node-thrift-express

node-thrift-express automates the creation of Express endpoints for Thrift functionality in a Node server. The module uses the generated Node client stubs to generate an endpoint for every function defined in the Thrift definition file.

installation

npm install node-thrift-express

usage

After installing the module, the file config.js (shown below) in the /node-thrift-express folder in /node_modules must be edited.

const servicePath = require('');
const ttypesPath = require('');
const serviceHost = '';
const servicePort = '';
const postPrefixes = [''];

module.exports = {
  servicePath: servicePath,
  ttypesPath: ttypesPath,
  serviceHost: serviceHost,
  servicePort: servicePort,
  postPrefixes: postPrefixes
}

Setup

Enter the paths of the generated files (service file and types file) in your /gen-nodejs directory. Then, enter the host and port of your Thrift server. Finally, enter the prefixes of all the functions you wish to assign a POST endpoint; these are all functions that create objects, so the prefixes could be 'Add' or 'Create', for example.

Make sure your parameter objects are create following a Request/Response pattern. The parameter object for the function AddUser() must be named AddUserRequest, so the name of the function + 'Request'. If the request objects have a different suffix, it can be changed in node-thrift-express.js in line 32: var paramsName = name + 'Request';

The endpoints receive the same name as their function, for example /AddUser.

Updating

If new Thrift functions are added to the definition file, simply generate the client stubs anew with $ thrift -r --gen js:node <directory/thriftfile.thrift>. After that, the endpoints can be called immediately using the name of the function.