Node REST Template

This template provides a starter project that implements best practices in Node.js, REST and Domain-Driven Design. Features include:

• Use of the Hexagonal Architecture to arrange the application into logical layers, with well-defined responsibilities.
• Use of BDD and Specification-by-Example techniques for documenting application features. Cucumber is used for automated testing.
• RESTful APIs are implemented using the Express framework.
• Persistence is implemented using Knex.js and JoinJS.
• Logging and error handling are implemented using Bunyan.
• The build system is Gulp based – code changes are reflected in the server immediately.

Check out the following projects to see how this template can be used to build real applications:

• Manage My Money Server (Node.js, REST and DDD best practices)
• Manage My Money Client (AngularJS best practices)

Requirements

• Install Node

  • on OSX, install home brew and type brew install node
  • on Windows, use the installer available at nodejs.org

• Install Postgres and postgresql93-devel (development header files and libraries)

• Clone this repo

• Create a database called demo and create the tables needed by the app

    $ cd sql
    $ psql demo
    demo=# \i create-schema.sql
    demo=# \i load-data.sql
  

• Open a terminal (command line) window

• Type npm install -g node-inspector node-gyp gulp bunyan

  • node-gyp is required for npm install to succeed
  • bunyan is required for displaying the application log in a human readable format

• Make sure that server/application/persistence/db.js has the correct database parameters

Quick Start

Run the application locally:

$ npm install
$ gulp serve

• npm install will install the required node libraries under node_modules.
• gulp serve will start the application. It is designed for an efficient development process. As you make changes to the code, the application will restart to reflect the changes immediately.
• npm start is a quick way to start the application in non-development mode.

To verify that the application is working correctly, point your browser to http://localhost:8080/accounts - you should see a response with a list of accounts in JSON format.

When you deploy the application to a production environment, run the following command to start it without using gulp:

$ node server/server.js | bunyan -o short

A better way to run the application in production is to start it using forever. This will automatically restart the application in case of a failure:

$ forever start server/server.js | bunyan -o short

• To debug the application use node-debug (start node-debug on port 9090 because the application itself uses the default port 8080)

  $ node-debug --web-port 9090 server/server.js | bunyan -o short

Folder Structure

Highest Level Structure

/node_modules
/server
/sql
/test

• node_modules: Node.js modules downloaded by npm install (do not check in)
• server: contains all the source files for the RESTful server
• sql: scripts for creating the database schema and loading data
• test: server tests

Server Folder Structure

/server
    /adapter
    /application
    /domain
    /infrastructure
    /public

The server folder contains sub-folders that arrange the application into logical layers as suggested by the Hexagonal Architecture (a.k.a. the Onion Architecture):

• The adapter layer adapts interactions from the external world to the application layer. Currently this layer contains only the REST adapter that converts incoming HTTP messages to a format acceptable by the application layer. Technically speaking, database persistence should also be handled in this layer. However because JavaScript does not have the concept of interfaces and dependency injection (at least not very easily), we have embedded persistence in the application layer.

• The application layer coordinates high-level activities such as creation of the domain objects and asking them to perform tasks requested by the external world. We also handle relational database persistence in this layer using Knex.js and JoinJS.

• The domain layer encapsulate the state and behavior of the business domain. It consists of entities and value objects. See this article for a detailed description of the domain layer.

• The infrastructure layer contains common application facilities such as logging and database initialization.

• The public folder contains a simple web page to display the name of the application. Since the primary purpose of this application is to expose a RESTful API, we do not expect to add any more functionality to this folder.

Tasks

Task Listing

• gulp help

  Displays all of the available gulp tasks.

Code Analysis

• gulp vet

  Performs static code analysis on all javascript files. Runs jshint and jscs.

• gulp vet --verbose

  Displays all files affected and extended information about the code analysis.

Testing

• gulp test

  Runs all acceptance tests using cucumber. Depends on vet task, for code analysis. Note that this task will alter the database. To resume normal operation of the application, you must reload the data.

• gulp autotest

  Run tests whenever source or test files change.

Run application for development

• gulp serve

  Runs the application using gulp. As you make changes to the code, the application will restart to reflect the changes immediately.

• node-debug --web-port 9090 server/server.js

  Launch the application in debug mode.

Run application in production mode

• node server/server.js | bunyan -o short

You may use forever to automatically restart the application in case of a failure:

• forever start server/server.js | bunyan -o short