grexpo

Grasshopper express polymer

grexpo is a framework you can use to build web apps with node. Both the front and back end are included.

grexpo can be used to build a SPA (single page app) or multiple SPAs.

Please use Node 6+

Nomenclature

Each SPA is called a Chapter.

A Plugin is made up of multiple Pages. Pages are loaded into Plugins dynamically. Going from one Plugin to another triggers a page refresh. Going from one Page to another within the same Plugin does not trigger a page refresh.

A Page is essentially a separate node app with its own package.json. Certain dependencies like express and Grasshopper are injected into it.

Services are methods and objects shared within a Plugin, Bundle, or App.

Philosophy

grexpo is designed to be used by teams of multiple people. The plugin architecture allows different people to work on different plugins independently.

Structure

app
    bin
        start
        watch
    configs
        vars
            staging.json
            production.json
        index.js
    plugins    
        samplePlugin
            api
                sample
                    sample.get.js
                    sample.get.spec.js
                    sample.model.js
            assets
                bower_components
                images
                pages
                    home-page.html
                    about-page.html
                fragments
                    banner-fragment.html
                    footer-fragment.html
                views
                    button-view.html
                    table-view.html
            bin
                start
                watch
            middlewares
            services
                sample.service.js
                sample.service.spec.js
            bower.json
            index.pug
            index.js
            package.json
            routes.json
    index.js
    plugins.json
    

Files and directories

/index.js

You should call config first, and use the configs to build the start options for grexpo.

Call grexpo.start from with the following options:

{
    express: express,
    app: app,
    baseDirectory: __dirname,
    verbose: true,
    grasshopper: grasshopper,
    grasshopperAdminPassword: '...',
    grasshopperAdminUsername: '...',
    longStackTraces: true,
    staticOptions: { maxage : '30d' },
    protocol: 'http',
    https: {
        key: key,
        cert: cert
    }
    
    configs: configs, // global configs available as `require('grexpo').configs
    services: services // global services available as `require('grexpo').services
}

/configs/index.js

Suggested usage is to use NODE_ENV to conditionally require ./var/NODE_ENV and use the data returned to build your configs with ES6 template strings.

The return configs should include a grasshopper key with a value of a Grasshopper configuration object.

Roadmap

What for plugin/index.js if it returns a promise. Make plugins.json optionally come from a db Include ways to use sass and jade with Polymer. Include ways to use jade on server side. Include migrations.