zafiro

:gem: Zafiro is a strongly typed and lightweight web framework for Node.js apps powered by TypeScript, InversifyJS, TypeORM and Express :rocket:


:warning: :construction: This library is under construction :construction: :warning:

The Basics

This step-by-step guide will guide your through the Zafiro basics.

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You can install Zafiro using npm:

``sh
npm install zafiro reflect-metadata
`

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Zafiro exposes a function named createApp that allows you to bootstrap an Express application in just a few minutes.

The application entry point look as follows:

`ts
import "reflect-metadata";
import { createApp } from "zafiro";
import { appBindings } from "./config/ioc_config";
import { expressConfig } from "./config/express_config";
import { CustomAccountRepository } from "./repositories/account_repository";

(async () => {

try {
const app = await createApp({
database: "postgres",
containerModules: [appBindings],
expressConfig: expressConfig,
AccountRepository: CustomAccountRepository
});

app.listen(
3000,
() => console.log(
"Example app listening on port 3000!"
)
);

} catch (e) {
console.log(e.message);
}

})();
`

You can learn more about all the available configuration options in the wiki page about configuration.

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A Zafiro application expects the following environment variables to be available:

- The DATABASE_HOST variable should contain the network address of your database.
- The DATABASE_PORT variable should contain the network port of your database.
- The DATABASE_USER variable should contain the user name of your database.
- The DATABASE_PASSWORD variable should contain the user password of your database.
- The DATABASE_DBvariable should contain the name of your database.

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A Zafiro application expects the following directory structure and convention:

- /src/controllers/ You must add your controllers unders this folder. The controllers are powerd by inversify-express-utils.

- /src/entities/ You must add your entities unders this folder. The entities are powerd by TypeORM.

> :warning: Please note that each entity and each controller in your application must be defined on its own file and be exported using a default ES6 export.

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You can define an entity as follows:

`ts
import { Entity, Column, PrimaryGeneratedColumn } from "typeorm";

@Entity()
export default class DirectMessage {

@PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
id: number;

@Column()
senderId: number;

@Column()
recipientId: number;

@Column()
content: string;

@CreateDateColumn()
createdDate: Date;
}
`

The Entity API in Zafiro is powered by TypeORM API:

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A Repository will be generated automatically at runtime. The repository API is powered by TypeORM.

You can access a Repository by injection it into a Controller, BaseMiddleware, AuthProvider, etc. First you need to declare a type identifier for the repository that you wish to inject:

`ts
const TYPE = {
DirectMessageRepository: Symbol.for("Repository")
};
`

Then you can inject it using the @inject annotation:

`t
@inject(TYPE.DirectMessageRepository) private readonly _dmRepository: Repository;
`

The Dependency Injection API in Zafiro is powered by InversifyJS.

The Repository API in Zafiro is powered by TypeORM API:

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You can declare a controller as follows:

`ts
import { injectable, inject } from "inversify";
import { controller, httpGet, BaseHttpController } from "inversify-express-utils";
import { TYPE } from "./contants/types";

@controller("/direct_message")
class UserPreferencesController extends BaseHttpController {

@inject(TYPE.DirectMessageRepository) private readonly _dmRepository: Repository;

@httpGet("/")
public async get() {
if (!this.httpContext.user.isAuthenticated()) {
this.httpContext.res.status(403).send("Forbidden");
} else {
return await this._dmRepository.find({
recipientId: this.httpContext.details.id;
});
}
}

}
``

The Controllers API in Zafiro is powered by inversify-express-utils.

Why Zafiro?

I created Zafiro because I love working with JavaScript and Node.js but I miss the boilerplate-automation and the type-safety productivity boost that I have experienced while working with other technologies in the past.


Thanks to InversifyJS and TypeORM, Zafiro is able to automate a lot of the boilerplate required to create an Express application. As a first step, Zafiro is able to create a database connection, auto-generate the data repositories and inject them into your controllers:


Zafiro has been designed with the goal of providing a great developer experience.

I plan to continue working hard to:

- Make Zafiro very robust.
- Reduce the amount of required boilerplate.
- Improve the developer experience.

Example Application

An example application is available at zafiro-realworld-example.