@braitsch/express

Simplifies setting up an Express.js app and provides a variey of helpful utility functions.

Installation

npm i @braitsch/express

Setup

Create two files in your project's root directory:

• app.js to initialize your app using this module
• config.js to configure it with project specific settings

App.js

const express = require("@braitsch/express");

// create an app //

const app = express({path:__dirname, db:'transpomaps', sessions:true});

// path: to project root (required)
// db: database name (optional)
// sessions: enable sessions (optional)


// enable logging & set log directory (optional) //

express.log('./logs');

// create and start a server //
express.http(app, port);
// or //
express.https(app, port, keypath);
// 1. app: your app instance (required)
// 2. port: http defaults to 8080, https to 8443
// 3. keypath: keypath || process.env.SSL_KEY_PATH || './ssl'

Config.js

All of your custom middleware and project specific settings go in here

const busboy = require('connect-busboy');

module.exports = function(app, express) {

// attach middleware //
	app.use(busboy());
// make static assets public //
	app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
// attach your database, routers, etc //
	require(__dirname + '/server/model/database')(app);
	require(__dirname + '/server/routes/public')(app);

// if using socket.io you can easily bind req.session to a socket.io namespace //
	const wrap = middleware => (socket, next) => middleware(socket.request, {}, next);
	io.of('/namespace').use(wrap(app.sessionMiddleware));

// watch and autocompile js/css if running locally
	if (process.env.NODE_ENV == 'localhost') require('./gulpfile').watch();

}

Database.js (optional)

This module also generates a MongoDB URL if you pass a database name to express.init. It will also setup express-session for you and expose the middleware via app.sessionMiddleware if you pass true as the fourth parameter to express.init.

const MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient;

module.exports = function(app) {
	MongoClient.connect(app.get('DB_URL'), {useNewUrlParser: true, useUnifiedTopology: true}, 	function(e, client) {
		if (e){
			console.log(e);
		}   else{
			const db = client.db(app.get('DB_NAME'));
		// initialize your collections here //
			log('mongo :: connected to database :: "'+app.get('DB_NAME')+'"');
		}
	});
}

Global Utility Functions

guid

generate a globally unique identifier

guid() // 2fa8de4a-6de2-4425-939e-d82e94c5261d

log

write to the console to {logdir}/app.log. initialize logging by calling express.log(logdir)

auth

basic http authentication that can be attached to any route. uses the env vars ADMIN_USER & ADMIN_PASS to authenticate which you can set inside of a .env file in your project root using dotenv.

app.get('/admin-area', auth, (req, res) => {
	// only visible if user passes http auth challenge
});

Examples

Take a look at any of the following projects for example usage:

• https://node-login.braitsch.io/
• https://chat.braitsch.io/
• https://js3.braitsch.io/
• https://doodle.braitsch.io/