Can I use jQuery with Node.js?

Question

Is it possible to use jQuery selectors/DOM manipulation on the server-side using Node.js?

Answer 1

My working code is:

npm install jquery

and then:

global.jQuery   = require('jquery');
global.$        = global.jQuery;

or if the window is present, then:

typeof window !== "undefined" ? window : this;
window.jQuery   = require('jquery');
window.$        = window.jQuery;

Answer 2

You have to get the window using the new JSDOM API.

const jsdom = require("jsdom");
const { window } = new jsdom.JSDOM(`...`);
var $ = require("jquery")(window);

Answer 3

WARNING

This solution, as mentioned by Golo Roden is not correct. It is just a quick fix to help people to have their actual jQuery code running using a Node app structure, but it's not Node philosophy because the jQuery is still running on the client side instead of on the server side. I'm sorry for giving a wrong answer.

---

You can also render Jade with node and put your jQuery code inside. Here is the code of the jade file:

!!! 5
html(lang="en")
  head
    title Holamundo!
    script(type='text/javascript', src='http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.js')
  body
    h1#headTitle Hello, World
    p#content This is an example of Jade.
    script
      $('#headTitle').click(function() {
        $(this).hide();
      });
      $('#content').click(function() {
        $(this).hide();
      });

Answer 4

jQuery module can be installed using:

npm install jquery

Example:

var $ = require('jquery');
var http = require('http');

var options = {
    host: 'jquery.com',
    port: 80,
    path: '/'
};

var html = '';
http.get(options, function(res) {
res.on('data', function(data) {
    // collect the data chunks to the variable named "html"
    html += data;
}).on('end', function() {
    // the whole of webpage data has been collected. parsing time!
    var title = $(html).find('title').text();
    console.log(title);
 });
});

References of jQuery in Node.js** :

• http://quaintous.com/2015/07/31/jqery-node-mystery/
• http://www.hacksparrow.com/jquery-with-node-js.html

Answer 5

The module jsdom is a great tool. But if you want to evaluate entire pages and do some funky stuff on them server side I suggest running them in their own context:

vm.runInContext

So things like require / CommonJS on site will not blow your Node process itself.

You can find documentation here. Cheers!

Answer 6

You can use Electron, it allows hybrid browserjs and nodejs.

Before, I tried to use canvas2d in nodejs, but finally I gave up. It's not supported by nodejs default, and too hard to install it (many many ... dependeces). Until I use Electron, I can easily use all my previous browserjs code, even WebGL, and pass the result value(eg. result base64 image data) to nodejs code.