Category: express

Complete code example here

– in the folder you are creating your app, place a manifest file called package.json, example:

{
“name”: “yourappnamehere”
}

– install express and other dependencies:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install npm

$ sudo apt-get install nodejs

Note: copying and pasting these commands sometimes will give you the following error message:

TypeError: Cannot read property ‘latest’ of undefined

make sure to retype the “–” part manually, and you’ll be all right

$ sudo npm install –save express

$ sudo npm install –save body-parser

– if you want node to automatically restart when there are changes in the files, you can also install the following package:

$ npm install –global nodemon

– and then, when you start your server, you need to start it as:

$ npm install –global nodemon

– install mongodb, create the following file on your home directory: mongo_install.bash, with the following content:

apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 7F0CEB10
echo "deb http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/ubuntu-upstart dist 10gen" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/10gen.list
apt-get -y update
apt-get -y install mongodb-10gen

– run sudo bash ./mongo_install.bash

– the installation starts mongod by default, but that is the daemon you need to start if you don’t see it running

– install mongoose:

$ npm install –save mongoose

– to enter the console mode (and verify the installation), type mongo, if you want to connect to an specific db, you do:

mongo nameofyourdbhere

> db.posts.find()

that will give you all the records saved under the Post model

– create a server.js file, that will host your app (see code in heroku instance for content details)

– run your server:

nodejs server.js

(config.vm.network :forwarded_port, guest: 3000, host: 3000 on Vagrantfile if you are running inside vagrant)

– server.js is kind of your single point of entry for your app. It is always a good idea to keep it lean, and move as much code as possible away from it into other files. Some things that are worth having at this file are:

— the server listening loop

— global configuration and other middleware packages

— logging and error handling

— controllers spawning and mounting

– on static files: it is a good idea not to serve them via nodejs. Try to keep your node instance as an API, and let apache and other cache services to do the static servers job. But if you must, it is always a good idea to spin them into:

/controllers/static.js

and inside that file:

var express = require(‘express’)
var router = express.Router()

router.use(express.static(__dirname + ‘/../assets’))

– so now any file you put on your /assets folder will be served by node

– on services: things like $http are better constructed via a service, and then injected to wherever they are needed. Below is an example of doing just that:

app.service(‘PostsSvc’, function ($http) {

  this.fetch = function () {

    return $http.get(‘/api/posts’)

  }

  this.create = function (post) {

    return $http.post(‘/api/posts’, post)

  }

});

– and then, the controllers that consume it would looks something like this:

    // create the PostsCtrl module

    // dependency inject $scope

    app.controller(‘PostsCtrl’, function ($scope, PostsSvc) {

      // the function runs when the “Add Post” button is clicked

$scope.addPost = function () {

    if ($scope.postBody) {

      PostsSvc.create({

        username: ‘ramiro’,

        body: $scope.postBody

      }).success(function (post) {

        $scope.posts.unshift(post)

        $scope.postBody = null

      })

    }

  };

 Deploying to Heroku

– create a .gitignore file with the following lines:

node_modules
assets

– if you are in a new vagrant instance, install heroku tools first:

$ wget -qO- https://toolbelt.heroku.com/install-ubuntu.sh | sh

$ heroku login

$ heroku create your-app-name-here

$ heroku addons:create mongolab

– check what is the address of your mongolabs instance:

$ heroku config

– modify your db.js file according to what you see printed by that command, it would look something like this:

var mongoose = require(‘mongoose’);

var url = process.env.MONGOLAB_URI || ‘mongodb://localhost/social’;

mongoose.connect(url);

module.exports = mongoose;

– you also need to do a similar move for the listen command in the server.js file:

// process.env.PORT for the benefit of Heroku

app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000, function () {

  console.log(‘Server listening on’, 3000)

});