Express-Route-Builder

Quickly compile Express.js routes with minimal code.

NOTE: Requires Node.js v6.x

Quick Use

The following example will help you get up and running quickly but you can also take a look at the API reference further down which contains more options.

index.js

Setup your Express app as usual. It's a good idea to create a separate module to handle the building of your routes so as to keep your index.js minimal.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const routes = require('./routes');

routes.setup(app);

routes.js

Specify the module filenames that will handle each path with the .addRoute() method.

const path = require('path');
const express = require('express');
const ExpressRouteBuilder = require('express-route-builder');

module.exports.setup = function (app) {
  const baseDir = path.join(__dirname, 'controllers/');
  const builder = new ExpressRouteBuilder(express, app, baseDir);

  // You can specify the name of the controller files for each path.
  builder.addRoute('/comments', 'comments');
  builder.addRoute('/users', 'users');

  // Or you can explicitly define functions for each route and method.
  builder.addRoute('/other/data', {
    get: (req, res, next) => { ... },
    post: (req, res, next) => { ... },
    ...
  })
};

controllers/comments.js (etc)

In each of the route modules you should specify functions named after the HTTP methods you want to expose. You can use any of the HTTP methods that Express supports, including:

get, post, put, head, delete, options, trace, copy, lock, mkcol, move, purge, propfind, proppatch, unlock, report, mkactivity, checkout, merge, m-search, notify, subscribe, unsubscribe, patch, search, connect

Note: The function names must be lowercase.

module.exports.get = function (req, res, next) { ... };
module.exports.post = function (req, res, next) { ... };
// ...and so on.

Static Files

Serving up static files is very easy and uses the same arguments as express.static() except with the arguments reversed. To specify multiple static directories call the .addStatic() method multiple times. Files will be looked up in the order the directories are specified.

  // Adds a directory from which express will serve up your static files.
  // For "photo.jpg" the resulting URL will be "http://www.example.com/photo.jpg"
  // and the file will be served up from the directory specified.
  builder.addStatic('/path/to/static/directory');

  // You can also specify a prefix to use in the URL as the second parameter.
  // This time "photo.jpg" will have a URL of "http://www.example.com/images/photos/photo.jpg"
  builder.addStatic('/path/to/static/directory', 'images/photos');

API

new ExpressRouteBuilder(express, app, baseDir = process.cwd());

Creates a new instance of the builder. The base directory is optional and defaults to the current working directory of your app.

.addRoute(path, input, middleware = []);

Adds a route to your Express app based on the path given; you can specify any path that Express accepts. The input parameter should be either a filename of the module which will handle this route (relative to the base directory given in the constructor) or an object containing functions with keys based on the HTTP methods supported by express. Also, you can optionally specify an array of middleware functions to use before the route is processed.

.addStatic(dir, prefix = null, middleware = [], options = {});

Adds a directory to your express app where static files will be served up from. The directory will be relative to the current working directory of your app so it's a good idea to specify an absolute path. The prefix parameter is optional and will be prepended to the file path in the URL, just like with express.static(). Also, you can optionally specify an array of middleware functions to use before any files in the static directory are served up. The options parameter is the same as express.static().