Nibiru.js

Nibiru.js is MC framework for modern web applications based on express and mongoose. M is a model, C is a controller. That is. There is no Views. Nibiru.js focus on data model and the way it being processed by front-end. There is no big things behind, just some rules to organize your back-end application.

Install

Install via npm

$ npm install --save nibiru

Usage

Start app by sending application root directory to nibiru. Nibiru.js function returns vanilla bluebird Promise

var path = require('path');
var nibiru = require('nibiru');

nibiru(path.join(__dirname, 'app')).then(function(core){

    // some additional setup

}).catch(function(err){

    // handle bootloading error
    console.error(err);
    process.exit(1);

});

App structure

Application in therms of Nibiru.js slices on Configs, Services, Models and Controllers. Typically your application directory should looks like:

app
┣ config
┣ controllers
┣ models
┗ services

All app components must exports function that will be called on bootloading state, lets call it loader function

module.exports = function () {
    // return something useful
    return {};
};

Configs

Config is config.js file placed in app/config directory. Loader of configs accepts single argument - app directory. This is useful for example for defining a resources path.

/** app/config/config.js */
 
var path = require('path');

module.exports = function (base) {
    return {
        some_file_path: path.join(base, "path/to/file.txt")
    };
};

For handling different apps stages (develop, production), Nibiru.js bootloader looks in process.env.mode property for string that indicate stage. If mode is present, bootloader will try to extend default config with config from app/configs/ mode /config.js

There is mandatory fields that config must contains:

mongo: {
     host: "database_host",
     user: "database_user",
     pass: "database_user_password",
     database: "database_name"
},
server: {
     "port": 7051,
     "host": "host"
}

Services

Service is an utility peace of code that loads and stores in core. Service location is app/services directory. By experience we know that utility modules often represented in more than one file, even directories. For this reasons it was necessary to integrate naming conventions: service file name must ends with *service.js or *Service.js.

Services available by low-cased, underscored name without *service.js suffix. Service can be grouped in subdirectories and will be available by dot represented path.

app
┗ services
    ┣ utils
    ┃   ┗ MD5Service.js
    ┗ FileService.js

In example above bootloader will load two services with names 'file' and 'utils.md5' respectively.

Service loader accepts config argument - application config loaded in previous bootloading state.

Models

Models in Nibiru.js is mongoose models. They are located in app/models directory. Loader of model accepts core argument. Core argument is in object created for component communication. Application config available on core.config property and services can be retrieved by calling core.service(name) method.

/** app/models/User.js */

var Schema = require('mongoose').Schema;

module.exports = function (core) {
    
    return new Schema({
        name: {
            type: String,
            default: core.config.default_name // refer to config 
        },
        avatar: {
            type: String
        },
        region: {
            type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
            ref: 'region',
            childPath: 'users'
        },
        type: {
            type: Number,
            default: 1
        },
        registerDate: {
            type: Date,
            default: core.service('utils').now // refer to now method of utils service
        }
    });
};

Bootloader automatically install mongoose-deep-populate plugin. Also mongoose-relationship plugin will be installed on models who has fields with childPath option.

Name of model sets to underscored, low-cased basename of file.

Controllers

Controllers are business logic containers mapped to urls that located in app/controllers directory. Loader of controller also accepts core argument, but for now, models can be accessed by calling core.model('name') method. Loader must return function that will be called on request. Additional controller function can contain $method field to specify http method and $route to specify custom route for this controller.

Structure of app/controllers directory maps to routes. For example this structure

app
┗ controllers
    ┣ files
    ┃   ┣ controller.js
    ┃   ┗ index.js      // index.js always points to directory contains file
    ┗ files.js

will be mapped to

/files
/files/controller
/files

Application file

App root directory must contains app.js file. Loader of app file also accepts core parameter and must return express application.

Example:

/** app/app.js */

var express = require('express');
var logger = require('morgan');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

module.exports = function (core) {

    var app = express();

    app.use(compression({threshold: 0}));
    app.use(logger('dev'));
    app.use(bodyParser.json({limit: '32mb'}));
    app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: false}));
    
    return app; // important!
};

So what about views?

As you can guess, there are no things that can stop you to use Views with Nibiru.js. You can use express build-in views mechanism. For little bit of aesthetics, place your views in app/views directory and point express to use it by calling

app.set('views', core.base('views'));

More info about views in express