Instructions

You will need:

• A computer (Preferably on windows software),
• Access to the localhost document repository (the one you are in now),
• The ability to download an app.

Installing node.js and Websocket

Node.js is a software that will allow you to easily host websites of all kinds using your computer as the server. It is one of the best server software to use because it can handle multiple requests simultaneously.

To install node.js, click either button on this page.

When the file finishes downloading, open it and follow through the instructions to install node.js on your computer. Once node.js is finished installing, it is recommended that you restart your computer.

After you have restarted your computer, open the Command Prompt. If you are using a windows device, you can find the command prompt by typing "Command Prompt" into the search bar on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.

In the Command prompt, type the following:

node -v

If node.js is properly installed, you should see the version of node.js that you are using, which will be something like v16.17.0.

Now, you will need to install websocket. Don't worry! This will be a lot easier than installing node.js. Just type the following into the Command Prompt:

npm install ws

Now you have all the installation and software that you need!

Setting up the server

Download or copy server.js from this repository into the folder C:\Users\<your name>.

To run the server, go to the Command Prompt and type the following:

node server.js

Congratulations! Your computer is now a server!

Note: You can stop your computer from being a server at any time by going to the Command Prompt and using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + c. Your computer also stops being a server when you close the Command Prompt.

To see if your server setup was sucessful, try going to Chrome or any other web browser and typing localhost:80 into the URL bar. You can also go there by clicking this link.

You should see a 404-file-not-found error. This is because we haven't set up the page, yet. If you see the 404 error, then your server works! If not, please go to the discussions page of this repository for help.

Setting up the html page

Download or copy page.html from this repository into your desktop.

Now, you will need to do some editing specific to your device.

Open page.html with Visual Studio Code or some kind of code editor. (Do not double click it because that will open it with a web browser, which will show what the code does rather than a place to edit the code.)

In line 36 you will see: let yourIP = "192.168.1.100";. You will need to change the number within the quotation marks to match your device's IPv4 address.

To find out what your IPv4 address is, open the Command Prompt and type:

ipconfig

You will see a lot of information. One section of the information will look something like this:

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : attlocal.net
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2602:301:7777:3f00::48
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2602:301:7777:3f00:e9e8:ae6f:c003:aa84
   Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2602:301:7777:3f00:48fa:b4ed:d7d2:27c2
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::e9e8:ae6f:c003:aa84%12
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::42b7:f3ff:fe54:62f0%12
                                       192.168.1.254

Your IPv4 address is in the line:

   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100

In the above example, 192.168.1.100 is the IPv4 address. Your IPv4 will probably be different. Copy it (or memorize it) and, finally, change line 36 in page.html so that your IPv4 address is in the quotation marks.

Use Ctrl + s to save the edited code.

That's it! Your locally hosted document is ready to go!

Running the server

Go back to the Command Prompt and type:

node server.js

Your computer is now running as a server! To test it, open Chrome or any other web browser and type localhost:80 into the URL bar. You can also go there by clicking this link. You should see an aqua-colored page with a large text area.

To access the site from another device connected to the same wifi network, just type your IPv4 address into the url bar.

Note: You cannot access the localhost document if you are not connected to the same wifi network as the server. If you want to be able to do that, you will have to purchase a URL domain and run a DNS server to redirect requests from any device to your local server.

HELP

If something doesn't turn out right, just let me know in the discussions page of this repository. I'd be glad to help.