Resource

A module loading manager.

The module subsystem API is will remain the same for some time to come in Node.

Resource provides a way to manage modules in namespaces and invalidate module cache for testing.

Remember that modules loaded using require are specific and register as different modules according to their location.

For example, require('./foo') and require('./FOO') return two different objects, irrespective of whether or not ./foo and ./FOO are the same file.

Resource simplifies loading modules by using process.cwd() and require.resolve to build absolute folder structure to access components.

Use the environment variable RESOURCE_BASE_PATH to set the base path, otherwise, the default uses process.cwd().

Install

To install:

npm install node-resource --save

Use

Load a module according to execution environment's current working directory

var Resource = require('node-resource');
var MyModule = Resource('relative/path/to/module');

Get the absolute path according to execution environment from the current working folder process.cwd

var Resource = require('node-resource');
var absolutePathModule = Resource.resolve('relative/path/to/module');

Namespaces

The term namespace is used loosely.

Here's where things get interesting. Resource namespaces allow definition of sets of modules in a different heirarchy from the rest of the application.

If you'd like to relocate a specific set of modules to a different folder:

var Resource = require('node-resource');
Resource.namespace('common', '/var/lib/common/components');

Now load them using:

Resource.common('mycomponent');

If you'd like to resolve paths according to the namespace you can still use Resource.resolve:

assert.ok(Resource.common.resolve('mycomponent') === '/var/lib/common/components/mycomponent');

This has been especially useful in larger projects with multiple teams where allocation of git repositories were necessary to divide and conquer.

Cache

Modules in Node.js are stored in memory and reside in require.cache after the first load. Subsequent calls to access the module use the cached version.

To remove the cached instance use

var Foo = Resource('path/to/my/module');
Resource.reset('path/to/my/module');

Or reset only a collection of namespaced modules.

Resource.common.reset();

Remember that since Resource uses the absolute path with respect to the module a reference to the same module from outside the namespace affects the same module since namespaces are organized through the module's path.

Contribution

Contributions are welcome but only when the features lend to the direction of the project. Please make sure to stick to current coding styles and conventions.