node.js - Dynamically create and stream zip to client

Question

I am using NodeJs (w/express) and I am trying to stream a zip file back to the client. The files contained in the zip do not live on the file system, rather they are created dynamically. I would like to stream the file(s) content to the zip and stream the zip back to the client.

I.E. I want the client to receive:

tmp.zip
 --> 1.txt
 --> 2.txt
 --> 3.txt

Where 1,2,3.txt are created on the fly and streamed to the zip file. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Archiver has an append method that lets you save text as a file. To "stream" that data to the user you can simply pipe to the HTTP response object.

var Http = require('http');
var Archiver = require('archiver');

Http.createServer(function (request, response) {
    // Tell the browser that this is a zip file.
    response.writeHead(200, {
        'Content-Type': 'application/zip',
        'Content-disposition': 'attachment; filename=myFile.zip'
    });

    var zip = Archiver('zip');

    // Send the file to the page output.
    zip.pipe(response);

    // Create zip with some files. Two dynamic, one static. Put #2 in a sub folder.
    zip.append('Some text to go in file 1.', { name: '1.txt' })
        .append('Some text to go in file 2. I go in a folder!', { name: 'somefolder/2.txt' })
        .file('staticFiles/3.txt', { name: '3.txt' })
        .finalize();

}).listen(process.env.PORT);

This will create a zip file with the two text files. The user visiting this page will be presented with a file download prompt.