Showing custom 404 error page with standard http package

Following is the approach I choose. It is based on a code snippet which I cannot acknowledge since I lost the browser bookmark.

Sample code : (I put it in my main package)

type hijack404 struct {
    http.ResponseWriter
    R *http.Request
    Handle404 func (w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool
}

func (h *hijack404) WriteHeader(code int) {
    if 404 == code && h.Handle404(h.ResponseWriter, h.R) {
        panic(h)
    }

    h.ResponseWriter.WriteHeader(code)
}

func Handle404(handler http.Handler, handle404 func (w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool) http.Handler {
    return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request){
        hijack := &hijack404{ ResponseWriter:w, R: r, Handle404: handle404 }

        defer func() {
            if p:=recover(); p!=nil {
                if p==hijack {
                    return
                }
                panic(p)
            }
        }()

        handler.ServeHTTP(hijack, r)
    })
}

func fire404(res http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) bool{
    fmt.Fprintf(res, "File not found. Please check to see if your URL is correct.");

    return true;
}

func main(){
    handler_statics := http.StripPrefix("/static/", http.FileServer(http.Dir("/Path_To_My_Static_Files")));

    var v_blessed_handler_statics http.Handler = Handle404(handler_statics, fire404);

    http.Handle("/static/", v_blessed_handler_statics);

    // add other handlers using http.Handle() as necessary

    if err := http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil); err != nil{
        log.Fatal("ListenAndServe: ", err);
    }
}

Please customize the func fire404 to output your own version of message for error 404.

If you happen to be using Gorilla Mux, you may wish to replace the main function with below :

func main(){
    handler_statics := http.StripPrefix("/static/", http.FileServer(http.Dir("/Path_To_My_Static_Files")));

    var v_blessed_handler_statics http.Handler = Handle404(handler_statics, fire404);

    r := mux.NewRouter();
    r.PathPrefix("/static/").Handler(v_blessed_handler_statics);

    // add other handlers with r.HandleFunc() if necessary...

    http.Handle("/", r);

    log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil));
}

Please kindly correct the code if it is wrong, since I am only a newbie to Go. Thanks.

i think the clean way is this:

func main() {

http.HandleFunc("/calculator", calculatorHandler)
http.HandleFunc("/history", historyHandler)
http.HandleFunc("/", notFoundHandler)

log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":80", nil))
}

if the address is not /calulator or /history, then it handles notFoundHandler function.

I usually do this:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    http.HandleFunc("/", homeHandler)
    http.HandleFunc("/smth/", smthHandler)
    http.ListenAndServe(":12345", nil)
}

func homeHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    if r.URL.Path != "/" {
        errorHandler(w, r, http.StatusNotFound)
        return
    }
    fmt.Fprint(w, "welcome home")
}

func smthHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    if r.URL.Path != "/smth/" {
        errorHandler(w, r, http.StatusNotFound)
        return
    }
    fmt.Fprint(w, "welcome smth")
}

func errorHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, status int) {
    w.WriteHeader(status)
    if status == http.StatusNotFound {
        fmt.Fprint(w, "custom 404")
    }
}

Here I've simplified the code to only show custom 404, but I actually do more with this setup: I handle all the HTTP errors with errorHandler, in which I log useful information and send email to myself.