This question already has answers here:
How to separate routes on Node.js and Express 4?
(9 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
In my NodeJS express application I have app.js that has a few common routes. Then in a wf.js file I would like to define a few more routes.
How can I get app.js to recognize other route handlers defined in wf.js file?
A simple require does not seem to work.
If you want to put the routes in a separate file, for example routes.js, you can create the routes.js file in this way:
module.exports = function(app){
app.get('/login', function(req, res){
res.render('login', {
title: 'Express Login'
});
});
//other routes..
}
And then you can require it from app.js passing the app object in this way:
require('./routes')(app);
Have a look at these examples: https://github.com/visionmedia/express/tree/master/examples/route-separation
In Express 4.x you can get an instance of the router object and import another file that contains more routes. You can even do this recursively so your routes import other routes allowing you to create easy-to-maintain URL paths.
For example, if I have a separate route file for my /tests endpoint already and want to add a new set of routes for /tests/automated I may want to break these /automated routes out into a another file to keep my /test file small and easy to manage. It also lets you logically group routes together by URL path which can be really convenient.
Contents of ./app.js:
var express = require('express'),
app = express();
var testRoutes = require('./routes/tests');
// Import my test routes into the path '/test'
app.use('/tests', testRoutes);
Contents of ./routes/tests.js:
var express = require('express'),
router = express.Router();
var automatedRoutes = require('./testRoutes/automated');
router
// Add a binding to handle '/tests'
.get('/', function(){
// render the /tests view
})
// Import my automated routes into the path '/tests/automated'
// This works because we're already within the '/tests' route
// so we're simply appending more routes to the '/tests' endpoint
.use('/automated', automatedRoutes);
module.exports = router;
Contents of ./routes/testRoutes/automated.js:
var express = require('express'),
router = express.Router();
router
// Add a binding for '/tests/automated/'
.get('/', function(){
// render the /tests/automated view
})
module.exports = router;
Building on #ShadowCloud 's example I was able to dynamically include all routes in a sub directory.
routes/index.js
var fs = require('fs');
module.exports = function(app){
fs.readdirSync(__dirname).forEach(function(file) {
if (file == "index.js") return;
var name = file.substr(0, file.indexOf('.'));
require('./' + name)(app);
});
}
Then placing route files in the routes directory like so:
routes/test1.js
module.exports = function(app){
app.get('/test1/', function(req, res){
//...
});
//other routes..
}
Repeating that for as many times as I needed and then finally in app.js placing
require('./routes')(app);
If you're using express-4.x with TypeScript and ES6, this would be the best template to use:
src/api/login.ts
import express, { Router, Request, Response } from "express";
const router: Router = express.Router();
// POST /user/signin
router.post('/signin', async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
try {
res.send('OK');
} catch (e) {
res.status(500).send(e.toString());
}
});
export default router;
src/app.ts
import express, { Request, Response } from "express";
import compression from "compression"; // compresses requests
import expressValidator from "express-validator";
import bodyParser from "body-parser";
import login from './api/login';
const app = express();
app.use(compression());
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(expressValidator());
app.get('/public/hc', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
res.send('OK');
});
app.use('/user', login);
app.listen(8080, () => {
console.log("Press CTRL-C to stop\n");
});
Much cleaner than using var and module.exports.
Full recursive routing of all .js files inside /routes folder, put this in app.js.
// Initialize ALL routes including subfolders
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');
function recursiveRoutes(folderName) {
fs.readdirSync(folderName).forEach(function(file) {
var fullName = path.join(folderName, file);
var stat = fs.lstatSync(fullName);
if (stat.isDirectory()) {
recursiveRoutes(fullName);
} else if (file.toLowerCase().indexOf('.js')) {
require('./' + fullName)(app);
console.log("require('" + fullName + "')");
}
});
}
recursiveRoutes('routes'); // Initialize it
in /routes you put whatevername.js and initialize your routes like this:
module.exports = function(app) {
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.render('index', { title: 'index' });
});
app.get('/contactus', function(req, res) {
res.render('contactus', { title: 'contactus' });
});
}
And build yet more on the previous answer, this version of routes/index.js will ignore any files not ending in .js (and itself)
var fs = require('fs');
module.exports = function(app) {
fs.readdirSync(__dirname).forEach(function(file) {
if (file === "index.js" || file.substr(file.lastIndexOf('.') + 1) !== 'js')
return;
var name = file.substr(0, file.indexOf('.'));
require('./' + name)(app);
});
}
I am trying to update this answer with "express": "^4.16.3". This answer is similar to the one from ShortRound1911.
server.js:
const express = require('express');
const mongoose = require('mongoose');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const db = require('./src/config/db');
const routes = require('./src/routes');
const port = 3001;
const app = new express();
//...use body-parser
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
//...fire connection
mongoose.connect(db.url, (err, database) => {
if (err) return console.log(err);
//...fire the routes
app.use('/', routes);
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log('we are live on ' + port);
});
});
/src/routes/index.js:
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const siswaRoute = require('./siswa_route');
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.json({item: 'Welcome ini separated page...'});
})
.use('/siswa', siswaRoute);
module.exports = app;
/src/routes/siswa_route.js:
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.json({item: 'Siswa page...'});
});
module.exports = app;
If you want a separate .js file to better organize your routes, just create a variable in the app.js file pointing to its location in the filesystem:
var wf = require(./routes/wf);
then,
app.get('/wf', wf.foo );
where .foo is some function declared in your wf.js file. e.g
// wf.js file
exports.foo = function(req,res){
console.log(` request object is ${req}, response object is ${res} `);
}
One tweak to all of these answers:
var routes = fs.readdirSync('routes')
.filter(function(v){
return (/.js$/).test(v);
});
Just use a regex to filter via testing each file in the array. It is not recursive, but it will filter out folders that don't end in .js
I know this is an old question, but I was trying to figure out something like for myself and this is the place I ended up on, so I wanted to put my solution to a similar problem in case someone else has the same issues I'm having. There's a nice node module out there called consign that does a lot of the file system stuff that is seen here for you (ie - no readdirSync stuff). For example:
I have a restful API application I'm trying to build and I want to put all of the requests that go to '/api/*' to be authenticated and I want to store all of my routes that go in api into their own directory (let's just call it 'api'). In the main part of the app:
app.use('/api', [authenticationMiddlewareFunction], require('./routes/api'));
Inside of the routes directory, I have a directory called "api" and a file called api.js. In api.js, I simply have:
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var consign = require('consign');
// get all routes inside the api directory and attach them to the api router
// all of these routes should be behind authorization
consign({cwd: 'routes'})
.include('api')
.into(router);
module.exports = router;
Everything worked as expected. Hope this helps someone.
index.js
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const http = require('http');
const server = http.createServer(app).listen(3000);
const router = (global.router = (express.Router()));
app.use('/books', require('./routes/books'))
app.use('/users', require('./routes/users'))
app.use(router);
routes/users.js
const router = global.router
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.jsonp({name: 'John Smith'})
}
module.exports = router
routes/books.js
const router = global.router
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.jsonp({name: 'Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama'})
}
module.exports = router
if you have your server running local (http://localhost:3000) then
// Users
curl --request GET 'localhost:3000/users' => {name: 'John Smith'}
// Books
curl --request GET 'localhost:3000/books' => {name: 'Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama'}
I wrote a small plugin for doing this! got sick of writing the same code over and over.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/js-file-req
Hope it helps.
you can put all route functions in other files(modules) , and link it to the main server file.
in the main express file, add a function that will link the module to the server:
function link_routes(app, route_collection){
route_collection['get'].forEach(route => app.get(route.path, route.func));
route_collection['post'].forEach(route => app.post(route.path, route.func));
route_collection['delete'].forEach(route => app.delete(route.path, route.func));
route_collection['put'].forEach(route => app.put(route.path, route.func));
}
and call that function for each route model:
link_routes(app, require('./login.js'))
in the module files(for example - login.js file), define the functions as usual:
const login_screen = (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(`${__dirname}/pages/login.html`);
};
const forgot_password = (req, res) => {
console.log('we will reset the password here')
}
and export it with the request method as a key and the value is an array of objects, each with path and function keys.
module.exports = {
get: [{path:'/',func:login_screen}, {...} ],
post: [{path:'/login:forgotPassword', func:forgot_password}]
};
I have the following structure
project
-app/
--controllers/
---home.js
--models/
---home.js
--views/
---home.html
-db/
--db.js
-index.js
my controller home.js looks like this:
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var database = require('../models/home');
var path = require('path');
router.get("/", function(request, response) {
response.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, '../views', 'home.html'));
});
module.exports = router;
Now I want to make that route useful, so in my index.js I have:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var port = 3000;
app.use(require('./app/controllers/home')); //<-- this is what I ask for
app.listen(3000, function(err ) {
//......
})
But now I have more then just route to 'home', so instead of
app.use(require('./app/controllers/home'));
app.use(require('./app/controllers/about'));
app.use(require('./app/controllers/etc'));
I read that I can use:
app.use(require('./app/controllers/'));
But I get error that the module cannot be found. Can you suggest me how can I easily get all my routes in use? Thanks :)
If I understand your question right you're trying to route a router to a different relative path.
You can set a relative path by passing that path as the first parameter. Then any route inside of your router that uses app.get/use/... will start from that relative path.
Inside index.js
app.use("/home", require('./app/controllers/home'));
app.use("/about", require('./app/controllers/about'));
app.use("/etc", require('./app/controllers/etc'));
inside ./app/controllers/home and other routes
router.get("/", ...) // this will be located at localhost/home
router.get("/myhouse, ...) // this will be located at localhost/home/myhouse
Also worth metioning you can route a router inside a router
router.use("/", require('path/to/another-router.js'))
I am fairly new to node.js.
I am currently using lowdb for my database while I get the app started.
In the index.js file I have:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var request = require('request');
var path = require('path');
var low = require('lowdb');
var db = low('db.json');
var routes = require('./routes');
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/public')));
app.use('/', routes);
server.listen(3000, function(){
console.log('listening on port 3000');
});
Then in my routes file I have something like:
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var account = require('./controllers/accounts.js');
router.post('/login', account.login);
router.get('/', function(req, res){
res.render('home');
});
module.exports = router;
And finally in my account controller I have:
exports.login = function(req, res){
var email = req.body.email;
var password = req.body.password;
...
}
The routing to controller system works. However I need to access the lowdb object from all of my routed controller functions (and also possibly elsewhere).
If in app.js I set:
global.db = db;
Then it seems to work, but from what I have read, setting this globally isn't the ideal solution. What is the appropriate way to be able to access the db from the controller files without having to set the db connection in every single file.
In your index.js file (application root) store the lowdb object in your express object :
var app = express();
var db = low('db.json');
app.db = db;
In your controller (accounts.js), access your database with req.app.db :
exports.login = function(req, res){
var email = req.body.email;
var password = req.body.password;
var db = req.app.db;
}
It looks like you can probably just setup and use the db directly in your routes file since you're not actually using the db in your main file. If it's that simple then I'd opt for doing that:
// routes file
var low = require('lowdb');
var db = low('db.json');
Alternatively, if you need to setup your db in the main file and pass it into the routes file and/or other modules, instead of exporting the router directly in the routes file, export a function which takes the db as input and returns the router. Then you can pass the db into the routes module when you require it.
// routes file
module.exports = function (db) {
// router setup using the input `db`
// ...
return router;
}
// index.js
var low = require('lowdb');
var db = low('db.json');
var routes = require('./routes')(db);
I've created a node application with express. I try to separate the following layers which will give me the ability to test the application with unit testing...
The problem is that I don't know how to call to the router.js file which will stops in the post/get/delete application.
The server.js file looks as follows
http = require('http'),
app = require('./app')(),
http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function (err) {
console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});
This is the app.js file
var express = require('express'),
logger = require('morgan'),
bodyParser = require('body-parser'),
routesApp = require('./ro/route');
module.exports = function () {
var app = express();
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3005);
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
res.set('APP', 'User app');
next();
});
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(routesApp);
return app;
};
This is the router.js, which will route the call to other module according to the http type like post/delete/get etc...
var handleGet = require('../controller/handleGet');
var handlePost = require('../controller/handlePost');
var express = require('express');
module.exports = function (app) {
var appRoute = express.Router();
app.use(appRoute);
appRoute.route('*')
.post(function (req, res) {
handlePost(req, res);
})
.get(function (req, res) {
handleGet(req, res)
})
Currently I've two questions:
How to make it work since when in debug It dump in
app.use(appRoute); on the router.js file?
The error is TypeError: undefined is not a function
Is it good way to structure the node app like in my post? I want to seperate all this layers like SOC, I'm fairly new to node and express and I try to build it to be modular and testable...
How to make it work since when in debug It dump in app.use(appRoute); on the router.js file? The error is TypeError: undefined is not a function
This fails because you don't pass app into the module when you require it in app.js, you would need to do something like
app.use(routesApp(app)); // <- this hurts my eyes :(
Is it good way to structure the node app like in my post?I want to sperate all this leyrs like SOC,I fairly new to node and express and I try to build it to be modular and testable...
Your definitely on the right track, keeping things separated is generally always a good idea. Testing is definitely one of the big pluses but it also helps with other things like maintainability & debugging.
Personally, I would make use of the bin directory for any start up script configuration
bin/www
var app = require('./app');
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3005);
var server = app.listen(app.get('port'), function() {
console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});
This will help decouple your express app from all the environment setup. This should keep your app.js clean and only contain app-related config
app.js
var express = require('express')
, app = express()
, logger = require('morgan')
, bodyParser = require('body-parser')
, routes = require('./routes.js');
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
res.set('APP', 'User app');
next();
});
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use('/', routes);
...
module.exports = app;
Then finally, your routes.js should do nothing but handle your URLs
routes.js
var express = require('express')
, router = express.Router()
, handleGet = require('../controller/handleGet')
, handlePost = require('../controller/handlePost');
router.get('/', handleGet);
router.post('/', handlePost);
...
module.exports = router;
I have loads of router.get functions in my code which I think, could be reduced to a single switch-case function. Here is what I have tried:
function handlerA(req, res) {}
function handlerB(req, res) {}
var routes = {
'/url-one': handlerA,
'/url-two': handlerB
}
router.get('/*', function(req, res) {
var url = req.url;
if (routes[url]) {
routes[url](req, res);
}
});
This works but also, significantly slows my application. Is there any other solution which would not hit the performance of my app?
Thanks
Is there a reason you don't want to use router.get functions? I would guess express.js is internally performing the same logic that you are doing anyway. You are just replacing get functions with handlers.
If you are using similar logic between multiple routes, that may be worth abstracting.
I usually go with a setup like this:
app.js
routes.js
api/
user/
index.js
user.controller.js
user.model.js
image/
index.js
image.controller.js
image.model.js
/api/user/index.js:
var express = require('express');
var controller = require('./user.controller');
var router = express.Router();
router.get('/', controller.index);
router.post('/', controller.create);
module.exports = router;
/api/user/user.controller.js:
var User = require('./user.model');
exports.index = function(req, res) {
// Show list of users
};
exports.create = function (req, res, next) {
// Create user
};
/routes.js:
module.exports = function(app) {
// Insert routes below
app.use('/api/users', require('./api/user'));
app.use('/api/images', require('./api/image'));
// All undefined asset or api routes should return a 404
app.route('/:url(api|auth|components|app|bower_components|assets)/*')
.get(errors[404]);
// All other routes should redirect to the index.html
app.route('/*')
.get(function(req, res) {
res.sendfile(app.get('appPath') + '/index.html');
});
};
And lastly, the /app.js:
// Set default node environment to development
process.env.NODE_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
var express = require('express');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var config = require('./config/environment');
// Connect to database
mongoose.connect(config.mongo.uri, config.mongo.options);
// Populate DB with sample data
if(config.seedDB) { require('./config/seed'); }
// Setup server
var app = express();
var server = require('http').createServer(app);
require('./config/express')(app);
require('./routes')(app);
// Start server
server.listen(config.port, config.ip, function () {
console.log('Express server listening on %d, in %s mode', config.port, app.get('env'));
});
// Expose app
exports = module.exports = app;
Most of this is directly from the Yeoman Generator Angular-Fullstack and it has a really nice setup!