everywhere v0.0.0

Everywhere

Every once in a while there are project specific files that must be require'd repeatedly. A good example is a config file, located at the project's root and used throughout. Unless we're using a fancy configuration module, the common result is many requires sprinkled throughout the code with varying relative paths. This works fine but is ugly, tiresome and a pain during refactoring.

Everywhere to the rescue. It is a simple, singleton registry. Lets consider a simple project structure.

app.js
config.js
- lib
    - controllers
        - c1.js
        - c2.js
    - models
        - models-for-A
            - mA.js
        - models-for-B
            - mB.js

Commonly, config.js will be need within controllers and models. The default solution is:

app.js
config.js
- lib
    - controllers
        - c1.js
            var config = require('../..config');
        - c2.js
            var config = require('../..config');
    - models
        - models-for-A
            - mA.js
                var config = require('../../../config');
        - models-for-B
            - mB.js
                var config = require('../../../config');

Using everywhere this becomes:

app.js
    var failedPath = require('everywhere').addLookup('config', './config');
    if (failedPath) {
        console.error("The module/file '%s' does not exist", failedPath);
        return process.exit(1);
    }

config.js
- lib
    - controllers
        - c1.js
            var config = require('everywhere').get('config');
        - c2.js
            var config = require('everywhere').get('config');
    - models
        - models-for-A
            - mA.js
                var config = require('everywhere').get('config');
        - models-for-B
            - mB.js
                var config = require('everywhere').get('config');

Simple, consistent and resistant to refactoring...and easy to abuse. Remember, often it's better to pass values in as parameters instead of breaking encapsulation.