This is my nodejs express setup for view and directories using handlebars:

- server.js
- routes
    |-- index.js
-config
    |-- config.js
- client
    |-- public
    |     | -- js
    |     | -- css
    |     | -- font
    |-- views
         |-- index.html
         |-- layout
              |-- layout.handlebars
    | ... other directories

And here is my node.js code:

// Set static folder
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/client/public')));
// Views and view engine
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, '/client/views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.engine('html', handlebars({ defaultLayout: 'layout' }));

Handlebars is not being able to find my layout. Its looking at the app/views/layouts/layout.handlebars, but it should be looking at app/client/views/layouts/layout.handlebars

What am I missing here ?

This is my nodejs express setup for view and directories using handlebars:

- server.js
- routes
    |-- index.js
-config
    |-- config.js
- client
    |-- public
    |     | -- js
    |     | -- css
    |     | -- font
    |-- views
         |-- index.html
         |-- layout
              |-- layout.handlebars
    | ... other directories

And here is my node.js code:

// Set static folder
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/client/public')));
// Views and view engine
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, '/client/views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.engine('html', handlebars({ defaultLayout: 'layout' }));

Handlebars is not being able to find my layout. Its looking at the app/views/layouts/layout.handlebars, but it should be looking at app/client/views/layouts/layout.handlebars

What am I missing here ?

• javascript
• node.js
• express
• handlebars.js

• Does this answer your question? How to change default layout in express using handlebars? – Anand Raja Commented Jan 27, 2020 at 6:43

1 Answer 1

Seems like you are using express-handlebars

You need to point the directories while creating an instance of it.

const hbs = exphbs.create({
    extname      :'hbs',
    layoutsDir   : 'path/to/layout/directory',
    defaultLayout: 'main',
    helpers      : 'path/to/helpers/directory',
    partialsDir  : [
        'path/to/partials/directory'
    ]
});

If you don't initiate it with custom folder locations, it looks up for the files in the default locations.

Also, the view engine needs to be set as hbs.engine not ejs

app.engine('hbs', hbs.engine);
app.set('view engine', 'hbs');