Upload and access to images on server with nginx and meteor - url

Question

I have a Meteor application deployed with nginx.
I try to upload images from the application to save the images on the server. When I'm in localhost, I save my images in the myapp/public/uploads folder. But, when I deploy, this folder become myapp/bundle/programs/web.browser/app/uploads. So, when I upload an image, it saved in a new folder in myapp/public/uploads. But so, I can't access to it. When I'm in localhost I access to my images like that : localhost:3000/uploads/myImage.png but when I do myAdress/uploads/myImage.png I access to the myapp/bundle/programs/web.browser/app/uploads folder and not the one where the images are saved (myapp/public/uploads).
This is my code to save images :
Meteor.startup(function () {
UploadServer.init({
tmpDir: process.env.PWD + '/app/uploads',
uploadDir: process.env.PWD + '/app/uploads',
checkCreateDirectories: true,
uploadUrl: '/upload',
// *** For renaming files on server
getFileName: function(file, formData) {
//CurrentUserId is a variable passed from publications.js
var name = file.name;
name = name.replace(/\s/g, '');
return currentTileId + "_" + name;
},
finished: function(fileInfo, formFields) {
var name = fileInfo.name;
name = name.replace(/\s/g, '');
insertionImages(name, currentTileId, docId);
},
});
});
So, do you know how can I do to save and access to my images when the application is deployed ? Maybe save the image in the myapp/bundle/programs/web.browser/app/uploads folder or access to the myapp/public/uploads folder with an url.

Answer 1

This is what we do.
Use an external dir for uploads, say, /var/uploads. Keeping the uploads in public folder makes the meteor app to reload in the dev environment, on any file upload.
Now, at local, use Meteor to serve these files at a certain url. In production, use nginx to serve the same at the same url.
For Development
1) Symlink your upload dir to a hidden folder in public.
eg:
ln -s /var/uploads /path/to/public/.#static
2) Serve the public hidden folder via Meteor by using:
The url /static will server the folder public/.#static by using the following code on the server. Ref: How to prevent Meteor from watching files?
var fs = require('fs'), mime = require('mime');
WebApp.rawConnectHandlers.use(function(req, res, next) {
var data, filePath, re, type;
re = /^\/static\/(.*)$/.exec(req.url);
if (re !== null) {
filePath = process.env.PWD + '/public/.#static/' + re[1];
try {
stats = fs.lstatSync(filePath);
if (stats.isFile()) {
type = mime.lookup(filePath);
data = fs.readFileSync(filePath, data);
res.writeHead(200, {
'Content-Type': type
});
res.write(data);
res.end();
}
}
catch (e) {
// console.error(filePath, "not found", e); // eslint-disable-line no-console
next();
}
}
else {
next();
}
});
For production
1) Use nginx for serving the upload dir
server {
...
location /static/ {
root /var/uploads;
}
...
}
That's it. /static will server the content of your uploads dir i.e. /var/uploads