express-mongo-rest

Node.js package to create an express middleware for a mongo-backed, RESTful API

var express = require('express')

var expressMongoRest = require('express-mongo-rest')
var mongoose   = require('mongoose');

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb');
app.use('/api/v1', expressMongoRest());

var app = express();
var server = app.listen(3000, function () {
    console.log('Listening on Port', server.address().port);
})

The middleware is schema-agnostic, allowing any json document to be persisted and retrieved from mongo.

| Route | Method | Notes | | ---------------- | ------ | --------------------------- | | /:collection | GET | Search the collection (uses query-to-mongo) | | /:collection | POST | Create a single document | | /:collection | PUT | Method Not Allowed | | /:collection | PATCH | Method Not Allowed | | /:collection | DELETE | Remove all documents | | /:collection/:id | GET | Retrieve a single document | | /:collection/:id | POST | Method Not Allowed | | /:collection/:id | PUT | Create or update a document | | /:collection/:id | PATCH | In version 0.9 | | /:collection/:id | DELETE | Remove a single document | | Cascade post | POST | In Version 1.0 | | Cascade put | POST | In Version 1.1 | | /:collection/count | GET | Count the collection |

API

expressMongooseRestful(db, options)

Create an express middleware that implements a RESTful API.

options:

• envelope Return responses wrapped in a type envelope. This can be overriden per request by specifying an envelope query parameter.
• singularize A function to change the collection name into it's singlur form (ie., 'users' becomes 'user'). Used when returning a envelope for a single instance. Default is inflection.singularize.

Querying documents

The query API (GET /:collection) uses a robust query syntax that interprets comparision operators (=, !=, >, <, >=, <=) in the query portion of the URL using query-to-mongo.

For example, the URL https://localhost/api/v1/users?firstName=John&age>=21 would search the users collection for any entries that have a firstName of "John" and an age greater than or equal to 21.

Returning result envelopes

The APIs that return results (all except DELETE) can be set to wrap those results in a type envelope; either server-wide by specifying the envelope option when creating the middleware, or per request by including an envelope query paramter in the URL.

The type envelope will use the singularized name of the collection. The singularizer can be specified using the singularize option when creating the middleware. The default is inflection.singularize.

For example https://localhost/api/v1/users/2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220?envelope=true returns:

{
  user: {
    id: '2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220',
    name: 'John',
    age: 21
  }
}

and https://localhost/api/v1/users/2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220?envelope=false returns:

{
  id: '2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220',
  name: 'John',
  age: 21
}

The envelope for query results uses the collection name (and assumes it is plural); https://localhost/api/v1/users?envelope=true returns:

{
  users: [
    {
      id: '2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220',
      name: 'John',
      age: 21
    },
    {
      id: 'abf445fd-04db-495e-82f7-77fbf369f7ee',
      name: 'Bob',
      age: 28
    }
  ]
}

Post result

Documents are saved using the mongoose ODM save function.

An example post using jQuery and return the document saved:

$.ajax('https://localhost/api/v1/users/2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220', {
  method: 'POST',
  contentType: 'application/json',
  data: JSON.stringify({
      name: 'John',
      age: 21
  }),
  success: function (data, status, xhr) {...},
  error: function (xhr, status, err) {...}
})

Post result with mongoose validation

var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  name: { type: String, required: false },
  age: { type: String, required: true },
}, { collection: 'users' });
mongoose.model('User', UserSchema);

An example post using jQuery and return the document saved:

$.ajax('https://localhost/api/v1/users/2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220', {
  method: 'POST',
  contentType: 'application/json',
  data: JSON.stringify({
      name: 'John',
  }),
  success: function (data, status, xhr) {...},
  error: function (xhr, status, err) {...}
})

Server response:

{
  "errors": {
    "age": {
      "message": "Path `age` is required.",
      "name": "ValidatorError",
      "properties": {
        "message": "Path `{PATH}` is required.",
        "type": "required",
        "path": "type"
        },
      "kind": "required",
      "path": "type",
      "$isValidatorError": true
    }
  },
  "message": "User validation failed: type2: Path `type2` is required., type: Path `type` is required.",
  "name": "ValidationError"
}

Patching documents (Not working / finished)

An example patch using jQuery:

$.ajax('https://localhost/api/v1/users/2d0aa7b0-cf14-413e-9093-7bbba4f4b220', {
  method: 'PATCH',
  contentType: 'application/json',
  data: JSON.stringify([
    { op: 'replace', path: '/firstName', value: 'Johnathan' },
    { op: 'replace', path: '/age', value: 22 }
  ]),
  success: function (data, status, xhr) {...},
  error: function (xhr, status, err) {...}
})

Todo

* Finish rest patch
* Finish unit test