Serve

Serve a collection of Pages and Paths in Node.js. Most importantly, it handles interfacing with Dynapack for you so that you can (almost) forget about compilation steps and whatnot (at least that's the hope).

Installation

npm install osh-serve

Example

var serve = require('osh-serve');

var app = serve({
  dir: __dirname + '/app',
  paths: [ // modules (relative to dir) that export a Path
    'api/user',
    'api/recipe',
    'api/favorite-joke'
  ],
  pages: [ // modules (relative to dir) that export a Page
    'user',
    'signup',
    'submit-favorite-joke'
  ]
});

// app is an Express instance.

app.on('serving', function() {
  app.listen(3333);
});

Documentation

This module exports a single function that returns an Express instance. The function is async b/c we (usually) have to bundle javascript with Dynapack; the returned Express instance (which is an EventEmitter) emits the 'serving' event when all javascript has been bundled and all middleware has been attached. If an error occurs, the 'error' event will emit.

Configuration

The serve function accepts a single configuration object with the following properties.

Sample config with default values:

{
  app: require('express')(),
  dir: process.cwd(),
  paths: [],
  pages: [],
  scripts: {
    serve: true,
    output: require('temp').track().mkdirSync('__bundle'),
    prefix: '/'
  }
};

app {Express}

Optional. If provided, all Page/Path middleware will be mounted to it. If undefined, osh-serve will create its own.

dir {String}

The base directory for all pages and paths; this should be an absolute path. Defaults to current working directory.

paths {Array<Path|String>}

Serve these Paths. An array element can be a Path instance or a string pointing to a module that exports a Path instance. The string can be relative to the 'dir' setting.

pages {Array<String>}

Each array element is a string pointing to a module that exports a Page instance. The string can be relative to the 'dir' setting.

Beware that pages will not be mounted until after the 'serving' event fires on the returned Express app.

scripts {Object}

Options for module bundling; most of the properties on this object are passed directly to Dynapack. The properties on the scripts object are:

scripts.serve {Boolean}

If true, javascript bundles are served via this Express app under the scripts.prefix route using the serve-static package. Default: true.

scripts.prefix {String}

(Dynapack) This is prepended to each script name generated by Dynapack. If scripts.serve is true, this prefix is also used to serve generated javascript bundles. If you send your bundles to a CDN, then the prefix should include the protocol, hostname, etc.

If prefix does not start with '/', then it is assumed that the scripts are delivered by an external server. In this case the scripts.serve setting is assumed false.

Default: '/'

scripts.output {String}

(Dynapack) Where to save the generated bundles. If left unspecified, and scripts.serve is true, we save them in a temporary directory. If unspecified and scripts.serve is false, no bundles are created and your app will serve static pages.

License

MIT