bex v0.2.4
bex
Express.js application bootstrapper. Simplicity, brevity, flexibility.
Installation
npm i bex --save
Example
app.js
var config = require('./config').web;
var ong = require('ong').init();
require('bex').createApp({
basedir: __dirname,
bodyParser: { limit: '1mb' },
viewEngine: require('express-dot').__express,
hooks: { after: initialize }
}).listen(config.port);
function initialize (app) {
ong.register('db', require('knex')(config.db));
ong.register(this.requireAll(__dirname + '/modules'));
}
controllers/items.js
module.exports = {
create: _.flow($.sanitize, $.validate, $.authorize, function (params) {
return $.db('items').insert(params).then(this.json);
}),
'&/:id/render': function (params) {
return Promise
.props({ item: $.db('items').where('id', params.id).first() })
.then(_.partial(this.view, 'items/index'));
},
'PUT items/:id/star': _.flow($.authorize, function (params) {
return $.db('items').where('id', params.id).update('is_starred', 1).then(this.json);
})
};
Quick notes (on example)
As you probably noted, there are 2 ways of specifying the route-handler pair:
- implicit: via method names like
list
(GET resource
),view
(GET resource/:id
),create
(POST resource
),update
(PUT resource/:id
) andremove
(DELETE resource/:id
) - explicit: by specifying exact route (
GET resource/:from/:to
) or exact route with resource name placeholder (GET &/:id
) where kebab-cased controller's name will be substituted
In case of explicit route, you can omit GET
verb, it is being used by default (&/:id
is the same as GET &/:id
or get &/:id
).
What does it do?
- creates
express.js
app - calls hook (
before
), if it is passed viahooks
param - sets
'trust proxy'
totrue
(very oftennode.js
app is hosted behindnginx
) - initializes view-related stuff, can be omitted by specifying
views: false
- initializes
body-parser
(almost everyexpress.js
-based project needs this) - creates router based on controllers modules (see example), can be omitted, if no
controllers
param is passed - calls hook (
after
), if it is passed viahooks
param
Few words about route handling
- it is expected, that route handler returns view result (or promise with view result):
return this.json({ my: 'data' });
- there are 3 built-it view results:
view(name, data)
(ends with rendering ofname
view withdata
),redirect(url)
andjson(data)
- you can register your own result, which will be available via
this
inside route handler:bex.registerResult('myresult', function (anyarg) { return { type: 'myresult', arg: anyarg }; });
- minimal requirement for result constructor is to return result object with mandatorytype
property - you can register your own result handler, which will be called once result of given
type
is obtained from any of your route handlers:bex.registerHandler('myresult', function (req, res, result) { res.send(result.anyarg); });
There are 2 special results
exception
- generated when exception occurs inside route handler (default handler will cause empty response with500
code)undefined
- generated when no view result is returned from route handler (its default handler will cause empty response with404
status)
You can override how bex
reacts to these 2 special results (as well as other "ordinary" results) via overwriting their handlers: bex.registerHandler('exception', function (req, res, exception) { logstash.send(req.url, exception); }, true);
.
Few words regarding hooks
- there are 2 hooks:
before
(called just afterexpress.js
app is created, but nothing was performed with it) andafter
(called after everything is done andbex
is ready to return bootstrapped app) - each hook will have
this
populated with utility methods:requireAll
,registerResult
,registerHandler
,createRouter
Utility methods
requireAll(path)
Requires all modules which exist inside specified folder (see require-all docs for details).
regiserResult(name, value, overwrite) or registerResult(nameValueObject, overwrite)
Registers view result(s).
regiserResult(name, value, overwrite) or registerResult(nameValueObject, overwrite)
Registers view result handler(s).
createRouter(path)
Loads everything from specified path
and maps converts to route-handler pairs, applying them to express.Router
. Returns express.Router
instance ready to be used by express.js
app. Also accepts object as argument, each property-value of which will be treated as controllerName
-controllerInstance
pairs.
License
MIT