silence-ws

A tiny framework to build Rest Web Service for NodeJS, compatible with Connect middlewares.

Getting started

$3

In your project main directory, type npm install silence-ws --save

$3

``javascript

var silenceWS = require('silence-ws');

//This is a connector, required parameter for the server so we use the empty implementation
var connector = silenceWS.connector.none();

//The list of Connect-like handlers, we will work on it later
var handlers = [
function (req, res, next){
console.log("Incoming request");
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
res.end("You asked " + req.method + " on " + req.url);
next();
}
];

// Those are options gived to 'require('http').createServer'
var options = {
port : 9000
};

silenceWS
.server(handlers, connector, options)
.start(function (err) {
if(err)
return console.error(err);

console.log("Server running at", options.port);
});

`

You can now test it with curl localhost:9000/test -X POST -i to get the following result:
`
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2016 18:43:48 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
You asked POST on /test
`

Ok it's not wonderfull but we will improve it step by step

$3


`javascript
var silenceWS = require('silence-ws');

var connector = silenceWS.connector.none();

//You can read what plugins directly from source, they are very basics
var handlers = [
silenceWS.plugins.init(),

function (req, res, next){
console.log("Incoming request");
res.send(200, {method : req.method, "path" : req.path});
next();
},

silenceWS.plugins.finalSender()
];

var options = {
port : 9000
};

silenceWS
.server(handlers, connector, options)
.start(function (err) {
if(err)
return console.error(err);

console.log("Server running at", options.port);
});

`

You guess it, handlers are just called sequentially.
init plugins just helps you by
* settings req.startDate to new Date()
* adding a res.send method that will store the result without sending it directly
* setting the req.path
* initiliazing req.params with {}

finalSender plugins is responsible for:
* seetting the Allow header, based on res.allowedmethods
* stringifying the result if any and sending it with the Content-Type header
* settings req.endDate to new Date()

Let's try it with curl localhost:9000/test -X POST -i.

`
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Allow:
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2016 18:45:54 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 32

{"method":"POST","path":"/test"}
`

Seems to look better right?

$3

`javascript
var silenceWS = require('silence-ws');

var connector = silenceWS.connector.none();

var handlers = [
silenceWS.plugins.init(),

function (req, res, next){
next({statusCode:500, restCode:"InternalServerError"});
//It's always working with next("Doesn't work") or throw new Error("WTF")
},
silenceWS.plugins.errorToJson(),
silenceWS.plugins.finalSender()
];

var options = {
port : 9000
};

silenceWS
.server(handlers, connector, options)
.start(function (err) {
if(err)
return console.error(err);

console.log("Server running at", options.port);
});

`

errorToJson plugins is your first error handler, it will convert errors to a valid Rest response.
As usual let's try it with curl localhost:9000/test -X POST -i. Seems to look better right?

$3

`javascript

var silenceWS = require('silence-ws');

var connector = silenceWS.connector.none();

//We use in fact silence-router, that's include in silence-ws... but you can install the version you want and require it directly
function createRouter(){
return silenceWS
.router()
.path("help")
.get("displayHelp", function (req, res, next){
res.send(200, {method : req.method, "path" : req.path});
next();
})
.parent()
.createMW(silenceWS.plugins.badRequest(), silenceWS.plugins.notAllowed())
;
}

var handlers = [
silenceWS.plugins.init(),
createRouter(),
silenceWS.plugins.errorToJson(),
silenceWS.plugins.finalSender()
];

var options = {
port : 9000
};

silenceWS
.server(handlers, connector, options)
.start(function (err) {
if(err)
return console.error(err);

console.log("Server running at", options.port);
});
`

Want to learn more about this router? Just check silence-router
Just remember that silence-router NEED te req.path` value, but the 'init' plugin provides it.

$3

Just start reading the code, more precisely plugins and connectors.