RWS-JS Server Setup and Configuration Guide

RWS-JS is a flexible server for fullstack Realtime Web Suite framework that you can use to set up web servers, WebSocket servers, and more in sync with your frontend. The application's configuration is crucial for its successful operation. In this guide, you'll learn how to create and configure an RWS-JS server application.

Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Setting Up
   • Install Package
     • Package File
     • TS Config File
   • Initialize Server Setup
   • Server Configuration
3. Creating Server Configuration
   • Example Webpack Config
   • RWS Webpack Config
   • RWS App Configuration
4. Commands
   • Sample Command
   • New Command
   • Database Models
5. Route Configuration
   • Request Route Configuration
   • Websocket Route Configuration
6. Running the Server
   • Server Initialization
   • DB Service
   • Implementation
7. BASH Installs for Node Libraries

Prerequisites

Make sure you have Node.js and yarn installed on your local machine. If not, you can download it from the official Node.js website.

Setting Up

Install yarn

npm install -g yarn

Install package

yarn add rws-js-server

Package file

To use serve you need this packages in your package.json:

{
   "dependencies": {,        
        "@types/archiver": "^6.0.2",
        "@types/body-parser": "^1.19.5",
        "@types/express": "^4.17.21",
        "compression": "^1.7.4",
        "dotenv": "^16.3.1",
        "jsonwebtoken": "9.0.2",
        "nodemon": "^1.12.1",
        "npm-run-all": "^4.1.1",
        "puppeteer": "^21.0.3",
        "readable-stream": "^4.5.2",
        "reflect-metadata": "^0.2.1",
        "rws-js-server": "*",
        "ts-transformer-keys": "^0.4.4",
        "tsconfig-paths-webpack-plugin": "^4.1.0",
        "typescript": "^5.3.3",
        "webpack-node-externals": "^3.0.0"        
    },
    "devDependencies": {
        "@types/chai": "^4.3.5",
        "@types/chai-like": "^1.1.1",
        "@types/chai-things": "^0.0.35",
        "@types/compression": "^1.7.5",
        "@types/jsonwebtoken": "9.0.2",
        "@types/lodash": "^4.14.202",
        "@types/mocha": "^10.0.1",        
        "chai": "^4.3.7",
        "chai-like": "^1.1.1",
        "chai-things": "^0.2.0",
        "mocha": "^10.2.0",
        "ts-node": "^10.9.1",
        "webpack": "^5.75.0",
        "webpack-bundle-analyzer": "^4.10.1",
        "webpack-cli": "^5.1.4"
    }
}

Tsconfig file

tsconfig.json:

{
    "compilerOptions": {
      "baseUrl": ".",
      "experimentalDecorators": true,
      "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
      "target": "ES2018",
      "module": "commonjs",
      "moduleResolution": "node",
      "strict": true,
      "esModuleInterop": true,
      "sourceMap": true,
      "resolveJsonModule": true,
      "outDir": "dist",
      "strictNullChecks": false,    
      "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
      "paths": {                 
      }
    },
    "include": ["./src"],  
    "exclude": []
  }

Initialzie server setup (by default uses src/config/config.ts)

yarn rws init

OR with specifig config path

yarn rws init path/to/cfg.ts/from/src

Creating Server Configuration

Create a new file named config.ts in the root of your project. This file will export a function that returns a configuration object.

Example webpack config

const path = require('path');
const keysTransformer = require('ts-transformer-keys/transformer').default;
const TsconfigPathsPlugin = require('tsconfig-paths-webpack-plugin');

const  RWSWebPackSettings  = require('rws-js-server/rws.webpack.config');

RWSWebPackSettings.resolve.plugins = [
  new TsconfigPathsPlugin({configFile: './tsconfig.json'})
]

RWSWebPackSettings.output.path = path.resolve(__dirname, 'build');
RWSWebPackSettings.output.filename = 'jtrainer.server.js',


RWSWebPackSettings.devtool = 'source-map';
RWSWebPackSettings.mode = 'development';

// console.log(RWSWebPackSettings);

module.exports = RWSWebPackSettings;

RWS webpack config

rws.webpack.config.js:

const path = require('path');
const keysTransformer = require('ts-transformer-keys/transformer').default;
const webpackFilters = require('./webpackFilters');
const nodeExternals = require('webpack-node-externals');
const UtilsService = require('./_tools');

const rootPackageNodeModules = path.resolve(UtilsService.findRootWorkspacePath(process.cwd()), 'node_modules')

const modules_setup = [rootPackageNodeModules];

// console.log(modules_setup)s;

module.exports = {
  entry: `${process.cwd()}/src/index.ts`,
  mode: 'development',
  target: 'node',
  devtool: 'source-map',
  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'build'),
    filename: 'rws.server.js',
    sourceMapFilename: '[file].map',
  },
  resolve: {
    modules: modules_setup,
    extensions: ['.ts', '.js', '.node'],  
    alias: {
      
    },
    symlinks: false
  },
  context: process.cwd(),
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.(ts)$/,
        use: [                       
          {
            loader: 'ts-loader',
            options: {
              allowTsInNodeModules: true,
              configFile: path.resolve(process.cwd() + '/tsconfig.json'),
              // compilerOptions: {
              //   paths: {
              //     '*': [rootPackageNodeModules + '/*']
              //   }
              // }
            }
          }
        ],
        exclude: /node_modules\/(?!rws-js-server)/,
      },       
      {
          test: /\.node$/,
          use: 'node-loader',
      }        
    ],
  },
  plugins: [
  ],
  stats: {
    warningsFilter: webpackFilters,
  },
  externals: [nodeExternals({
    allowlist: ['rws-js-server'],
  })],
};

RWS App Configuration

Define the connection details for your MongoDB instance and server configurations:

src/config/config.ts:

import { ConsoleService, IAppConfig } from "rws-js-server";

import JWTUser from "../user/model";
import { getModels } from "../models";
import ControllerList from '../controllers/index';
import TimeTrackerSocket from "../sockets/ChatSocket";
import routes from '../routing/routes';
import ws_routes from '../routing/sockets';
import CommandList from '../commands';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';


export default (): IAppConfig => { 
    dotenv.config();
    const DB_NAME: string = process.env.MONGO_DB_NAME;
    const DB_HOST: string = process.env.MONGO_HOST;
    const DB_PORT: number = parseInt(process.env.MONGO_PORT);
    const DB_USER: string = process.env.MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME;
    const DB_PASS: string = process.env.MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD;

    const AWS_ACCESS_KEY: string = process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY;
    const AWS_SECRET_KEY: string = process.env.AWS_SECRET_KEY;

    const APP_DOMAIN: string = process.env.APP_DOMAIN;
    const PUB_FOLDER: string = process.env.PUB_FOLDER;

    const APP_PORT: number = parseInt(process.env.APP_PORT);
    const APP_WS_PORT: number = parseInt(process.env.APP_WS_PORT);
    const TESTING_PORT: number = parseInt(process.env.TESTING_PORT);
    const APP_SSL: boolean = process.env.APP_SSL === 'True';
    const APP_CORS_ALLOW: string = process.env.APP_CORS_ALLOW ? process.env.APP_CORS_ALLOW : APP_DOMAIN;

    const dbString: string = `mongodb+srv://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASS}@${DB_HOST}/${DB_NAME}?retryWrites=true&w=majority`;        

    return {
        features: {
            ws_enabled: true,
            routing_enabled: true,
            ssl: APP_SSL
        },
        mongo_url: dbString,
        mongo_db: DB_NAME,
        port: APP_PORT,        
        ws_port: APP_WS_PORT,
        test_port: TESTING_PORT,
        domain: APP_DOMAIN,
        cors_domain: APP_CORS_ALLOW,
        ssl_cert: '',
        ssl_key: '',
        secret_key: '',
        user_class: JWTUser,
        user_models: getModels(),
        controller_list: ControllerList,
        ws_routes: ws_routes,
        http_routes: routes(),
        commands: CommandList,
        aws_lambda_region: null,        
        aws_access_key: AWS_ACCESS_KEY,
        aws_secret_key: AWS_SECRET_KEY,
        aws_lambda_role: null,
        aws_lambda_bucket: null,
        pub_dir: PUB_FOLDER,        
    }
}

Commands

A sample command:

import { ICmdParams, RWSCommand } from 'rws-js-server';

class HelloCommand extends RWSCommand {
    constructor(){
        super('hello', module); // "module" in constructor is required
    }

    execute(params?: ICmdParams): void {
        console.log('<HELLO COMMAND>\n')
        console.log('    Thanks for installing RWS junction instance, ' + params.user + '\n\n');
        console.log('    This is output of example command for RWS JS server framework.');
        console.log('                                   (src/commands/HelloCommand.ts).');
        console.log('    Develop your server with "yarn dev"\n');
        console.log('    Or build and start with "yarn build" and "yarn server"');
        console.log('\n\n\n    Params passed to this command (those starting with "_" are autogenrated by console script)');
        console.log(params);
        console.log('\n</HELLO COMMAND>')
    }
}

export default new HelloCommand();

Command name is set in RWSCommand class constructor params

args are passed to execute() method

class NewCommand extends RWSCommand {
    constructor(){
        super('newcommand');
    }

    execute(args){
      console.log('DATABASE NAME IS: ', args._rws_config.mongo_db)
    }
}

args are passed like this:

npx rws newcommand arg1=val1,arg2=val2 

Database models

You need to create and export your models in a separate models.ts file. In this example, the getModels() function returns an array of RWS models:

import TimeSeries from "./TimeSeries";
import TimeTracker from "./TimeTracker";

export function getModels(): any[] {
    return [
        TimeTracker,
        TimeSeries
    ]
}

RWSModel example:

import { RWSannotations, RWSModel } from "rws-js-server";

import ITimeTracker from "./interfaces/ITimeTracker";
import 'reflect-metadata';

import TimeSeries from "./TimeSeries";
const { InverseTimeSeries, TrackType } = RWSannotations.modelAnnotations;

class TimeTracker extends RWSModel<TimeTracker> implements ITimeTracker {
  @TrackType(String, { required: true }, ['unique'])
  asset_id: string;

  @TrackType(Number)
  elapsed_time: number = 0;

  @TrackType(String, { required: true })
  obj_id: string;

  @TrackType(String)
  asset_type: string;

  @TrackType(Date)
  trace_date: Date;

  @TrackType(String)
  user_id: string;

  @TrackType(Boolean)
  instructor: boolean;

  @TrackType(Object)
  params: any;

  @InverseTimeSeries('time_tracker_measurements', 'measurements')
  measurements_ids: string[] = [];
  measurements: TimeSeries[] = [];

  static _collection = 'time_tracker';
  // static _interface = ITimeTracker;

  constructor(data?: ITimeTracker) {   
    super(data);    

    this.trace_date = new Date();
  }


 addTime(series: TimeSeries){
    this.measurements_ids.push(series.id);
    this.measurements.push(series);

    let sum = 0;

    this.measurements.forEach(measurement => {
      sum += measurement.value;
    });  

    this.elapsed_time = sum;
 }

 getTimes(): TimeSeries[]{
  return this.measurements;
 }
}

export default TimeTracker;

AFTER EVERY MODEL FIELD CHANGE RUN:

yarn rws init

this will update prisma schema for async DB Calls with new fields and their types

Route Configuration

Request Route Configuration

Define your http routes in file that returns array IHTTPRoutes interfaces

import routes from './routing/routes';

routes.ts:

"name" is annotation route name for controllers "path" is request path

import {IHTTPRoute} from "rws-js-server";

export default (): IHTTPRoute[] => {
    return [
        {
            prefix: '/prefix',
            routes: [
                {
                    name: 'prefix:controller:route',
                    path: '/prefix/route/path/with/:param'
                },                
            ]
        },        
        {
            name: 'home:route',
            path: '/*',
            noParams: true, // this route will not process parameters and put them to request object
        },             
    ]
}

Controller routing usage:

import { 
    RWSannotations, 
    RWSController, 
    IRequestParams 
} from "rws-js-server";

const { Route } = RWSannotations.routingAnnotations;
class HomeController extends RWSController{
    @Route('home:index', 'GET')
    public indexAction(params: IRequestParams): Object 
    {
        
        return {
            'success': true
            'data': {
              //your response stuff
            }
        } // Send a response for the root route
    }
}

export default HomeController.getSingleton();

A controller action with route ":param" usage - this one is called ":bookId'

  @Route('train:get:book', 'GET')
  public async getBookAction(params: IRequestParams<any>): Promise<IBook>
  {     
      return await Book.findOneBy({ id: params.req.params.bookId });
  }

A controller action that outputs "template_name" HTML file from "pub_dir" config setting.

default responseType for @Route is 'json'

  @Route('home:index', 'GET', { responseType: 'html' })
    public indexAction(params: IRequestParams<any>): any
    {        
        return {
            template_name: 'index',
            template_params: {
                hello: 'world'
            }
        }
    }    

Websocket Route Configuration

Define your websocket routes in file that returns object with key being event name to be handled and a socket class definition that extends RWSSocket

import TimeTrackerSocket from "./sockets/TimeTrackerSocket";

const ws_routes = {
    'time': TimeTrackerSocket 
},

those routes goes to config file in "ws_routes" field

Running the Server

Create a new index.ts file in the root of your project. This file will import the serverInit function from rws-js-server, and your configuration function from config.ts.

serverInit() takes in IAppConfig interface:

import { RWSHTTPRoutingEntry, WsRoutes, RWSController, RWSCommand } from "../index"

export default interface IAppConfig {   
    features?: {
        ws_enabled?: boolean
        routing_enabled?: boolean
        test_routes?: boolean
        ssl?: boolean
    } 
    mongo_url: string
    mongo_db: string
    port: number
    ws_port?: number
    domain: string
    test_port?: number
    test_ws_port?: number
    ssl_cert: string
    ssl_key: string
    secret_key: string
    user_class: any
    user_models: any[]
    controller_list: RWSController[]
    ws_routes: WsRoutes
    http_routes: RWSHTTPRoutingEntry[] 
    front_routes?: Record<string, unknown>[],
    commands?: RWSCommand[]
    aws_lambda_region?: string
    aws_access_key?: string
    aws_secret_key?: string
    aws_lambda_role?: string
    aws_lambda_bucket?: string
    pub_dir?: string
    cors_domain?: string
}

The serverInit() cfg to AppConfigService singleton in @RWS module. It reinstantiates if created empty and had passed config once.

Every service in @RWS uses AppConfigService

serverInit() from {packageDir}/init.ts

import IAppConfig from "./interfaces/IAppConfig";
import getConfigService, { AppConfigService } from "./services/AppConfigService";
import ServerService, { IInitOpts } from "./services/ServerService";
import ConsoleService from "./services/ConsoleService";
import UtilsService from "./services/UtilsService";

import fs from "fs";
import ProcessService from "./services/ProcessService";


async function init(cfg: IAppConfig, serverOptions: IInitOpts = {}, addToConfig: (configService: AppConfigService) => Promise<void> = null){    
    const AppConfigService = getConfigService(cfg);
    const port = await AppConfigService.get('port');
    const ws_port = await AppConfigService.get('ws_port');
    const wsRoutes = await AppConfigService.get('ws_routes');
    const httpRoutes = await AppConfigService.get('http_routes');
    const controler_list = await AppConfigService.get('controller_list');
    const pub_dir = await AppConfigService.get('pub_dir');
    const cors_domain = await AppConfigService.get('cors_domain');

    const sslCert = AppConfigService.get('ssl_cert');
    const sslKey = AppConfigService.get('ssl_key');      

    if(addToConfig !== null){
        await addToConfig(AppConfigService);
    }

    let https = true;

    if(!sslCert || !sslKey){
        https = false;
    }

    const executeDir: string = process.cwd();
    const packageRootDir = UtilsService.findRootWorkspacePath(executeDir)
    const moduleCfgDir = `${packageRootDir}/node_modules/.rws`;
    const moduleCfgFile = `${moduleCfgDir}/_rws_installed`;

    if(!fs.existsSync(moduleCfgFile)){        
        ConsoleService.log(ConsoleService.color().yellow('No config path generated for CLI. Trying to initialize with "yarn rws init config/config"'));
        await ProcessService.runShellCommand('yarn rws init config/config');
        UtilsService.setRWSVar('_rws_installed', 'OK');    
    }

    const theServer = await ServerService.initializeApp({...{        
        wsRoutes: wsRoutes,
        httpRoutes: httpRoutes,
        controllerList: controler_list,
        pub_dir: pub_dir,
        domain: `http${(await AppConfigService.get('features')?.ssl ? 's' : '')}://${await AppConfigService.get('domain')}`,
        cors_domain: cors_domain
    },...serverOptions});

    const wsStart = async () => {
        return (await theServer.websocket.starter());
    }

    const httpStart = async () => {
        return (await theServer.http.starter());
    }

    wsStart();
    await httpStart();    
}

export default init;

DBService

reading config from config singleton filled with cfg data passed to @RWS

class DBService extends TheService {
  private client: PrismaClient;
  private opts:IDBClientCreate = null;
  private connected = false;

  constructor(opts: IDBClientCreate = null){
    super();   
  }

  private connectToDB(opts: IDBClientCreate = null) {
    if(opts){
      this.opts = opts;
    }else{
      this.opts = {
        dbUrl: getConfig().get('mongo_url'),        
        dbName: getConfig().get('mongo_db'),
      }
    }

    if(!this.opts.dbUrl){
      return;
    }    
  
    try{
      this.client = new PrismaClient({ 
        datasources: {
          db: {
            url: this.opts.dbUrl
          },
        },
      });     

      this.connected = true;
    } catch (e){
      ConsoleService.error('PRISMA CONNECTION ERROR');
    }
  }

  private async createBaseMongoClient(): Promise<MongoClient>
  {
    const dbUrl = this.opts?.dbUrl || getConfig().get('mongo_url');
    const client = new MongoClient(dbUrl);
    
    await client.connect();

    return client;

  }

  //(...)

Implementation

index.ts from your root/src directory##:

import { serverInit, ConsoleService, getAppConfig } from "rws-js-server";
import config from './config/config'
import BedrockService from "./services/BedrockService";

// import path from 'path';

async function main(){            
    await serverInit(config());    

    getAppConfig().set('extra_param', 'value');    
}

main().then(() => {
    ConsoleService.log("Initialization complete");
}).catch((e) => {
    ConsoleService.error(e);
    console.error(e);
});

The prisma client will have generated Prisma models called exactly like _collection variable in RWS models. You can dierectly act on it without traversing dynamic prisma collections array inside the started client import.

import { track_type } from "@prisma/client";

to start server in dev env:

in root package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "npm-run-all --parallel watch:transpile watch:run",
    "watch:run": "nodemon \"./build/rws.server.js\" --watch \"./build\"",
    "watch:transpile": "webpack --config webpack.config.js --watch",
    "build": "webpack --config webpack.config.js --output-path ./dist",
    "server": "node dist/rws.server.js",    
    "hello": "npx rws hello user=$USER",
    "postinstall": "npx rws init config=config/config && yarn hello",
    "test": "npx mocha"
  }
}

Executing server

build:

yarn build

watch:

yarn dev

run:

yarn server

test:

yarn test

("hello" is a sample command)

BASH installs for node libraries

for local servers - libs are in docker/ Dockerfiles

apt-get install -y \
    libgtk-3-0 \
    libxss1 \
    libasound2 \
    libnss3 \
    libxtst6 \
    gconf-service \
    libatk1.0-0 \
    libatk-bridge2.0-0 \
    libc6 \
    libcairo2 \
    libcups2 \
    libdbus-1-3 \
    libexpat1 \
    libfontconfig1 \
    libgcc1 \
    libgconf-2-4 \
    libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 \
    libglib2.0-0 \
    libnspr4 \
    libpango-1.0-0 \
    libpangocairo-1.0-0 \
    libstdc++6 \
    libx11-6 \
    libx11-xcb1 \
    libxcb1 \
    libxcomposite1 \
    libxcursor1 \
    libxdamage1 \
    libxext6 \
    libxfixes3 \
    libxi6 \
    libxrandr2 \
    libxrender1 \
    libappindicator1 \
    lsb-release \
    xdg-utils