Node Notes

Installing

Installing in Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install nodejs
sudo apt-get install npm

Install Locations

npm - /usr/share/npm

First Steps

Creating an Empty Project

npm init

npm init create an empty node project, which is a package.json file. The file will look something like this…

{
  "name": "projectName",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}

Adding Test Framework for specific location

We use mocha with chai.

Mocha is a test framework for JavaScript.
Chai is a BDD / TDD assertion library for node

Mocha
Chai

By default the package.json file does not have any test framework setup. To leverage mocha, adjust the “test” attribute to look as follows…

  ...

  "scripts": {
    "test": "mocha sourceDir testDir --watch"
  },

  ...

sourceDir & testDir are directories where your source and test code are located. Using the –watch means that mocha will rerun everytime there is a source code change.

To start your test framework enter the following…

npm test

Adding Test Framework for file convention

The following runs all tests under the src folder that match the file extension .test.js

  "scripts": {
    "test": "find ./src -iregex '.*.test.js' | xargs mocha -u tdd --reporter spec"
  },

Working with Dates

The Moment.js library a good library for handling dates in js.

General

Also called NTier Pattern

Node References

Structuring NodeJs Projects

Modules

Old approach

In you module file doSomethingModule.js…

module.exports = {
    doSomething: function() {
        return "something";
    }
}

in the file you want to consume it from…

var obj = require("../doSomethingModule.js");
console.log(obj.doSomething());                     // return something

New approach

In you module file doSomethingModule.js…

module.exports = class TheClass{
    
    doSomething() {
        return -1;
    }
}

in the file you want to consume it from…

var objType = require("../doSomethingModule.js");
var theObject = new objType();
theObject.doSomething();                            // return something

Module Patterns

Module Patterns Slides

Express

Hosting

Running Node as a background service
Latest Running Node as a background service

Sessions

app.js

app.use(express.cookieParser());
app.use(express.session({secret: '1234567890QWERTY'}));

in your routing…

var session = require('express-session');

app.get('/awesome', function(req, res) {
  req.session.lastPage = '/awesome';
  res.send('Your Awesome.');
});

Using sessions in express

Express References

Express 4.x API
Express source code
Express tutorials express.static
Morgan
Soup to Bits: Building Blocks of Express.JS
Soup to Bits: Real-time Web With Node.JS
CodeSchool Discussion Forum

05 February 2016