Custom server Express doesn't match routes Express routes?

[bresson]

https://github.com/zeit/next.js/tree/master/examples/custom-server-express

Based on the documentation for custom-server-express, my understanding is the express backend can match income requests and render the appropriate assets. The example leads me to believe it would be possible to define routes using Express However, when any of the <Link .../> components displaying on a page is clicked, the browser will bypass the matching route on the backend and proceed directly to the catch all route.

For instance, in the custom-server-express example, the following request will match '/a' and respond with a rendering of the page at 'b'.

server.get('/a', (req, res) => { return app.render(req, res, '/b', req.query) })
However, the match never seems to occur on the backend. Am I mistaken in my understanding of the documentation?

[unregistered]

When you click the <Link> component, Next.js will fetch only the data and render the next page on the client instead of invoking SSR. Here's one example which integrates express routes with next.js: #2594

[nickdandakis]

@bresson, can you share your entire server.js?

[bresson]

@unregistered Thanks for your answer and link. Have I misunderstood the Next.js 2.0 documentation and examples which discuss custom server routing? Here's a link to the example which I think documents the feature : https://github.com/zeit/next.js/tree/master/examples/custom-server-express

@nickdandakis I'm only experimenting with the Next.js custom server example in the link above. The extent of my experimentation is trying to switch routing matches on the backend

[nickdandakis]

@bresson, I just cloned and ran that example. Works exactly as intended. Navigating to /a renders pages/b.js, and navigating to /b renders pages/a.js.

I now understand your question though. Using <Link> navigates to the actual page the href is set to. When you click on a <Link>, the client-side application navigates to the route, which never even reaches server.js. It's a bit easier to understand if you click on a <Link> and then hard refresh the page, to trigger a server render (or by looking at "View source" of the page).

[timneutkens]

Okay so what you have to do is this:
<Link href="/page?id=1" as="/blog/hello-world"><a>Your link</a></Link>
This will render /page?id=1 but set the url to /blog/hello-world