allow returning file details in JSON

[adamarthurryan]

I'm proposing a patch that allows fs.Stats file info to be returned in JSON. This is be enabled by the jsonStat option. The stat fields properties are screened to only pass a machine-neutral subset (ie. not exposing user ids, device ids, etc.). Also, the isFile() and isDirectory() function return values are encoded as properties.

Any thoughts on this?

[adamarthurryan]

I'm not sure that the selection of properties returned is quite right. Perhaps it would make sense to depart from the fs.Stats format and come up with a better list of relevant properties. (Eg. type=[file|dir], readable, writable, created, modified, etc.)

[adamarthurryan]

Ah, also, I guess I used some too-newfangled JS in my testing code. I'll revise that.

[dougwilson]

I like this idea, sorry this repo has been on the side lines for a while. Any interest in rebasing it to the latest master / making the JS change you mentioned?

[coolaj86]

I’ve also created a PR for this.

https://github.com/expressjs/serve-index/issues/74

My implementation is slightly different in that it adheres to the W3 File API:

• name
• size
• type
• lastModified

Type is “inode/directory” for dirs.

With my string of commits the goal is to provide the same subset of data to all of the serveIndex template functions (plain, json, html) and pave a way forward for separating the security and functionality from the view and layout so that it’s easy to publish and use a “theme” module to handle diverse needs rather than having to fork serve-index itself and potentially fall behind.

Does that work for your use case? Or do you specifically need access time and the date of creation?