Loading Node.js modules dynamically based on route

Question

I\'m doing a project in Node.js using express. Here\'s my directory structure:

root
|-start.js
|-server.js
|-lib/
|    api/
|        user_getDetails.js
|             


        

Answer 1

app.js

var c_file = 'html.js';

var controller = require(c_file);
var method = 'index';

if(typeof controller[method] === 'function')
    controller[method]();

html.js

module.exports =
{
    index: function()
    {
        console.log('index method');
    },
    close: function()
    {
        console.log('close method');    
    }
};

dynamizing this code a little bit you can do magic things :D

Answer 2

If you know where your scripts are, i.e. you have an initial directory, for example DIR, then you can work with fs, for example:

server.js

var fs = require('fs');
var path_module = require('path');
var module_holder = {};

function LoadModules(path) {
    fs.lstat(path, function(err, stat) {
        if (stat.isDirectory()) {
            // we have a directory: do a tree walk
            fs.readdir(path, function(err, files) {
                var f, l = files.length;
                for (var i = 0; i < l; i++) {
                    f = path_module.join(path, files[i]);
                    LoadModules(f);
                }
            });
        } else {
            // we have a file: load it
            require(path)(module_holder);
        }
    });
}
var DIR = path_module.join(__dirname, 'lib', 'api');
LoadModules(DIR);

exports.module_holder = module_holder;
// the usual server stuff goes here

Now your scripts need to follow the following structure (because of the require(path)(module_holder) line), for example:

user_getDetails.js

function handler(req, res) {
    console.log('Entered my cool script!');
}

module.exports = function(module_holder) {
    // the key in this dictionary can be whatever you want
    // just make sure it won't override other modules
    module_holder['user_getDetails'] = handler;
};

and now, when handling a request, you do:

// request is supposed to fire user_getDetails script
module_holder['user_getDetails'](req, res);

This should load all your modules to module_holder variable. I didn't test it, but it should work (except for the error handling!!!). You may want to alter this function (for example make module_holder a tree, not a one level dictionary) but I think you'll grasp the idea.

This function should load once per server start (if you need to fire it more often, then you are probably dealing with dynamic server-side scripting and this is a baaaaaad idea, imho). The only thing you need now is to export module_holder object so that every view handler can use it.

Answer 3

Here is an example of a REST API web service that dynamically loads the handler js file based on the url sent to the server:

server.js

var http = require("http");
var url = require("url");

function start(port, route) {
   function onRequest(request, response) {
       var pathname = url.parse(request.url).pathname;
       console.log("Server:OnRequest() Request for " + pathname + " received.");
       route(pathname, request, response);
   }

   http.createServer(onRequest).listen(port);
   console.log("Server:Start() Server has started.");
}

exports.start = start;

router.js

function route(pathname, req, res) {
    console.log("router:route() About to route a request for " + pathname);

    try {
        //dynamically load the js file base on the url path
        var handler = require("." + pathname);

        console.log("router:route() selected handler: " + handler);

        //make sure we got a correct instantiation of the module
        if (typeof handler["post"] === 'function') {
            //route to the right method in the module based on the HTTP action
            if(req.method.toLowerCase() == 'get') {
                handler["get"](req, res);
            } else if (req.method.toLowerCase() == 'post') {
                handler["post"](req, res);
            } else if (req.method.toLowerCase() == 'put') {
                handler["put"](req, res);
            } else if (req.method.toLowerCase() == 'delete') {
                handler["delete"](req, res);
            }

            console.log("router:route() routed successfully");
            return;
        } 
    } catch(err) {
        console.log("router:route() exception instantiating handler: " + err);
    }

    console.log("router:route() No request handler found for " + pathname);
    res.writeHead(404, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    res.write("404 Not found");
    res.end();

}

exports.route = route;

index.js

var server = require("./server");
var router = require("./router");

server.start(8080, router.route);

handlers in my case are in a subfolder /TrainerCentral, so the mapping works like this:

localhost:8080/TrainerCentral/Recipe will map to js file /TrainerCentral/Recipe.js localhost:8080/TrainerCentral/Workout will map to js file /TrainerCentral/Workout.js

here is a example handler that can handle each of the 4 main HTTP actions for retrieving, inserting, updating, and deleting data.

/TrainerCentral/Workout.js

function respond(res, code, text) {
    res.writeHead(code, { "Content-Type": "text/plain" });
    res.write(text);
    res.end();
}

module.exports = {
   get: function(req, res) {
       console.log("Workout:get() starting");

       respond(res, 200, "{ 'id': '123945', 'name': 'Upright Rows', 'weight':'125lbs' }");
   },
   post: function(request, res) {
       console.log("Workout:post() starting");

       respond(res, 200, "inserted ok");
   },
   put: function(request, res) {
       console.log("Workout:put() starting");

       respond(res, 200, "updated ok");
   },
   delete: function(request, res) {
       console.log("Workout:delete() starting");

       respond(res, 200, "deleted ok");
   }
};

start the server from command line with "node index.js"

Have fun!