Code breaks once I start adding files to my controllers folder - why? - node.js

Question

I am using node, express, fs and a few other things to create my first MVC framework app. I am currently googling around to find out more about an error I was getting, but am not finding the clarity I am looking for. Right now, I am not getting errors when I keep all my code in my server.js file. But that is not what MVC is all about, so at some point I created a users_controller.js file began to move the following routes into it (all except the ('/') route). As soon as I did that, everything broke!
The error I get is => TypeError: undefined is not a function
The line being referenced is => route.controller(app);
here is the code:
var express = require('express');
var logger = require('morgan');
var path = require('path');
var exphbs = require('express-handlebars');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var methodOverride = require('method-override');
var session = require('express-session');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var pg = require('pg');
var bcrypt = require ('bcrypt');
var fs = require('fs');
var app = express();
var db = require('./db.js');
app.listen(3000);
app.engine('handlebars', exphbs({defaultLayout: 'main', extname: 'handlebars'}));
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'handlebars');
//app.use(session({ secret: 'app', cookie: { maxAge: 60000 }}));
app.use(session({
secret: 'app',
resave: true,
saveUninitialized: true
}));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));
app.use(express.static('public'));
app.use(logger('dev'));
// look in url encoded POST bodies and delete it
app.use(methodOverride(function(req, res) {
if (req.body && typeof req.body === 'object' && '_method' in req.body) {
var method = req.body._method;
delete req.body._method;
return method;
}
}));
//says look in the controllers folder for these routes
// dynamically include routes (Controller)
fs.readdirSync('./controllers').forEach(function (file) {
if(file.substr(-3) == '.js') {
route = require('./controllers/' + file);
route.controller(app); ///// <================= error =======
}
});
////check if session does not exist
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
if(!req.session.name) {
res.redirect('/loginform');
} else {
res.send("WELCOME BACK" + req.session.name);
}
});
///////renders login form if not logged in
app.get('/loginform', function (req, res) {
res.render('login');
});
///authenticates a login
app.post('/login', function (req, res){
db.findByColumn('users', 'username', req.body.name, function (data){
console.log(data);
bcrypt.compare(req.body.password, data[0].password_digest, function (err, result){
res.session.currentUser = req.body.name;
res.send('You\'re logged in '+ req.body.name + ' Be kind.');
});
res.redirect('/home');
});
});
///render home page once logged in
app.get('/home', function (req, res){
res.render('home');
});
//////register form
app.get('/register', function (req, res){
res.render('register');
});
After spending a bunch of time trying to figure out why I was getting the error, I moved it back into the server file. But I still got the error. So I deleted the users_controller.js file (making the controllers folder empty again), and everything worked again! So it seems the minute I put a file in the controllers folder, even an empty file, my code breaks. Hmmm.
My guess it that since fs is telling my server to look in the controllers folder for it's routes, as long as there are no files in there, it will look back to server.js for routes. But if there are, it looks there first (is this correct logic?). With that said, I have a couple questions:
1) Why is it breaking when I throw these routes in what 'seems' like the appropriate place, a controller file inside the controllers folder? After all, the controllers folder is where the routes SHOULD be coming from, right?
Once this all sorted out...
2) Best Practice: I figured the forms are dealing with users so I would put them in the user controller - but would it be better practice to make a forms_controller.js?
All input is appreciated ;)

Answer 1

There was an underscore in my filename (forms_controller.js) that was throwing the error.