urlparamify

Parse all kinds of urls, simple or otherwise. Returns a modifiable JSON object that can be converted to a string.

The why

Primary goal: Keep urls modifiable, without worrying about anything else. Allow for modifying urls, and generating a neat url with accomodated changes.

Often you might be parsing urls, modifying some parameter using strings, and the whole system looks messy. urlparamify seeks to solve that problem. Just give it a string, which is converted into JSON modifiable form. Mess up any way you want to with the parameters, playing around with the params, and just call a Url.toString() to get your modified url.

Now you don't need to worry about google.com, http://google.com, /path?search=data, urlparamify has got you covered.

One of the legit feedbacks I received on reddit was how is this module any different from the core url module ?

Unlike the core url, urlparamify accepts any kind of url like mentioned above, whereas url works only when a url of the format http://google.com is provided. I started off working on a task with url itself, but the multiple fallacies in url (url.parse('http://google.com') for instance, along with multiple urls mentioned in this test suite) and other interactions suggested me to make a url suited to these requirements. An instance of this module's sturdiness can be seen in Usage and examples below.

Find a url that breaks this module ? Let me know.

Installation

$ npm install urlparamify

Structure

Each url is broken down into the following components:

• href : The original input string
• protocol : http / https request protocol
• host : what website / localhost ip,port combination
• baseurl : The base url of the url to be queried.
• path : Path section of the URL
• query : The query part of the url, unaltered
• queryParams : A json object to modify/add to your query

Apart from this, each url object has the following functions:

• getBaseurl(): Get the latest baseurl parameter
• toString() : Convert our url object into a neatly formatted string.

Usage and examples

> var Url = require('urlparamify');
> var h = Url('http://google.com/path1?q=data&d=sad#hash');

> h
{ href: 'http://google.com/path1/?q=data&d=sad#hash',
protocol: 'http',
host: 'google.com',
baseurl: 'http://google.com',
path: 'path1',
query: 'q=data&d=sad',
queryParams: { q: 'data', d: 'sad' },
hash: 'hash',
getBaseurl: [Function],
toString: [Function] }

> h.toString();
'http://google.com/path1?q=data&d=sad#hash'

// let's put a smile on that face
> h.queryParams.d = 'happy';
> h.toString();
'http://google.com/path1?q=data&d=happy#hash'

// let's try adding new query parameters
> h.queryParams.new = 'wow';
> h.toString();
'http://google.com/path1?q=data&d=happy&new=wow#hash'

// I don't like hashtags. Get rid of it
> h.hash = "";
> h.toString();
'http://google.com/path1?q=data&d=sad&new=wow'

// But what if I want to add things that were never there to begin with ?
// With urlparamify, you can not only modify, but also add new parameters with ease
> var g = Url('google.com')
> g.toString()
'google.com'
> g.path = 'somepath'
> g.toString()
'google.com/somepath'
> g.queryParams.search = 'data'
> g.toString()
'google.com/somepath?search=data'

Tests

npm test
npm run cover
istanbul cover test/test.js // The results are stored in coverage/

The source files are in src, and the distribution files are in dist. Transpiled the code for ease.

A little reminder for myself: When ready to deploy, at a clean git history,

npm version patch -m "Version %s - add sweet badges"
major.minor.patch : 1.1.0

If you want to publish your own module, this article on Medium is a great place to start.

License

MIT © Kaustubh Hiware