HEXIN Node Framework

This is a node framework that enforces scalability, seperation of concern, and obscuring redundent code while empowering developers with what they need to implement additional features without looking at bloated files. This framework was built with .NET's MVC ideology in mind, and takes ideas from their use of Service & Repository (Repo coming soon) Pattern, Auto-Mapper, Inversion of Control, app_start config.

Get Started

Prerequisite

Setup

$ npm install

Run

$ npm start

NPM Scripts

|npm run <script> |Description| |-------------------|-----------| |start |Serves your app at localhost:8280 (port by default)| |build |Builds the application| |test |Test the application using mocha| |apidoc |Build apidoc page to public/docs/|

Table of contents

• Prerequisite
• Get Started
  • Setup
  • Run
  • NPM Scripts
• Folder Structure
• App
  • Controllers
  • Helpers
  • Models
  • Services
• App_Start
• File Scaffolding
  • Install
  • Usage
  • Plop Scripts
• Useful Requires and Helpers
• Todos

Folder Structure

├── __test__                    Mocha & chai tests
|   └── controllers
|   └── helpers
|   └── models
|   └── services
├── .vscode                     Settings & snippets for this project (for VS Code)
├── app                         Main container for the application
|   └── controllers             Handles routes
|   └── helpers                 Reusable helper methods
|   └── models                  Mongoose models
|   └── repos                   Data access layers (coming soon)
|       └── unitOfWork.js       Contains all repos
|   └── services                Business logic (fascades between controller and models)
├── app_start                   Holds application startup code
|   └── index.js                Handles ordering & calling of the application startup code
├── configs                     Holds all configs
├── locales                     Locale definitions
├── public                      folders and files that'll be available in http://{url}/
├── views                       Holds views using handlebars
    └── layouts                 View's layouts

App

The app folder is where developers will spent majority of their time in.

The Flow

All requests made to the server will flow through the system into the following five layers and in this specific order: Controllers <-> Services <-> (UnitOfWork <-> Repos) <-> Models

It is very important to remember that a layer can never skip over another layer and directly communicate with another layer. All communication must be to their adjacent layers.

The purpose of this flow is to maintain the Separation-of-Concern between each of them. Each layer has its own duty and will only handle their own tasks. A very good example for this would be if you decide to change the database to another type, you just have to swap the models and update the code for the repo (adaptor for data accessing). For this change, all code updates are contained and you do not have to scour the whole project for all endpoints.

Controllers

Controller is responsible for authorization, DTO mapping, calling service methods, and returning of result/errors

The controller will have two base class to extend from; the ControllerBase and ControllerCrudBase. The ControllerBase holds the essential methods and variables needed. ControllerCrudBase is an extension of ControllerBase and holds all basic CRUD calls for the given Service provided in the constructor. Every controller must extend either ControllerBase or ControllerCrudBase.

Constructor

constructor(app: Object) - controller is instantiated with an app argument

super(app: Object[, controllerName: string[, service: Object]]) - ControllerBase super

super(app: Object[, controllerName: string[, service: Object[, middlewares]]]) - ControllerCrudBase super

Extendable class

ControllerBase - documentation in https://github.com/ccau1/hexin-core#controllerbase

ControllerCrudBase - documentation in https://github.com/ccau1/hexin-core#controllercrudbase

ControllerCrudBase automatically initalizes the following routes:

• [GET] api/{route}/ - Get All
• [GET] api/{route}/:_id - Get by _id
• [POST] api/{route}/ - Create
• [PUT] api/{route}/:_id - Update by _id
• [DELETE] api/{route}/:_id - Delete by _id

Helper methods

authenticate - a middleware that verifies whether user is logged in or not

router.post('/', this.authenticate, (req, res, next) {

authorize(...roles: Array<string>) - a middleware that can be used as authenticate or can be called as function with permitted roles

router.post('/', this.authorize, (req, res, next) {
router.post('/', this.authorize(), (req, res, next) { // (same as above)
router.post('/', this.authorize('user', 'admin'), (req, res, next) {

renderRoutes(router: Object): void - this is the method where you declare all the routes for this controller. You must override this method in each controller

this.isVerb(verb: string, inVerbList: Array<string>|string): boolean - Function that returns true if first arg is in second argument. Useful for checking if req.method is equal to one of the verbs listed

this.isVerb(req.method, 'PUT|POST|DELETE')
this.isVerb(req.method, ['PUT', 'POST', 'DELETE'])

Example

'use strict';

const {ControllerCrudBase} = require('hexin-core');

// Service
const AuthService = new require('../services/AuthService');

module.exports = class AuthController extends ControllerCrudBase {
    constructor(app) {
        const baseMiddlewares = [
            (req, res, next) => {
                // if method is create, update, or delete, ensure user is authenticated first
                if (this.isVerb(req.method, 'PUT|POST|DELETE')) {
                    this.authenticate(req, res, next);
                } else {
                    next();
                }
            }
        ];
        super(app, 'auth', AuthService, baseMiddlewares);
    }

    renderRoutes(router) {
        const {authorize} = this;

        // Routes definition set here

        // [POST] Register
        router.post('/register', (req, res, next) => {
            co(function* () {
                const {m} = req;
                const result = yield m.createUser(req.body);

                res.send(result);
            })
            .catch(error => {
                next(error);
            });
        });
    }
}

Helpers

Helpers are small reusable functions that'll be applicable in multiple endpoints and could even possibly be transferable to other projects

Models

A model defines a database collection/table structure and its constraints/rules. By default, the model uses mongoose to manage this definition and data-modification methods.

Services

Service is responsible for the system's business logic

The service will have two base class to extend from; the ServiceBase and ServiceCrudBase (corresponds to controller's two base classes). The ServiceBase holds the essential methods and variables needed. The ServiceCrudBase is an extension of the ServiceBase class and holds all basic CRUD calls for the given Model provided in the constructor. Every service must extend either ServiceBase or ServiceCrudBase. It is highly recommended that you use the library HandleError to handle any errors

Constructor

constructor(context: Object) - services will be instantiated with a context argument (represents router's request object)

super(context: Object, model: Object)

Extendable Class

ServiceBase - documentation in https://github.com/ccau1/hexin-core#servicebase

ServiceCrudBase - documentation in https://github.com/ccau1/hexin-core#servicecrudbase

ServiceCrudBase automatically provides the following methods:

• getAll(): Array<Object> - Get All
• getById(_id: number): Object - Get by _id
• create(obj: Object): Object - Create
• update(_id: number, obj: Object): Object - Update by _id
• delete(_id: number): Object - Delete by _id

Context Variables (this)

t(localeKey: string, args: Array<string>): string - translates localeKey into text defined in current locale

lang - current locale

context - context passed from parent

_model - the model passed from constructor

Helper Methods

validate(obj: Object): boolean - validates model object and returns true if success or throws error if fails. Used before passing it to the database

sanitize - modify object to become database ready. Used before passing it to the database

mapper - a DTO mapper to handle from database to client

mapperReverse - a DTO mapper to handle from client to database

Example

'use strict';

const {ServiceCrudBase} = require('hexin-core');
const indicative = require('indicative');

const {HandleError} = require('hexin-core/helpers');

// Models
const Todo = new require('../models/Todo');

module.exports = class TodoService extends ServiceCrudBase {
    constructor(context_) {
        super(context_, Todo);
    }

    /*
        ServiceCrudBase already included the following:
            getAll(),
            getById(_id),
            create(obj),
            update(_id, obj),
            delete(_id)
    */

    * setIsComplete(_id, isComplete) {
        const {t} = this;
        let todo = yield _model.update({'_id': _id}, {$set: {isComplete}});
        if (!todo) {
            throw new HandleError({_error: [t('err_reset_token_expired')]}, 422);
        }
        return todo;
    }
}

Repos

(coming soon)

App_Start

The app_start folder contains all the configuration files needed to get the app started. Each of the config files will have three lifecycle methods available for it: preInit(), init(), postInit()

'use strict';

const {AppStartConfig} = require('hexin-core');

module.exports = class ControllersConfig extends AppStartConfig {
    preInit(appConfig: Object) { }
    init(appConfig: Object) { }
    postInit(appConfig: Object) { }

File Scaffolding

We use plop to generate scaffolds to maintain consistancy in code and folder structure, as well as speeding up development time

Install

$ npm install -g plop

Usage

View File Scaffolding List

$ plop

Trigger specific command

$ plop {scriptName}

Plop Scripts

|npm run g:<script> |Description| |-------------------|-----------| |model |Generate Model| |service |Generate Service| |controller |Generate Controller| |msc |Generate Model, Service & Controller| |app_start |Generate app_start/{name}Config.js|

Useful Requires and Helpers

const configs = require('../../configs').base; - Project configs

const {HandleError} = require('hexin-core/helpers'); - Error handling

(More Documentation Coming Soon)

Todos

• [ ] Move /views to /app/views
• [x] Use plop for generating files
• [ ] Enhance User functionalities (reset/change password, upload avatar)
• [ ] Add Unit of Work and Repository Layer
• [ ] Use yeoman to generate this framework