I'm following the socket.io chat application tutorial here - https://socket.io/get-started/chat/
and it's using express framework. There's a code in the tutorial that is:
var app = require('express')();
var http = require('http').Server(app);
and if I just use 'require('express')' without the second parenthesis it doesn't work. What does the second parenthesis do and where could I find documentation for the syntax?
The type returned from require('express') is a function. The second set of parenthesis is you actually invoking the function to create an instance of an express app.
It's the equivalent of you doing
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
The require('express') call returns a function and hence you need to call that returned function in order to initialisation an express app. For example, the main entry file of express might look like
function one(){/*some code here*/}
function two(){/* some other code here*/ }
Module.exports = one;
So essentially what happens is that when you require express the above code is included and the one function is exported for you to use and hence you need to call that function that's why you have that extra parenthesis
Related
In my jsx file, I have the following:
var express = require('express');
var myExpress = express();
var http = require('http');
var app = http.createServer(myExpress);
var { Server } = require("socket.io");
var myio = new Server(app);
However, the browser says "Uncaught TypeError: express is not a function"
I have tried importing express with an import statement, as well as making my project a module in my package.json. What is weird is that when I use the same code in a regular js file in the same folder, it works perfectly well. This code was the code in every single one of the tutorials, so I am at a loss. Thank you.
Express is node framework you can't use it in react.
I think you need https://v5.reactrouter.com/web/guides/quick-start
In this code snippet:
Const express = require('express')
Const app = express();
/*Typeof express = function
Typeof app = function*/
app.get()
My question is: if app is a function then how can we use a dot operator with it to call get function, and if we are creating a object of function express then why didn't we use new keyword to create an object.
Secondly, module.exports exports the literals in object format then why we are getting typeof express here a function.
If I am wrong anywhere, please correct me.
In JavaScript functions are objects, so this is valid:
function x() {
console.log("this is x()");
}
x.y = function() {
console.log("this is x.y()");
}
x();
x.y();
Express and other JavaScript tools use this feature extensively.
If you're used to other languages where functions are just functions and not objects themselves this will seem extraordinarily strange.
Let's say I want a cloud function to have a path such as:
https://[MY_DOMAIN]/login/change_password
How do I achieve the "login/" part in Node?
Or even something more complicated such as
login/admin/get_data
?
I tried using
module.exports = {
"login/change_password" = [function]
}
But I got an error when deploying and "change_password" was omitted, so it only tried to deploy a "login" function.
Another thing I tried was using express routers but that resulted in only deploying a single function, which routed to the right path (e.g. myfunction/login/change_password) which is problematic as I have to deploy in bulk every time and can't deploy a function individually.
If you want the flexibility to define routes (paths) that are more complex than just the name of the function, you should provide an Express app to Cloud Functions. The express app can define routes that add path components to the base name of the function you export from index.js. This is discussed in the documentation for HTTP functions. For example:
const functions = require('firebase-functions');
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
app.get('/some/other/path', (req, res) => { ... });
exports.foo = functions.https.onRequest(app);
In that case, all your paths will hang off of the path prefix "foo".
There is also an official samples illustrating use of Express apps: https://github.com/firebase/functions-samples/tree/master/authorized-https-endpoint
Thanks to the discussion with Doug Stevenson I was able to better phrase my question and find that it was already answered in this question.
So this would be an example of my implementation:
const functions = require('firebase-functions');
const express = require('express');
const login = require('./login.js');
const edit_data = require('./edit-data.js');
const login_app = express();
login_app.use('/get_uuid', login.getUUID);
login_app.use('/get_credentials', login.getCredentials);
login_app.use('/authorize', login.authorize);
const edit_data_app = express();
edit_data_app.use('/set_data', edit_data.setData);
edit_data_app.use('/get_data', edit_data.getData);
edit_data_app.use('/update_data', edit_data.updateData);
edit_data_app.use('/remove_data', edit_data.removeData);
exports.login = functions.https.onRequest(login_app);
exports.edit_data = functions.https.onRequest(edit_data_app);
My takeaway from this is that there is a one-to-one Express app to HTTP function correspondence, so if I wanted to have 3 different functions I would need 3 Express apps.
A good balance is to have one app and one function per module (as shown above), which also means you can separate out your functions across several modules/javascript files for ease of maintenance.
In the above example, we can then trigger those HTTP functions using
https://[DOMAIN]/login/get_uuid/
or, from the firebase functions shell
login.get("/get_uuid")
I have an issue where I need to load express like this:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
In order to get .static to work:
app.use(express.static(__dirname+'views'));
Any reason why I can't use shorthand:
var app = require('express')();
When I try the short hand it says express.static is undefined and my script won't run. Is this just a feature that's not supported by express?
Any reason why I can't use shorthand:
var app = require('express')();
If you considered this statement from your script,
app.use(express.static(__dirname+'views'));
you are using static method of express.In order to use this method,you must import express first and store it in some variables like u did
var express = require('express');
From express#express.js
exports.static = require('serve-static');
static defined at class level.
then instantiate it
like this
var app = express();
to get the access to object level(prototype) method and properties like
app#use app#engine etc.
From express#application //line no 78
EDIT :
but then why can't I use app.static if I did var app = require('express')();
As I said,.static is the class level method and not the instance/object(prototype) level.
So,by var app = require('express')()
you will get express instance / object (prototype) which dont have app.static method.So,you can't use.
Read more javascript-class-method-vs-class-prototype-method
This will work: const app = (() => require('express'))()();
But you still need express itself, so there literally is no real point to requiring twice.
I've been trying to create (basically) a factory function that configures and builds an expressjs server for a dozen smaller specialized servers I have. For part of this I want to augment the listen function.
I would like to know the best way to go about this. I'm also looking for a reusable design choice here.
Server is created normally:
var httpServer = express();
...
Because of the way express is designed (Not sure if I am correct) I cannot access a {whatever}.prototype.listen. So I have come up with two approaches.
Using an additional variable in the current scope:
var oldListen = httpServer.listen;
httpServer.listen = function(callback){
...
oldListen.call(httpServer, options.port, options.host, function(){
...
if ( typeof callback == 'function' ) callback();
});
};
Which works and is fairly straight forward but then I have a variable hoisting wart. I also have a closure solution, but I think it may be too obtuse to be practical:
httpServer.listen = (function(superListen){
return function(callback){
...
superListen.call(httpServer, options.port, options.host, function(){
...
if ( typeof callback == 'function' ) callback();
});
};
})(httpServer.listen);
Both examples are part of the factory context and I am intentionally reducing the arguments passed to the function.
Any help would be appreciated.
If you insist on "overloading", make sure you implement the original footprint (such is the nature of overloading). Express listen is just an alias to node's internal http listen method:
server.listen(port, [host], [backlog], [callback]);
UPDATE: Express even suggests using node's server API for custom implementations: http://expressjs.com/4x/api.html#app.listen
Otherwise, you should create your own custom listen method which would be defined like:
httpServer.myCustomListen = function (callback) {
httpServer.listen.call(httpServer, options.port, options.host, callback);
}
The second option is your best bet, but in order for it to work, you must extend the express library. Express is open source and hosted on Github. Fork it and modify it as you please. Periodically pull in new updates so you stay up-to-date with the core library. I do this all the time with node modules.
There are two benefits from doing it this way:
You have complete control to customize the code however you see fit while staying up to date with the code written by the original authors.
If you find a bug or build a cool feature, you can submit a pull request to benefit the community at large.
You would first fork the repository, then grab the URL for your fork, clone it, and then add a reference to the original "upstream" repo:
git clone [url_to your_fork]
cd express
git remote add upstream git#github.com:strongloop/express.git
Then you can push changes to your own repo (git push). If you want to get updates from the original repo, you can pull from the upstream repo: git pull upstream master.
If you want to add your custom fork of express as an npm module for a project, you would use the following:
npm install git://github.com/[your_user_name]/express.git --save
As Victor's answer pointed out, express's prototype is in express/lib/application.js. That file is used to build express and is exported via the application namespace in express/lib/express.js. Therefore, the .listen function can be referenced using express.appliction.listen.
One can use this method then: (similar to Victor's method)
var express = require('express');
express.application._listen = express.application.listen;
express.application.listen = function(callback) {
return this._listen(options.port, options.host, callback);
};
One can also use Lo-dash's _.wrap function if you don't want to store the base function in a variable yourself. It would look something like this:
var express = require('express');
var _ = require('lodash');
express.application.listen = _.wrap(express.application.listen, function(listenFn) {
return listenFn(options.port, options.host, callback); // Called with the same this
};
However, using these methods would run into the problems that you mentioned in your question (variable hoisting, creating an extra variable). To solve this, I would usually create my own subclass of express.application and replace the .listen function in that subclass and tell express to use that subclass instead. Due to express's current structure, however, you cannot replace express.application with your own subclass without overriding the express() function itself.
Hence, what I would do is to take over express.application.listen completely since it is only 2 lines. It is rather simple!
var express = require('express');
var http = require('http');
express.application.listen = function(callback) {
return http.createServer(this).listen(options.port, options.host, callback);
};
You can even make an https option!
var express = require('express');
var http = require('http');
var https = require('https');
express.application.listen = function(callback) {
return (options.https ? http.createServer(this) : https.createServer({ ... }, this))
.listen(options.port, options.host, callback);
};
Note: One of the other answers mentions forking express and modifying it. I would have a tough time justifying that for such a small function.
You should be able to easily overload the express listen function. You can access it in the following Object path: express.application.listen
So, you can implement something like this:
var express = require('express');
express.application.baseListen = express.application.listen;
express.application.listen = function(port) {
console.log('Port is: ' + port);
this.baseListen(port);
};
The implementation of the listen function is in the following path under the express module folder: node_modules\express\lib\application.js
Bind and listen for connections on the given host and port. This method is identical to node's http.Server#listen().
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.listen(3000);
The app returned by express() is in fact a JavaScript Function, designed to be passed to node's HTTP servers as a callback to handle requests. This allows you to provide both HTTP and HTTPS versions of your app with the same codebase easily, as the app does not inherit from these (it is simply a callback):
var express = require('express');
var https = require('https');
var http = require('http');
var app = express();
http.createServer(app).listen(80);
https.createServer(options, app).listen(443);
The app.listen() method is a convenience method for the following (if you wish to use HTTPS or provide both, use the technique above):
app.listen = function(){
var server = http.createServer(this);
return server.listen.apply(server, arguments);
};
Reference:http://expressjs.com/api.html
Hope This helps.