Express app - Host on Heroku and use Parse as backend - node.js

Question

For my express app I want to use Parse to handle all my data. As Parse's hosting options for web apps seem very limited (caped at 500 files and 500MB), I want to use Heroku to host my app. I have managed to set up my express app on Heroku, but can not quite figure out how to get access to my Parse app in it. I've searched around, but there does not seem to be too much documentation on this, and I am struggling to get it to work.
Here is my index.js for my express app:
var express = require('express');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser')
var app = express();
app.set('port', (process.env.PORT || 5000));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
// views is directory for all template files
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
extended: true
}));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.get('/', function(request, response) {
response.render('pages/public');
});
app.get('/login', function(request, response) {
response.render('pages/login');
});
// Clicking submit on the login form triggers this.
app.post('/login', function(req, res) {
Parse.User.logIn(req.body.username, req.body.password).then(function() {
// Login succeeded, redirect to homepage.
res.redirect('pages/loggedin');
},
function(error) {
// Login failed, redirect back to login form.
res.redirect('pages/login');
});
});
In app.post('/login'I have the Parse function I would use to log in users, but as Parse is not connected it just throws an error. How do I let my Express app get data from Parse?
My package.json files looks like so:
{
"name": "node-js-getting-started",
"version": "0.1.4",
"description": "A simple Node.js app using Express 4",
"main": "index.js",
"scripts": {
"start": "node index.js"
},
"dependencies": {
"ejs": "^2.3.1",
"express": "~4.9.x",
"body-parser": "1.13.x"
},
"engines": {
"node": "0.12.2"
},
"repository": {
"type": "git",
"url": "https://github.com/heroku/node-js-getting-started"
},
"keywords": [
"node",
"heroku",
"express"
],
"license": "MIT"
}
Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Another hour of googling and I came across these links which proved useful:
https://medium.com/#spacekid/getting-started-with-parse-node-js-express-b2c79798cc7d
http://blog.parse.com/learn/engineering/the-javascript-sdk-in-node-js/

Answer 2

Before using Parse.User.logIn() and so on (or any other node.js module), you must make sure you actually include it like you include bodyParser module.
For example:
var Parse = require('node-parse-api').Parse;
Have a look at this module: Node Parse API