A simple framework for MVC web applications and RESTful APIs.
npm install mvc-webapp!GitHub
!GitHub release (latest by date)
!build
A simple framework for MVC web applications and RESTful APIs.
* Docker container ready
* Express 5 based HTTP handling and routes
* Familiar MVC folder structure and URL paths (controller per file, public folder for static content, etc)
* Optional shared session management using Redis
* CORS support (HTTP OPTIONS)
* Flexible logging formatting using Morgan (defaults to Apache style)
* Out of the box support for EJS templates in Views, and partials
* Use any Node based data access module for storage
* Custom error handling
* Tiny and clean; outside of NPM dependencies, the code is about ~200 lines
1. Follow these steps to get started with your first mvc-webapp:
``bash`
mkdir test-app
cd test-app
npm init
npm install express@5 --save
npm install mvc-webapp --save
mkdir -p application/models
mkdir -p application/controllers
mkdir -p application/views
mkdir -p application/adapters
mkdir -p application/public
At some point this will be automated by a script, for now, it will involve some keystrokes.
2. Add an entry point app.js on the root folder. This contains your app options and can be configurable via env-vars for container usage:
`javascript
#!/usr/bin/env node
const webapp = require('mvc-webapp')
webapp.run({
applicationRoot: process.env.PWD,
listenPort: process.env.PORT || '3000',
sessionRedisUrl: process.env.REDISCLOUD_URL || undefined,
sessionSecret: process.env.SESSION_SECRET || undefined,
redirectSecure: true,
allowCORS: false,
viewEngine: 'ejs', // Optional: Pug, Handlebars, EJS, etc
loggerFormat: 'common', // Morgan formats
trustProxy: true,
notfoundMiddleware: (request, response, next) => {
response.status(404).json({
code: 404,
message: 'Sorry! File Not Found'
})
},
errorMiddleware: (error, request, response, _) => {
if (request.xhr) {
response.status(500).json({
code: 500,
message: (error.message)? error.message : error,
stack: request.app.get('env') === 'development' ? error.stack : ''
})
} else {
response.render('error', {
pageTitle: 'Oops!',
status: 500,
message: (error.message)? error.message : error,
stack: request.app.get('env') === 'development' ? error.stack : '',
})
}
},
})
`
This is the minimal amount of options you can give, sensible and secure default values are given for everything else:
`javascript
#!/usr/bin/env node
const webapp = require('mvc-webapp')
webapp.run({
// Mandatory
applicationRoot: process.env.PWD,
listenPort: process.env.PORT || '3000',
// Optional Redis Session Management
// sessionRedisUrl: undefined,
// sessionSecret: undefined,
// Optional Security Related
// redirectSecure: false,
// allowCORS: false,
// trustProxy: false,
// Optional Framework
// viewEngine: undefined, // Pug, Handlebars, EJS, etc
// loggerFormat: 'common', // Morgan formats
// Optional Error Handling
// notfoundMiddleware: undefined,
// errorMiddleware: undefined,
})
`
The error handling can be customized to return plain JSON, HTTP codes or an EJS rendered page, your choice.
3. Add an initial controller, this will be automatically mapped to a path (login.js becomes /login/
`javascript
exports.actions = controller => {
controller.get('/', (request, response, _) => {
response.json({
status: 'Sample status...',
data: null,
})
})
controller.get('/async', async (request, response) => {
const hi = await Promise.resolve('Hi!')
response.send(hi)
})
controller.get('/fail', async (request, response) => {
await Promise.reject('REJECTED!')
})
controller.get('/denied', async (request, response) => {
response.status(403).send('Not here')
})
return controller
}
`
This should be familiar to any Express user. A special exception is made for the index.js controller file, this is mapped to the root / folder. Additionally, any routes inside that controller, get appended as a method.
In order to render a view, invoke the view (file)name in the res.render call:
`javascript`
response.render('index', {
title: 'Homepage',
user: 'octopie'
})
4. Run using npm start or node app.js - added the env var _DEBUG="mvc-webapp:*"_ to see what the framework is doing behind the scenes.
Add the following file to the root folder and _docker build_:
`Dockerfile
FROM node:latest
WORKDIR /app
ADD . /app
RUN npm install
CMD ["npm","start"]
``
1. EJS Templates - this is what the views use
2. Express - this is what powers the HTTP communication