ActiveRequire

Load and reload your Node.js modules whenever you wish, bypassing the require cache, and without having to restart your application.

Download via npm:

> npm install --save active-require

Basic usage for loading and reloading:

(Note: do not assign module variables you plan to reload using const, as attempts to reassign these values at a later time will produce an error)

//load the ActiveRequire module itself
const _require = require('active-require')
//load your target module using ActiveRequire
var myModule = _require('my-module')

//later, after having made changes to the module's files and/or dependencies, reload the module
myModule = _require('my-module')
//myModule will now contain your updated module's content

Or, use ActiveRequire's helper methods:

Load a single module and assign it to a namespace:

_require.set('myModule', 'my-module')

myModule;
//now returns the loaded module from the 'my-module' package

Or, load multiple modules at once:

//use keys to define each namespace and the each key's
//value to define the module to load for that namespace
_require.set({
  myModule : 'my-module',
  request : 'request',
  mongo : 'mongodb',
  _ : 'underscore'
})
// myModule, request, mongo, and _ are now all defined
// in the global scope and assigned their respective modules

Later, reload one of the modules:

_require.reset('myModule')
//updated module content will be loaded and assigned to myModule namespace

myModule;
//now returns updated module

Or, reload multiple modules:

_require.reset('myModule', 'mongo', '_')
//OR
let targetModules = ['myModule', 'mongo', '_']
_require.reset(targetModules)

//each module will be reloaded and the reloaded
//value will be assigned to the appropriate namespace

API

_require(module)

Load or reload a target module, using the same approach and format as the traditional require() method.

Arguments:

Argument | Description | Type | Required | Default --- | --- | --- | --- | --- module | The target module you wish to load (should match usual require() target module format). | String | Yes | n/a

_require.set(namespace, [module], [context])

Load a module and assign it to a specific namespace in the provided context's scope (default scope is global).

Arguments:

Argument | Description | Type | Required | Default --- | --- | --- | --- | --- namespace | If String:Defines the namespace to which the loaded module should be assigned.If Object:A set of key:value pairs, where each key defines the namespace to be used and each value defines the module to be loaded and assigned to the requisite namespace. | String/Object | Yes | n/a module | The module to be loaded and assigned to the namespace provided by the namespace argument. | String | No | null context | The context within which the module should be loaded and assigned. | Object | No | global

_require.reset(...namespaces)

Reload the modules assigned to each provided namespace (will only work for modules and namespaces previously loaded using the _require.set() method).

Arguments:

Argument | Description | Type | Required | Default --- | --- | --- | --- | --- namespaces | Either a single module namespace, multiple independent module namespaces, or an array of module namespaces that have been loaded using the _require.set() method previously, and that you would now like to have be reloaded and re-assigned to the namespace(s) provided. | String/Array | Yes | n/a

_require.useCommandLine()

Starts an repl session, allowing for modules to be loaded and reloaded via the command-line (using the _require.set() and _require.reset() methods) for any Node.js application being run in a terminal environment.

_require.map

Returns an object map containing information on the current namespaces defined via the _require.set() and _require.reset() methods and the module sources/values assigned to those namespaces.

**For any additional questions and/or comments, please contact: [email protected] **