探客时代
Hackathon Starter
A boilerplate for Node.js web applications
README
Hackathon Starter
=======================
Live Demo: https://hackathon-starter.walcony.com
Jump to What's new?
A boilerplate for Node.js web applications.
If you have attended any hackathons in the past, then you know how much time it takes to
get a project started: decide on what to build, pick a programming language, pick a web framework,
pick a CSS framework. A while later, you might have an initial project up on GitHub, and only then
can other team members start contributing. Or how about doing something as simple as Sign in with Facebook
authentication? You can spend hours on it if you are not familiar with how OAuth 2.0 works.
When I started this project, my primary focus was on simplicity and ease of use.
I also tried to make it as generic and reusable as possible to cover most use cases of hackathon web apps,
without being too specific. In the worst case, you can use this as a learning guide for your projects,
if for example you are only interested in Sign in with Google authentication and nothing else.
Testimonials
[“Nice! That README alone is already gold!”](https://www.producthunt.com/tech/hackathon-starter#comment-224732)<br>
— Adrian Le Bas
[“Awesome. Simply awesome.”](https://www.producthunt.com/tech/hackathon-starter#comment-224966)<br>
— Steven Rueter
[“I'm using it for a year now and many projects, it's an awesome boilerplate and the project is well maintained!”](https://www.producthunt.com/tech/hackathon-starter#comment-228610)<br>
— Kevin Granger
“Small world with Sahat's project. We were using his hackathon starter for our hackathon this past weekend and got some prizes. Really handy repo!”<br>
— Interview candidate for one of the companies I used to work with.
Modern Theme
Flatly Bootstrap Theme
API Examples
Table of Contents
- Features
- Pro Tips
- FAQ
- ES6
- Docker
- License
Features
- Local Authentication using Email and Password
- OAuth 1.0a Authentication via Twitter
- OAuth 2.0 Authentication via Facebook, Google, GitHub, LinkedIn, Instagram
- Flash notifications
- MVC Project Structure
- Node.js clusters support
- Sass stylesheets (auto-compiled via middleware)
- Bootstrap 4 + Extra Themes
- Contact Form (powered by Mailgun, Sendgrid or Mandrill)
- Account Management
- Gravatar
- Profile Details
- Change Password
- Forgot Password
- Reset Password
- Link multiple OAuth strategies to one account
- Delete Account
- CSRF protection
- API Examples: Facebook, Foursquare, Last.fm, Tumblr, Twitter, Stripe, LinkedIn, and more.
Prerequisites
- MongoDB
- Command Line Tools
- 
**Mac OS X:** [Xcode](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835?mt=12) (or **OS X 10.9+**: `xcode-select --install`) - 
**Windows:** [Visual Studio](https://www.visualstudio.com/products/visual-studio-community-vs) OR [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com) + [Windows Subsystem for Linux - Ubuntu](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10) - 
**Ubuntu** / 
**Linux Mint:** `sudo apt-get install build-essential` - 
**Fedora**: `sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"` - 
**OpenSUSE:** `sudo zypper install --type pattern devel_basis`Note: If you are new to Node or Express, you may find
helpful for learning the basics of Node and Express. Alternatively,
here is another great tutorial for complete beginners - Getting Started With Node.js, Express, MongoDB.
Getting Started
The easiest way to get started is to clone the repository:
- ``` sh
- # Get the latest snapshot
- git clone https://github.com/sahat/hackathon-starter.git myproject
- # Change directory
- cd myproject
- # Install NPM dependencies
- npm install
- # Then simply start your app
- node app.js
- ```
Warning: If you want to use some API that needs HTTPS to work (for example Pinterest or Facebook),
you will need to download ngrok.
You must start ngrok after starting the project.
- ``` sh
- # start ngrok to intercept the data exchanged on port 8080
- ./ngrok http 8080
- ```
Next, you must use the https URL defined by ngrok, for example, https://hackaton.ngrok.io
Note: I highly recommend installing Nodemon.
It watches for any changes in your node.js app and automatically restarts the
server. Once installed, instead of node app.js use nodemon app.js. It will
save you a lot of time in the long run, because you won't need to manually
restart the server each time you make a small change in code. To install, run
sudo npm install -g nodemon.
Obtaining API Keys
To use any of the included APIs or OAuth authentication methods, you will need
to obtain appropriate credentials: Client ID, Client Secret, API Key, or
Username & Password. You will need to go through each provider to generate new
credentials.
- Enter your application's name as the Label
- Choose reCAPTCHA v2, "I'm not a robot" Checkbox
- Enter localhost as the domain. You can have other domains added in addition to localhost
- Accept the terms and submit the form
- Copy the Site Key and the Secret key into .env. These keys will be accessible under Settings, reCAPTCHA keys drop down if you need them again later
- Click on the Create Project button
- Enter Project Name, then click on Create button
- Then click on APIs & auth in the sidebar and select API tab
- Click on Google+ API under Social APIs, then click Enable API
- Click on Google Drive API under G Suite, then click Enable API
- Click on Google Sheets API under G Suite, then click Enable API
- Next, under APIs & auth in the sidebar click on Credentials tab
- Click on Create new Client ID button
- Select Web Application and click on Configure Consent Screen
- Fill out the required fields then click on Save
- In the Create Client ID modal dialog:
- Application Type: Web Application
- Authorized Javascript origins: http://localhost:8080
- Authorized redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/auth/google/callback
- Click on Create Client ID button
- Copy and paste Client ID and Client secret keys into .env
Note: When you ready to deploy to production don't forget to
add your new URL to Authorized Javascript origins and Authorized redirect URI,
e.g. http://my-awesome-app.herokuapp.com and
http://my-awesome-app.herokuapp.com/auth/google/callback respectively.
The same goes for other providers.
- Click on the + button to create an app
- Enter a name for your app
- Enable the scopes that you will want to use in your app
- Click on the Continue button
- Find the Kits section and make sure that Login Kit is enabled
- Find the Redirect URLs section, click the + Add button, and enter http://localhost:8080/auth/snapchat/callback
- Find the Development Environment section. Click the Generate button next to the Confidential OAuth2 Client heading within it.
- Copy and paste the generated Private Key and OAuth2 Client ID keys into .env
- Note: OAuth2 Client ID is SNAPCHAT_ID, Private Key is SNAPCHAT_SECRET in .env
- To prepare the app for submission, fill out the rest of the required fields: Category, Description, Privacy Policy Url, and App Icon
Note: For production use, don't forget to:
- generate a Confidential OAuth2 Client in the Production Environment and use the production Private Key and OAuth2 Client ID
- add the production URL to Redirect URLs section, e.g. http://my-awesome-app.herokuapp.com/auth/snapchat/callback
- submit the app for review and wait for approval
- Click My Apps, then select *Add a New App from the dropdown menu
- Enter a new name for your app
- Click on the Create App ID button
- Find the Facebook Login Product and click on Facebook Login
- Instead of going through their Quickstart, click on Settings for your app in the top left corner
- Copy and paste App ID and App Secret keys into .env
- Note: App ID is FACEBOOK_ID, App Secret is FACEBOOK_SECRET in .env
- Enter localhost under App Domains
- Choose a Category that best describes your app
- Click on + Add Platform and select Website
- Enter http://localhost:8080 under Site URL
- Click on the Settings tab in the left nav under Facebook Login
- Enter http://localhost:8080/auth/facebook/callback under Valid OAuth redirect URIs
Note: After a successful sign-in with Facebook, a user will be redirected back to the home page with appended hash #_=_ in the URL. It is not a bug. See this Stack Overflow discussion for ways to handle it.
- Select Developer settings from the sidebar
- Then click on OAuth Apps and then on Register new application
- Enter Application Name and Homepage URL
- For Authorization Callback URL: http://localhost:8080/auth/github/callback
- Click Register application
- Now copy and paste Client ID and Client Secret keys into .env file
- Click Create a new application
- Enter your application name, website and description
- For Callback URL: http://127.0.0.1:8080/auth/twitter/callback
- Go to Settings tab
- Under Application Type select Read and Write access
- Check the box Allow this application to be used to Sign in with Twitter
- Click Update this Twitter's applications settings
- Copy and paste Consumer Key and Consumer Secret keys into .env file
- From the account name dropdown menu select API Keys
- It may ask you to sign in once again
- Click + Add New Application button
- Fill out all the required fields
- OAuth 2.0 Redirect URLs: http://localhost:8080/auth/linkedin/callback
- JavaScript API Domains: http://localhost:8080
- For Default Application Permissions make sure at least the following is checked:
- r_basicprofile
- Finish by clicking Add Application button
- Copy and paste API Key and Secret Key keys into .env file
- API Key is your clientID
- Secret Key is your clientSecret
- Click on your profile and click on Account Settings
- Then click on API Keys
- Copy the Secret Key. and add this into .env file
- Log in to your PayPal account
- Click Applications > Create App in the navigation bar
- Enter Application Name, then click Create app
- Copy and paste Client ID and Secret keys into .env file
- App ID is client_id, App Secret is client_secret
- Change host to api.paypal.com if you want to test against production and use the live credentials
- Click on My Apps in the top menu
- Click the Create A New App button
- Enter App Name, Welcome page url,
- For Redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/auth/foursquare/callback
- Click Save Changes
- Copy and paste Client ID and Client Secret keys into .env file
- Once signed in, click +Register application
- Fill in all the details
- For Default Callback URL: http://localhost:8080/auth/tumblr/callback
- Click ✔Register
- Copy and paste OAuth consumer key and OAuth consumer secret keys into .env file
- Sign in with your existing Steam account
- Enter your Domain Name, then and click Register
- Copy and paste Key into .env file
- If prompted, authorize the dashboard to access your twitch account
- In the Console, click on Register Your Application
- Enter the name of your application
- Use OAuth Redirect URLs enter http://localhost:8080/auth/twitch/callback
- Set Category to Website Integration and press the Create button
- After the application has been created, click on the Manage button
- Copy and paste Client ID into .env
- If there is no Client Secret displayed, click on the New Secret button and then copy and paste the Client secret into .env
You can use SendGrid for sending emails. The developer tier allows you to send 100 free emails per day. As an Alternative to SendGrid, you may also choose to use an SMTP service provider. If using SendGrid:
- Go to https://sendgrid.com/user/signup- Sign up and confirm your account via the activation email
- Then enter your SendGrid API Key into .env file as SENDGRID_API_KEY
If using an SMTP service provider instead of SendGrid:
- Set SMTP_USER and SMTP_PASSWORD in .env, and remove SENDGRID_API_KEY
- Sign up and add your Domain Name
- From the domain overview, copy and paste the default SMTP Login and Password into .env file
- Sign up and create a Freemium project
- Create JAVASCRIPT/REST credentials. Copy and paste the APP_ID and APP into .env file.
- Note that these credentials are available on the client-side, and you need to create a domain whitelist for your app credentials when you are publicly launching the app.
- Sign up for an account.
- Once logged into the dashboard, expand the link 'show api credentials'
- Copy your Account Sid and Auth Token
- Use the Sign Up option in the upper right corner of the screen (navbar) to get a free developer account and a sandbox company.
- Create a new app by going to your Dashboard using the My Apps option in the top nav bar or by going to https://developer.intuit.com/app/developer/myapps- In your App, under Development, Keys & OAuth (right nav), find the Client ID and Client Secret for your .env file
Project Structure
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **config**/passport.js | Passport |
| **controllers**/api.js | Controller |
| **controllers**/contact.js | Controller |
| **controllers**/home.js | Controller |
| **controllers**/user.js | Controller |
| **models**/User.js | Mongoose |
| **public**/ | Static |
| **public**/**js**/application.js | Specify |
| **public**/**js**/app.js | Place |
| **public**/**css**/main.scss | Main |
| **public/css/themes**/default.scss | Some |
| **views/account**/ | Templates |
| **views/api**/ | Templates |
| **views/partials**/flash.pug | Error, |
| **views/partials**/header.pug | Navbar |
| **views/partials**/footer.pug | Footer |
| **views**/layout.pug | Base |
| **views**/home.pug | Home |
| .dockerignore | Folder |
| .env.example | Your |
| .eslintrc | Rules |
| .gitignore | Folder |
| .travis.yml | Configuration |
| app.js | The |
| docker-compose.yml | Docker |
| Dockerfile | Docker |
| package.json | NPM |
| package-lock.json | Contains |
Note: There is no preference for how you name or structure your views.
You could place all your templates in a top-level views directory without
having a nested folder structure if that makes things easier for you.
Just don't forget to update extends ../layout and corresponding
res.render() paths in controllers.
List of Packages
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| |
| @octokit/rest | GitHub |
| bcrypt | Library |
| body-parser | Node.js |
| chai | BDD/TDD |
| chalk | Terminal |
| cheerio | Scrape |
| compression | Node.js |
| connect-mongo | MongoDB |
| dotenv | Loads |
| errorhandler | Development-only |
| eslint | Linter |
| eslint-config-airbnb-base | Configuration |
| eslint-plugin-chai-friendly | Makes |
| eslint-plugin-import | ESLint |
| express | Node.js |
| express-flash | Provides |
| express-session | Simple |
| instagram-node | |
| lastfm | Last.fm |
| lob | Lob |
| lodash | A |
| lusca | CSRF |
| mailchecker | Verifies |
| mocha | Test |
| moment | Parse, |
| mongoose | MongoDB |
| morgan | HTTP |
| multer | Node.js |
| node-foursquare | Foursquare |
| node-sass | Node.js |
| node-sass-middleware | Sass |
| nyc | Coverage |
| nodemailer | Node.js |
| node-quickbooks | Quickbooks |
| passport | Simple |
| passport-facebook | Sign-in |
| passport-github | Sign-in |
| passport-google-oauth | Sign-in |
| passport-instagram | Sign-in |
| passport-linkedin-oauth2 | Sign-in |
| passport-local | Sign-in |
| passport-openid | Sign-in |
| passport-oauth | Allows |
| passport-oauth2-refresh | A |
| passport-snapchat | Sign-in |
| passport-twitter | Sign-in |
| passport-twitch-new | Sign-in |
| paypal-rest-sdk | PayPal |
| pug | Template |
| sinon | Test |
| stripe | Offical |
| supertest | HTTP |
| tumblr.js | Tumblr |
| twilio | Twilio |
| twitter-lite | |
| validator | A |
Useful Tools and Resources
- JavaScripting - The Database of JavaScript Libraries
- JS Recipes - JavaScript tutorials for backend and frontend development.
- HTML to Pug converter - HTML to PUG is a free online converter helping you to convert HTML files to pug syntax in real-time.
- JavascriptOO - A directory of JavaScript libraries with examples, CDN links, statistics, and videos.
- Favicon Generator - Generate favicons for PC, Android, iOS, Windows 8.
Recommended Design Resources
- Code Guide - Standards for developing flexible, durable, and sustainable HTML and CSS.
- Bootsnipp - Code snippets for Bootstrap.
- Bootstrap Zero - Free Bootstrap templates themes.
- Google Bootstrap - Google-styled theme for Bootstrap.
- Font Awesome Icons - It's already part of the Hackathon Starter, so use this page as a reference.
- Colors - A nicer color palette for the web.
- Creative Button Styles - awesome button styles.
- Creative Link Effects - Beautiful link effects in CSS.
- Medium Scroll Effect - Fade in/out header background image as you scroll.
- GeoPattern - SVG background pattern generator.
- Trianglify - SVG low-poly background pattern generator.
Recommended Node.js Libraries
- Nodemon - Automatically restart Node.js server on code changes.
- geoip-lite - Geolocation coordinates from IP address.
- Filesize.js - Pretty file sizes, e.g.filesize(265318); // "265.32 kB".
- Numeral.js - Library for formatting and manipulating numbers.
- Node Inspector - Node.js debugger based on Chrome Developer Tools.
- node-taglib - Library for reading the meta-data of several popular audio formats.
- sharp - Node.js module for resizing JPEG, PNG, WebP and TIFF images.
Recommended Client-side Libraries
- Framework7 - Full Featured HTML Framework For Building iOS7 Apps.
- InstantClick - Makes your pages load instantly by pre-loading them on mouse hover.
- NProgress.js - Slim progress bars like on YouTube and Medium.
- Hover - Awesome CSS3 animations on mouse hover.
- Magnific Popup - Responsive jQuery Lightbox Plugin.
- jQuery Raty - Star Rating Plugin.
- Headroom.js - Hide your header until you need it.
- X-editable - Edit form elements inline.
- Offline.js - Detect when user's internet connection goes offline.
- Alertify.js - Sweet looking alerts and browser dialogs.
- selectize.js - Styleable select elements and input tags.
- drop.js - Powerful Javascript and CSS library for creating dropdowns and other floating displays.
- scrollReveal.js - Declarative on-scroll reveal animations.
Pro Tips
- Use async.parallel() when you need to run multiple
asynchronous tasks, and then render a page, but only when all tasks are completed. For example, you might want to scrape three different websites for some data and render the results in a template after all three websites have been scraped.
- Need to find a specific object inside an Array? Use _.find
function from Lodash. For example, this is how you would retrieve a
Twitter token from database: var token = _.find(req.user.tokens, { kind: 'twitter' });,
where 1st parameter is an array, and a 2nd parameter is an object to search for.
FAQ
Why do I get 403 Error: Forbidden when submitting a form?
You need to add the following hidden input element to your form. This has been
added in the pull request #40
as part of the CSRF protection.
- ```
- input(type='hidden', name='_csrf', value=_csrf)
- ```
Note: It is now possible to whitelist certain URLs. In other words, you can
specify a list of routes that should bypass the CSRF verification check.
Note 2: To whitelist dynamic URLs use regular expression tests inside the
CSRF middleware to see if req.originalUrl matches your desired pattern.
I am getting MongoDB Connection Error, how do I fix it?
That's a custom error message defined in app.js to indicate that there was a
problem connecting to MongoDB:
- ``` js
- mongoose.connection.on('error', (err) => {
- console.error(err);
- console.log('%s MongoDB connection error. Please make sure MongoDB is running.', chalk.red('✗'));
- process.exit();
- });
- ```
You need to have a MongoDB server running before launching app.js. You can
download MongoDB here, or install it via a package manager.
Windows users, read Install MongoDB on Windows.
Tip: If you are always connected to the internet, you could just use
MongoDB Atlas or Compose instead
of downloading and installing MongoDB locally. You will only need to update database credentials
in .env file.
I get an error when I deploy my app, why?
Chances are you haven't changed the Database URI in .env. If MONGODB is
set to localhost, it will only work on your machine as long as MongoDB is
running. When you deploy to Heroku, OpenShift, or some other provider, you will not have MongoDB
running on localhost. You need to create an account with MongoDB Atlas
or Compose, then create a free tier database.
See Deployment for more information on how to set up an account
and a new database step-by-step with MongoDB Atlas.
Why Pug (Jade) instead of Handlebars?
When I first started this project I didn't have any experience with Handlebars. Since then I have worked on Ember.js apps and got myself familiar with the Handlebars syntax. While it is true Handlebars is easier, because it looks like good old HTML, I have no regrets picking Jade over Handlebars. First off, it's the default template engine in Express, so someone who has built Express apps in the past already knows it. Secondly, I find extends and block to be indispensable, which as far as I know, Handlebars do not have out of the box. And lastly, subjectively speaking, Jade looks much cleaner and shorter than Handlebars, or any non-HAML style for that matter.
Why do you have all routes defined in app.js?
For the sake of simplicity. While there might be a better approach,
such as passing app context to each controller as outlined in this
blog,
I find such a style to be confusing for beginners.
It took me a long time to grasp the concept of exports and module.exports,
let alone having a global app reference in other files.
That to me is backward thinking.
The app.js is the "heart of the app", it should be the one referencing
models, routes, controllers, etc.
When working solo on small projects, I prefer to have everything inside app.js as is the case with this)
REST API server.
How do I switch SendGrid for another email delivery service, like Mailgun or SparkPost?
Inside the nodemailer.createTransport method arguments, change the service from 'Sendgrid' to some other email service. Also, be sure to update both username and password below that. See the list of all supported services by Nodemailer.
How It Works (mini guides)
This section is intended for giving you a detailed explanation of
how a particular functionality works. Maybe you are just curious about
how it works, or perhaps you are lost and confused while reading the code,
I hope it provides some guidance to you.
Custom HTML and CSS Design 101
HTML5 UP has many beautiful templates that you can download for free.
When you download the ZIP file, it will come with index.html, images, CSS and js folders. So, how do you
integrate it with Hackathon Starter? Hackathon Starter uses the Bootstrap CSS framework, but these templates do not.
Trying to use both CSS files at the same time will likely result in undesired effects.
Note: Using the custom templates approach, you should understand that you cannot reuse any of the views I have created: layout, the home page, API browser, login, signup, account management, contact. Those views were built using Bootstrap grid and styles. You will have to manually update the grid using a different syntax provided in the template. Having said that, you can mix and match if you want to do so: Use Bootstrap for the main app interface, and a custom template for a landing page.
Let's start from the beginning. For this example I will use Escape Velocity template:
Note: For the sake of simplicity I will only consider index.html, and skip left-sidebar.html,
no-sidebar.html, right-sidebar.html.
Move all JavaScript files from html5up-escape-velocity/js to public/js. Then move all CSS files from html5up-escape-velocity/css to public/css. And finally, move all images from html5up-escape-velocity/images to public/images. You could move it to the existing img folder, but that would require manually changing every img reference. Grab the contents of index.html and paste it into HTML To Pug.
Note: Do not forget to update all the CSS and JS paths accordingly.
Create a new file escape-velocity.pug and paste the Pug markup in views folder.
Whenever you see the code res.render('account/login') - that means it will search for views/account/login.pug file.
Let's see how it looks. Create a new controller escapeVelocity inside controllers/home.js:
- ``` js
- exports.escapeVelocity = (req, res) => {
- res.render('escape-velocity', {
- title: 'Landing Page'
- });
- };
- ```
And then create a route in app.js. I placed it right after the index controller:
- ``` js
- app.get('/escape-velocity', homeController.escapeVelocity);
- ```
Restart the server (if you are not using nodemon); then you should see the new template at http://localhost:8080/escape-velocity.
I will stop right here, but if you would like to use this template as more than just a single page, take a look at how these Pug templates work: layout.pug - base template, index.pug - home page, partials/header.pug - Bootstrap navbar, partials/footer.pug - sticky footer. You will have to manually break it apart into smaller pieces. Figure out which part of the template you want to keep the same on all pages - that's your new layout.pug.
Then, each page that changes, be it index.pug, about.pug, contact.pug
will be embedded in your new layout.pug via block content. Use existing templates as a reference.
This is a rather lengthy process, and templates you get from elsewhere might have yet another grid system. That's why I chose Bootstrap for the Hackathon Starter.
Many people are already familiar with Bootstrap, plus it's easy to get started with it if you have never used Bootstrap.
You can also buy many beautifully designed Bootstrap themes at Themeforest, and use them as a drop-in replacement for Hackathon Starter. However, if you would like to go with a completely custom HTML/CSS design, this should help you to get started!
How do flash messages work in this project?
Flash messages allow you to display a message at the end of the request and access
it on the next request and only the next request. For instance, on a failed login attempt, you would
display an alert with some error message, but as soon as you refresh that page or visit a different
page and come back to the login page, that error message will be gone. It is only displayed once.
This project uses express-flash module for flash messages. And that
module is built on top of connect-flash, which is what I used in
this project initially. With express-flash you don't have to
explicitly send a flash message to every view inside res.render().
All flash messages are available in your views via messages object by default,
thanks to express-flash.
Flash messages have a two-step process. You use req.flash('errors', { msg: 'Error messages goes here' }
to create a flash message in your controllers, and then display them in your views:
- ```pug
- if messages.errors
- .alert.alert-danger.fade.in
- for error in messages.errors
- div= error.msg
- ```
In the first step, 'errors' is the name of a flash message, which should match the
name of the property on messages object in your views. You place alert messages
inside if message.errors because you don't want to show them flash messages are present.
The reason why you pass an error like { msg: 'Error message goes here' } instead
of just a string - 'Error message goes here', is for the sake of consistency.
To clarify that, express-validator module which is used for validating and sanitizing user's input,
returns all errors as an array of objects, where each object has a msg property with a message why an error has occurred. Here is a more general example of what express-validator returns when there are errors present:
- ``` js
- [
- { param: "name", msg: "Name is required", value: "<received input>" },
- { param: "email", msg: "A valid email is required", value: "<received input>" }
- ]
- ```
To keep consistent with that style, you should pass all flash messages
as { msg: 'My flash message' } instead of a string. Otherwise, you will see an alert box
without an error message. That is because in partials/flash.pug template it will try to output
error.msg (i.e. "My flash message".msg), in other words, it will try to call a msg method on a String object,
which will return undefined. Everything I just mentioned about errors, also applies
to "info" and "success" flash messages, and you could even create a new one yourself, such as:
Data Usage Controller (Example)
- ```
- req.flash('warning', { msg: 'You have exceeded 90% of your data usage' });
- ```
User Account Page (Example)
- ```pug
- if messages.warning
- .alert.alert-warning.fade.in
- for warning in messages.warning
- div= warning.msg
- ```
partials/flash.pug is a partial template that contains how flash messages
are formatted. Previously, flash
messages were scattered throughout each view that used flash messages
(contact, login, signup, profile), but now, thankfully it uses a DRY approach.
The flash messages partial template is included in the layout.pug, along with footer and navigation.
- ```pug
- body
- include partials/header
- .container
- include partials/flash
- block content
- include partials/footer
- ```
If you have any further questions about flash messages,
please feel free to open an issue, and I will update this mini-guide accordingly,
or send a pull request if you would like to include something that I missed.
How do I create a new page?
A more correct way to say this would be "How do I create a new route?" The main file app.js contains all the routes.
Each route has a callback function associated with it. Sometimes you will see three or more arguments for a route. In a case like that, the first argument is still a URL string, while middle arguments
are what's called middleware. Think of middleware as a door. If this door prevents you from
continuing forward, you won't get to your callback function. One such example is a route that requires authentication.
- ``` js
- app.get('/account', passportConfig.isAuthenticated, userController.getAccount);
- ```
It always goes from left to right. A user visits /account page. Then isAuthenticated middleware checks if you are authenticated:
- ``` js
- exports.isAuthenticated = (req, res, next) => {
- if (req.isAuthenticated()) {
- return next();
- }
- res.redirect('/login');
- };
- ```
If you are authenticated, you let this visitor pass through your "door" by calling return next();. It then proceeds to the
next middleware until it reaches the last argument, which is a callback function that typically renders a template on GET requests or redirects on POST requests. In this case, if you are authenticated, you will be redirected to the Account Management page; otherwise, you will be redirected to the Login page.
- ``` js
- exports.getAccount = (req, res) => {
- res.render('account/profile', {
- title: 'Account Management'
- });
- };
- ```
Express.js has app.get, app.post, app.put, app.delete, but for the most part, you will only use the first two HTTP verbs, unless you are building a RESTful API.
If you just want to display a page, then use GET, if you are submitting a form, sending a file then use POST.
Here is a typical workflow for adding new routes to your application. Let's say we are building a page that lists all books from the database.
Step 1. Start by defining a route.
- ``` js
- app.get('/books', bookController.getBooks);
- ```
Note: As of Express 4.x you can define your routes like so:
- ``` js
- app.route('/books')
- .get(bookController.getBooks)
- .post(bookController.createBooks)
- .put(bookController.updateBooks)
- .delete(bookController.deleteBooks)
- ```
And here is how a route would look if it required an authentication and an authorization middleware:
- ``` js
- app.route('/api/twitter')
- .all(passportConfig.isAuthenticated)
- .all(passportConfig.isAuthorized)
- .get(apiController.getTwitter)
- .post(apiController.postTwitter)
- ```
Use whichever style makes sense to you. Either one is acceptable. I think that chaining HTTP verbs on app.route is a very clean and elegant approach, but on the other hand, I can no longer see all my routes at a glance when you have one route per line.
Step 2. Create a new schema and a model Book.js inside the models directory.
- ``` js
- const mongoose = require('mongoose');
- const bookSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
- name: String
- });
- const Book = mongoose.model('Book', bookSchema);
- module.exports = Book;
- ```
Step 3. Create a new controller file called book.js inside the controllers directory.
- ``` js
- /**
- * GET /books
- * List all books.
- */
- const Book = require('../models/Book.js');
- exports.getBooks = (req, res) => {
- Book.find((err, docs) => {
- res.render('books', { books: docs });
- });
- };
- ```
Step 4. Import that controller in app.js.
- ``` js
- const bookController = require('./controllers/book');
- ```
Step 5. Create books.pug template.
- ```pug
- extends layout
- block content
- .page-header
- h3 All Books
- ul
- for book in books
- li= book.name
- ```
That's it! I will say that you could have combined Step 1, 2, 3 as following:
- ``` js
- app.get('/books',(req, res) => {
- Book.find((err, docs) => {
- res.render('books', { books: docs });
- });
- });
- ```
Sure, it's simpler, but as soon as you pass 1000 lines of code in app.js it becomes a little challenging to navigate the file.
I mean, the whole point of this boilerplate project was to separate concerns, so you could
work with your teammates without running into MERGE CONFLICTS. Imagine you have four developers
working on a single app.js, I promise you it won't be fun resolving merge conflicts all the time.
If you are the only developer, then it's okay. But as I said, once it gets up to a certain LoC size, it becomes difficult to maintain everything in a single file.
That's all there is to it. Express.js is super simple to use.
Most of the time you will be dealing with other APIs to do the real work:
Mongoose for querying database, socket.io for sending and receiving messages over WebSockets,
sending emails via Nodemailer, form validation using express-validator library,
parsing websites using Cheerio, etc.
How do I use Socket.io with Hackathon Starter?
Dan Stroot submitted an excellent pull request that adds a real-time dashboard with socket.io.
And as much as I'd like to add it to the project, I think it violates one of the main
principles of the Hackathon Starter:
When I started this project, my primary focus was on simplicity and ease of use.
I also tried to make it as generic and reusable as possible to cover most use cases of
hackathon web apps, without being too specific.
When I need to use socket.io, I really need it, but most of the time - I don't. But more importantly, WebSockets support is still experimental on most hosting providers. As of October 2013,
Heroku supports WebSockets, but not until you opt-in by running this command:
- ``` js
- Heroku labs:enable websockets -a myapp
- ```
And what if you are deploying to OpenShift? They do support WebSockets, but it is currently in a
preview state. So, for OpenShift you would need to change the socket.io connect URI to the following:
- ``` js
- const socket = io.connect('http://yoursite-namespace.rhcloud.com:8000');
- ```
Wait, why is it on port 8000? Who knows, and if I didn't run across this blog post
I wouldn't even know I had to use port 8000.
I am really glad that Heroku and OpenShift at least
have WebSockets support because many other PaaS providers still do not support it.
Due to the aforementioned issues with WebSockets, I cannot include socket.io as part of the Hackathon Starter. For now...
If you need to use socket.io in your app, please continue reading.
First, you need to install socket.io:
- ``` js
- npm install socket.io
- ```
Replace const app = express(); with the following code:
- ``` js
- const app = express();
- const server = require('http').Server(app);
- const io = require('socket.io')(server);
- ```
I like to have the following code organization in app.js (from top to bottom): module dependencies,
import controllers, import configs, connect to database, express configuration, routes,
start the server, socket.io stuff. That way I always know where to look for things.
Add the following code at the end of app.js:
- ``` js
- io.on('connection', (socket) => {
- socket.emit('greet', { hello: 'Hey there browser!' });
- socket.on('respond', (data) => {
- console.log(data);
- });
- socket.on('disconnect', () => {
- console.log('Socket disconnected');
- });
- });
- ```
One last thing left to change:
- ``` js
- app.listen(app.get('port'), () => {
- ```
to
- ``` js
- server.listen(app.get('port'), () => {
- ```
At this point, we are done with the back-end.
You now have a choice - to include your JavaScript code in Pug templates or have all your client-side
JavaScript in a separate file - in app.js. I admit, when I first started with Node.js and JavaScript in general,
I placed all JavaScript code inside templates because I have access to template variables passed in from Express
right then and there. It's the easiest thing you can do, but also the least efficient and harder to maintain. Since then I
almost never include inline JavaScript inside templates anymore.
But it's also understandable if you want to take the easier road.
Most of the time you don't even care about performance during hackathons, you just
want to ["get shit done"](https://www.startupvitamins.com/media/products/13/aaron_levie_poster_black.jpg) before the time runs out.
Well, either way, use whichever approach makes more sense to you. At the end of the day,
it's what you build that matters, not how you build it.
If you want to stick all your JavaScript inside templates, then in layout.pug -
your main template file, add this to head block.
- ```pug
- script(src='/socket.io/socket.io.js')
- script.
- let socket = io.connect(window.location.href);
- socket.on('greet', function (data) {
- console.log(data);
- socket.emit('respond', { message: 'Hey there, server!' });
- });
- ```
Note: Notice the path of the socket.io.js, you don't actually
have to have socket.io.js file anywhere in your project; it will be generated
automatically at runtime.
If you want to have JavaScript code separate from templates, move that inline
script code into app.js, inside the $(document).ready() function:
- ``` js
- $(document).ready(function() {
- // Place JavaScript code here...
- let socket = io.connect(window.location.href);
- socket.on('greet', function (data) {
- console.log(data);
- socket.emit('respond', { message: 'Hey there, server!' });
- });
- });
- ```
And we are done!
Cheatsheets
ES6 CheatsheetDeclarations
Declares a read-only named constant.
- ``` js
- const name = 'yourName';
- ```
Declares a block scope local variable.
- ``` js
- let index = 0;
- ```
Template Strings
Using the \${}\ syntax, strings can embed expressions.
- ``` js
- const name = 'Oggy';
- const age = 3;
- console.log(`My cat is named ${name} and is ${age} years old.`);
- ```
Modules
To import functions, objects, or primitives exported from an external module. These are the most common types of importing.
- ``` js
- const name = require('module-name');
- ```
- ``` js
- const { foo, bar } = require('module-name');
- ```
To export functions, objects, or primitives from a given file or module.
- ``` js
- module.exports = { myFunction };
- ```
- ``` js
- module.exports.name = 'yourName';
- ```
- ``` js
- module.exports = myFunctionOrClass;
- ```
Spread Operator
The spread operator allows an expression to be expanded in places where multiple arguments (for function calls) or multiple elements (for array literals) are expected.
- ``` js
- myFunction(...iterableObject);
- ```
- ``` js
- <ChildComponent {...this.props} />
- ```
Promises
A Promise is used in asynchronous computations to represent an operation that hasn't completed yet but is expected in the future.
- ``` js
- var p = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { });
- ```
The catch() method returns a Promise and deals with rejected cases only.
- ``` js
- p.catch(function(reason) { /* handle rejection */ });
- ```
The then() method returns a Promise. It takes two arguments: callback for the success & failure cases.
- ``` js
- p.then(function(value) { /* handle fulfillment */ }, function(reason) { /* handle rejection */ });
- ```
The Promise.all(iterable) method returns a promise that resolves when all of the promises in the iterable argument have resolved or rejects with the reason of the first passed promise that rejects.
- ``` js
- Promise.all([p1, p2, p3]).then(function(values) { console.log(values) });
- ```
Arrow Functions
Arrow function expression. Shorter syntax & lexically binds the this value. Arrow functions are anonymous.
- ``` js
- singleParam => { statements }
- ```
- ``` js
- () => { statements }
- ```
- ``` js
- (param1, param2) => expression
- ```
- ``` js
- const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
- const squares = arr.map(x => x * x);
- ```
Classes
The class declaration creates a new class using prototype-based inheritance.
- ``` js
- class Person {
- constructor(name, age, gender) {
- this.name = name;
- this.age = age;
- this.gender = gender;
- }
- incrementAge() {
- this.age++;
- }
- }
- ```
JavaScript Date CheatsheetUnix Timestamp (seconds)
- ``` js
- Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
- ```
- ```MomentJS
- moment().unix();
- ```
Add 30 minutes to a Date object
- ``` js
- var now = new Date();
- now.setMinutes(now.getMinutes() + 30);
- ```
- ```MomentJS
- moment(
