        // we create another method so we have more control for testing
        this.universalInit();
      }

      public universalInit() {

        this.modelService.getStuff().subscribe((data) => {
          this.data = data;
        });
      }

I'm getting this error:

GET /src/backend/heroes.json 404 3.698 ms - 46
404 -  {"status":404,"message":"No Content"}
EXCEPTION: 404 -  {"status":404,"message":"No Content"}

/private/var/root/vepo/node_modules/rxjs/Subscriber.js:227
            throw err;
            ^
404 -  {"status":404,"message":"No Content"}
[nodemon] app crashed - waiting for file changes before starting...

So my url private heroesUrl = "http://localhost:4000/src/backend/heroes.json"; // URL to JSON file in the service is wrong. Given that folder structure, what would the url be? Because the actual running project, the output, is in dist:

So I'm not sure what to put in ModelService.heroesUrl. What string value should ModelService.heroesUrl have?

Answer 1

you have to put your json file into you dist folder client and you have to change your url to http://localhost:4000/dist/heroes.json<-- destination where you are putting your json file in dist directory

Answer 2

I put my the same file places.json to "assets" folder and after set the url like:

places = this.http.request("http://localhost:4200/assets/places.json")

hope this info will helpful for somebody.

Answer 3

Add your directory with the mock data to the "assets" part in angular-cli.json.