RestOnExpress

Easily build and manage a RESTful API using Express and MongoDB.

Configuration settings are pulled from the environment.

Environment Variable	Value	Default Value
ROE_DB_CONNECTION	<mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<host>
ROE_DB_NAME	<name of the datbase>
ROE_COLLECTIONS	<collection1:collection2:...>
ROE_PORT	<application listening port>	3000
ROE_API_BASE	<the base reference to the API>	/api
STANDALONE	boolean true if not an npm module	false

Note that the first collection in the ROE_COLLECTIONS environment variable will be instantiated first. To use other collections in your resources, call the coll(name: string): collection method

Getting started as an NPM Module

Install the package npm i @syncthetic/rest-on-express --save import the package, set the route directory, and start the service

const restOnExpress = require('@syncthetic/rest-on-express/app')
restOnExpress.set_route_directory(__dirname + '/routes')
restOnExpress.start_api()

The route directory should point to the routes to be used via the Express app.

Getting started as repository

To get started, clone the repository git clone https://github.com/Syncthetic/RestOnExpress

Install dependant packages npm install

Set the environment variable ROE_STANDALONE to any value.

The API resources should be configured inside the routes/index.js file. Configure resources to point to the file which handles it's logic. These files should be stored and nested inside the /routes directory. I would encourage the use of descriptive path names.

// routes/index.js
router.use('/users', require('./users') // load routes/users/index.js
router.use('/user', require('./user')   // load routes/user/index.js

Since resources are in noun form, and can have singular and plural form associated with it, such as user and users resources, you may choose to have both singular and plural forms in one directory such as routes/users/plural.js and routes/users/singular.js

If your environment variables are set, start the API service with node app.js If desired, enter the environment variables when invoking the application

ROE_DB_CONNECTION="mongodb+srv://myusername:secretpass@myhost.com" \
ROE_DB_NAME="orders" \
ROE_COLLECTIONS="products" \
node app.js

Sending API requests: http://localhost:<ROE_PORT>/<ROE_API_BASE>/<desired route path>

i.e, GET http://localhost:3000/api/users or PUT http://localhost:3000/api/user

Example for a simple user resource

// routes/user/index.js

var router = require('express').Router();

router.post("/", (request, response) => {
    collection.insertOne(request.body, (error, result) => {
        if(error) {
            return response.status(500).send(error);
        }
        response.status(201).send(result.result);
    })
})

// GET /api/user/:id
router.get("/:id", (request, response) => {
    collection.findOne({ "userId": request.params.id }, (error, result) => {
        if(error) {
            return response.status(500).send(error);
        }
        response.send(result.result);
    })
})

// PUT /api/user/:id
router.put("/:id", (request, response) => {
    collection.updateOne(
        { "userId" : request.params.id },
        { $set: request.body },
        { upsert: true},
        (error, result) => {
            if (error) { return response.status(500).send(error) }
            if (result.result.nModified === 1 && result.result.n === 1) response.status(200).send(result.result)
            else if ( result.result.upserted ) response.status(201).send(result.result)
            else if (result.result.n === 1 && result.result.nModified === 0 ) response.status(304).send(result.result)
        }
     )
})

// DELETE /api/user/:id
router.delete("/:id", (request, response) => {
    collection.deleteOne({ "userId": request.params.id }, (error, result) => {
        if(error) {
            return response.status(500).send(error);
        }
        response.send(result.result);
    })
})

module.exports = router;