Node js express.compiler error

Question

I am currently working on an express.js Webapp, Im working off the boilerplate app that comes with MS Webmatrix. I am able to run the app on my computer but when i push to nodejitsu or use another computer from which i got the app from git i get an error preventing server start.

app.use(express.compiler({ src: __dirname + '/public', enable: ['less'] })
                ^
TypeError: Object function createApplication() {
var app = connect();
utils.merge(app, proto);
app.request = { __proto__: req };
app.response = { __proto__: res };
app.init();
return app;
} has no method 'compiler'
at Function.<anonymous> (C:\Users\hoopdog2\Desktop\afterthoughts_nodejs\serv
er.js:197:21)
at Function.app.configure (C:\Users\hoopdog2\Desktop\afterthoughts_nodejs\no
de_modules\express\lib\application.js:399:61)
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\hoopdog2\Desktop\afterthoughts_nodejs\server
.js:188:5)
at Module._compile (module.js:449:26)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:467:10)
at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
at Module.runMain (module.js:492:10)
at process.startup.processNextTick.process._tickCallback (node.js:244:9)

The dependencies that that app uses are

"node-uuid": ">= 1.3.3",
"everyauth": ">= 0.2.29",
"nconf": ">= 0.5.1",
"express": ">= 2.5.0",
"jade": ">= 0.18.0",
"less": ">= 1.1.5",
"socket.io": ">= 0.8.7",
"connect": ">=1.8.5",
"recaptcha": ">=1.1.0"

And i am using node version 0.8.7. Any suggestions to what might be causing this error is greatly appreciated

Answer 1

The compiler middleware for Express comes from the Connect framework and as of Jul 2011 Connect no longer includes compiler. So doing express.compiler(...) doesn't work anymore.

A LESS-specific middleware has been created and Express now uses that if you include it in your startup config. express -c less will add this line to the config:

  app.use(require('less-middleware')({ src: __dirname + '/public' }));

If you have an older version of Express and Connect, you can add less-middleware to your package.json and add the line above to get it working.

It works pretty much the same as the original compiler, but includes some more bells and whistles.

less-middleware project repository

Answer 2

Thanks to Hector i resolved the issue. I had the wrong version of express installed and changing express to = 2.5.0 from >=2.5.0 and reinstalling dependencies has fixed the issue and i am now able to run the app. Thanks