express-named-routes

Route storage, lookup and conversion to usable paths.

Installation

Works with Express 3.0.x

$ npm install express-named-routes

Usage

Simply invoke the extend() method on an Express server to add this functionality.

var app = require('express')(),
    namedRoutes = require('express-named-routes');

namedRoutes.extend(app);

Defining and Looking Up Routes

Routes can be defined via app.defineRoute(routeName, routeDefinition):

app.defineRoute('signin', '/signin');

Routes can be retrieved via app.lookupRoute(routeName):

app.lookupRoute('signin'); // returns '/signin'

You may also pass in an object containing nested routes:

app.defineRoute('resource', {
  index: '/resource',
  show: '/resource/:param',
  edit: '/resource/:param/edit'
});

Looking up a route that points to an object containing multiple routes will return the index route:

app.lookupRoute('resource'); // returns '/resource'

To lookup nested routes use the . notation:

app.lookupRoute('resource.show'); // returns '/resource/:param';
app.lookupRoute('resource.edit'); // returns '/resource/:param/edit;

Converting routes to usable paths (URLS)

A helper function is added to your request object to convert a route to a usable path. You can use this via req.routeToPath(routeName).

app.defineRoute('signin', '/signin');

app.get('/some/other/route', function (req, res, next) {
  var linkToSignin = req.routeToPath('signin'); // '/signin'
  next();
});

If the route contains params, these will be replaced by the params for current route. You may optionally override these by passing in an object containing the param name as a key and a value to override with:

app.defineRoute('resource', '/resource/:resourceId');

app.get(app.lookupRoute('resource'), function (req, res, next) {
  var resourceId = req.params.resourceId;
  var currentResourcePath = req.routeToPath('resource'); // e.g. '/resource/1'
  var nextResourcePath = req.routeToPath('resource', { resourceId: resourceId + 1}); // e.g. '/resource/2'
  next();
});

To Do

• Add ability to declare nested routes:

app.defineRoute('resource.show', '/resource/:resourceId');

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2012 RGBboy <[email protected]>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.