Hello guys i was learning web developments and have a simple question. If i built a e-commerce web page using node.js and ejs template engine and everything works fine. The next decision is to build a native app for the same e-commerce site either android or IOS. I want the native app to also communicate with the same application server designed in node.js. Do i have to redesign the application server?
My approach or thought:
Native app will have to consume data either xml or json. So i will have to change the business logic of my endpoints. And if i do it this way, i will also have to change the way the web ui interacts with the application server and it also has to consume json or xml response using ajax call. Is my thinking or approach on the right track? But if using node.js, should i avoid the template engines?
Yes, you have to redesign the application server logic by exposing API endpoints. As mobile apps (iOS/Android) will interact with the server using these API endpoints, via JSON. And this will affect your web page also, as everything thing now has to be done via AJAX calls.
Best practice is to built a single page web application using Angular or React.
That way both your mobile app and web app would behave almost the same.
Related
What is a web framework and how are frontend and backend related to a web framework? Are these web framework (Django, flask etc..) work at the frontend or at the backend?
Firstly Framework... we can understand this in this way that if there is a person who made bricks. He made the first brick according to measurements like height and width length and he has to make 100 bricks so he made a box of the same height, length, and width instead of doing measurements again and again, and that box is called a framework.
Framework is a collection of tools designed to help create your projects so you don't need to start from scratch.
Similarly, a web framework or web application framework helps build web applications.
There are two types of web-framework:
1. Server-side/Backend
2. Client-side/Frontend
The frontend of a website is the part that is presented to the user, the parts you see and interact with when browsing the web.
The backend is the technology behind that presentation layer that makes everything work, i.e. the server, application, and database.
Basically Django is a backend framework but it is both frontend and backend.
But Flask is backend framework.
I have a question already search on google but not find a good answer.
What is the job of nodejs & ExpressJS in mean stack development ? Like is it some thing like php to create api and angular will call it ? Or something else
You're exactly right, Node.js is used in MEAN stack to create backend code and APIs that are called from a frontend Angular app.
Angular is the way to create an SPA (Single Page Application).
Wikipedia:
A single-page application (SPA) is a web application or web site that
interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current page
rather than loading entire new pages from a server.
ExpressJS
What is Express.js. Express is a fast, assertive, essential and
moderate web framework of Node.js. You can assume express as a layer
built on the top of the Node.js that helps manage a server and routes.
It provides a robust set of features to develop web and mobile applications.
So on top of node-js which is your server side application where you can build your apis that your angular SPA will consume, you have Express JS which is a ready solution to help you.
This way, you will not need to solve problems like routing which have already been solved by the framework in an "optimal" or at least commonly agreed "good enough" way.
There is an excellent answer on express js in stackoverflow here
Yes, you right it is like so. NodeJs is used to create a server, then APIs and Angular call those API from the Front-End.
Detailed Description:
What is NodeJs
You can create a server using NodeJs where you will have a bunch of APIs.
These APIs can be called from an Angular app.
Official Definition: Node.js is a runtime environment that executes JavaScript code outside of a browser. Outside of a browser means Server.
What is ExpressJs
ExpressJS is a prebuilt NodeJS framework that can help you in creating server-side web applications faster and smarter.
Note: It is not necessary to use ExpressJs if you are using NodeJs.
What is Angular
Angular is a framework for building Single Page Application(SAP) web
applications.
SAP means your site does not reload the page when you move from one page to another.
Your Angular app calls NodeJs API.
Angular is a library for building Single Page Applications which (typically) run inside a web browser.
Node.js is a way of running software written in JavaScript outside of a browser. It has many uses.
Software written to run under Node.js — that is strictly relevant to the topics you are asking about — includes:
Build tools used with Angular (converting code is written in ways optimal for developers to edit and debug to ways optimal for delivering to and running in a browser).
Other helper tools for software development (such as #angular/cli which creates a skeleton set of code for an Angular project)
HTTP servers used to provide web services (a type of API) for client applications (which may be written in Angular) to access
Express.js is a library for Node.js which provides prewritten solutions for many of the tasks an HTTP server needs to perform.
You can write many kinds of software in Node.js. I have some code lurking around that loops over all the images in a directory and spits out a PDF of them. It doesn't even go near the Internet.
I'm starting out on my Node.JS journey and I discovered a fantastic boilerplate over at https://github.com/azouaoui-med/pro-sidebar-template. I'm unsure though how to turn the static html into a web app. Just wondering how someone with more experience would do this?
Do I take the html and translate it into a PUG template file? I'm guessing to then make the onclick / links actually run some code, i'd need to point them at the routes setup in the web app?
Sorry to ask such inexperienced questions, web apps seem to take a vastly different approach to the desktop apps i'm familiar with programming
I'm wanting to create a web app that runs on a server, which I will later put on the desktop via electron.
thanks
The project you have is using browser-sync which indirectly uses NodeJS to run a local server and host the web application files.
Do I take the HTML and translate it into a PUG template file?
I am not sure about this question unless you specifically want to use server-side rendering I am not sure I would recommend this to start with especially if you plan to later convert this to a desktop application.
[Note* - Assuming you are referencing this library PUGJS in statements above ]
Now For this requirement I'm wanting to create a web app that runs on a server, which I will later put on the desktop via electron.
This will require you to make your data serving layer which is most commonly called backend separate from that of the data viewing layer which is most commonly referred to as front-end. Thus a case for using the same data layer across different types of clients viz. A web application and/or A desktop application ( electron if you choose so )
Step 1 - Define what sort of web application architecture you want to follow or use. This will be based on your project and business requirements. From what information I have so far I would suggest a simple client-server architecture where your frontend or web-application is the client which makes REST API calls to the backend (API Server) and thus produces a meaningful result.
Step 2 - Start with the creation of 2 projects a frontend where your HTML, CSS JS, etc will be and a simple NodeJS script to serve this static web app when deployed on the server. I am going with NodeJS since the context of this question is suggesting the same.
Step 3 - The other project which will only be an API Server or Backend. This server will provide only REST API to the frontend. This server will talk to the database and provide other services like authentication and logging etc. You can use expressJS for this also in the frontend project.
Here is a simplistic representation of the client-server model which you can reference.
Some additional links for you to digest.
What is the difference between a web application and a client/server application?
https://medium.com/codiumclub/web-application-architecture-part-1-guide-to-become-full-stack-developer-cc9526a3519b
I am fairly new to the web development and I am still learning.
I am trying to build a back end for my web application. I am currently using react with redux for my front end. My question is, in order to create a back end do I need to use the react-router or do I have to use a completely different platform like Node.js. Thank you in advance!!
In order to create a backend, you will need to build a server-side application using Node, .NET Core, Java, PHP... and the list goes on. Seems like you're into JS, so Node would likely be your choice. You have a few options, such as embedding your frontend application in views served by your backend, or keeping them separate, like a frontend talking to API endpoints using the Fetch API.
React-router, on the other hand, will allow you to move through the different screens of the single-page app you've created. It won't help you to make API endpoint calls.
So, as you can see, the two things aren't related even though they sound similar. In short, use react-router to navigate around your app, and use the Fetch API (or a component like Axios that has better compatibility for older browsers) to make your API endpoint requests.
I'm trying to understand the transition from Web Apps in Nodejs with Express to making similar apps on the Desktop with ElectronJS.
The thing I can't understand is how you change a view, for instance in Express if I have a basic CRUD app I have an index controller and view and a create thing controller and view, and I can switch between them my clicking links renders in the browser via Express.
How does that work in ElectronJS?
Am I supposed to run Express within Election? Is Electron somehow the Routing framework.. or do I have to drop that way of thinking all-together and use something like AngularJS or ReactJS?
You have to understand why we use express first. It's a server that reads http requests which in ElectronJS doesn't make sense because you can directly communicate via IPC. So, no you don't run express in electron. And think of electron as a packaged nodejs that ships with your app. It's not a routing framework or anything. It's literally nodejs but with the ability to talk to Chromium as it's view where you can write HTML, CSS etc.
And lastly, yes, you can use whatever client library/framework that you'd use on your web app in electron too.