Move routes into files in Express.js - node.js

Question

Say I have some routes (I have a lot more, but this should explain):
router.post('/post');
router.get('/post/:id');
router.get('/posts/:page?');
router.get('/search');
For the /post ones I know I could do something like
app.use('/post', postRoutes)
Where postRoutes is the actual post routes in another file. However, I'd like to group all post related routes into a postRoutes component (so /post and /posts), search into a search component and so on. Is there a way to do something like
router.use(postRoutes); // includes routes 1-3 above
router.use(searchRoutes); // only the 4th route above
And so on? That would let me keep the top level file much cleaner.

Answer 1

Yes it is simple. You can even make more nesting levels. I think it is good to separate routes, especially when you have dozens of routes.
in your first file (server.js)
app.use(require("./allpost"));
app.use(require("./allqueries"));
in allpost.js
var express = require('express');
var router = new express.Router();
router.post('/post', function (req, res) {
//your code
});
router.get('/post/:id', function (req, res) {
//your code
});
router.get('/posts/:page?', function (req, res) {
//your code
});
when you want more nesting
router.use(require("./deeper"));
or when you want use path part
router.use("/post2/", require("./messages/private"));
module.exports = router;

Answer 2

You could do that by creating a special route file. Here's an example of such file
module.exports = (function() {
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
router.get("/:id", function (request, response, next) {
request.body.id = request.params["id"];
// Do something ...
});
router.post("/someRoute", function (request, response, next) {
// Do something ...
});
// And so on ...
return router;
})();
Next, in you server.js file, include it like this
app.use('/post', require('./routes/postRoutes'));

Answer 3

The problem was I was thinking about this wrong. First off, don't use singular and plural. It makes it a headache and also makes it hard for people to remember the API.
Once I used all plural I had a setup like this in my index.js file:
// The API routes all start with /api and we pass app here so we can have some
// sub routes inside of api
app.use('/api', require('./app/api')(app));
And then in my api/index.js
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router({ mergeParams: true });
var routeInit = function (app) {
app.use('sessions', require('./sessions')(router));
app.use('users', require('./users')(router));
return router;
};
module.exports = routeInit;
You can see that I'm passing the router manually each time. Then finally:
var routeInit = function (router) {
router.post('/blah', function (req, res, next) {
// Do stuff
});
return router;
};
module.exports = routeInit;
This allowed me to nest routes infinitely deep.