jss:json-routes

Note

Fork of simple:json-routes (https://atmospherejs.com/simple/json-routes) that doesn't conflicts with ostrio:files.

The simplest bare-bones way to define server-side JSON API endpoints, without any extra functionality. Based on connect-route.

Example

JsonRoutes.add("get", "/posts/:id", function (req, res, next) {
  var id = req.params.id;

  JsonRoutes.sendResult(res, {
    data: Posts.findOne(id)
  });
});

API

JsonRoutes.add(method, path, handler)

Add a server-side route that returns JSON.

method - The HTTP method that this route should accept: "get", "post", etc. See the full list here. The method name is case-insensitive, so 'get' and 'GET' are both acceptable.
path - The path, possibly with parameters prefixed with a :. See the example.
handler(request, response, next) - A handler function for this route. request is a Node request object, response is a Node response object, next is a callback to call to let the next middleware handle this route. You don't need to use this normally.

JsonRoutes.sendResult(response, options)

Return data fom a route.

response - Required. The Node response object you got as an argument to your handler function.
options.code - Optional. The status code to send. 200 for OK, 500 for internal error, etc. Default is 200.
options.headers - Optional. Dictionary of headers to send back.
options.data - Optional. The data you want to send back. This is serialized to JSON with content type application/json. If undefined, there will be no response body.

Errors

We recommend that you simply throw an Error or Meteor.Error from your handler function. You can then attach error handling middleware that converts those errors to JSON and sends the response. Here's how to do it with our default error middleware:

JsonRoutes.ErrorMiddleware.use(
  '/widgets',
  RestMiddleware.handleErrorAsJson
);

JsonRoutes.add('get', 'widgets', function () {
  var error = new Meteor.Error('not-found', 'Not Found');
  error.statusCode = 404;
  throw error;
});

JsonRoutes.setResponseHeaders(headerObj)

Set the default headers used by JsonRoutes.sendResult for the response. Default value is:

{
  "Cache-Control": "no-store",
  "Pragma": "no-cache"
}

You can pass additional headers directly to JsonRoutes.sendResult

Adding Middleware

If you want to insert connect middleware and ensure that it runs before your REST route is hit, use JsonRoutes.Middleware.

JsonRoutes.Middleware.use(function (req, res, next) {
  console.log(req.body);
  next();
});

Creating Middleware Packages

Once you've created an awesome piece of reusable middleware and you're ready to share it with the world, you should make it a Meteor package so it can be easily configured in any JSON Routes API. There are only two simple requirements. Actually, they're just very strong recommendations. Nothing will explode if you don't follow these guidelines, but doing so should promote a much cleaner middleware ecosystem.

Each middleware package should define a single middleware function and add it to RestMiddleware namespace:

RestMiddleware.someMiddlewareFunc = function (req, res, next) {
  // Do some awesome middleware stuff here
};

RestMiddleware.someMiddlewareErrorFunc = function (err, req, res, next) {
  // Do some awesome middleware error handling here
};

Alternatively, you could publish a pure NodeJS middleware package to NPM, and you will be able to require it and use it in your Meteor package or app.

Auth Middleware

By convention, any middleware you create that parses the request to find an authentication token should then save that token on req.authToken. See simple:rest-bearer-token-parser for an example.
By convention, any middleware you create that determines a user ID should save that ID on req.userId. See simple:authenticate-user-by-token for an example.

Change Log

2.1.0

Fix issue #82 by wrapping the middlewares in a fiber.

2.0.1

Increase request size limit to 50 MB, PR #88, Issue #75

2.0.0

JsonRoutes.sendResult function signature has changed to (response, options) and you can now pass in headers. See documentation.
JsonRoutes.sendError no longer exists. Throw the error instead, and use error handling middleware to parse and return it.
connect dependency updated to 2.30.2
RestMiddleware object is exported for packages to add middleware functions to
JsonRoutes.ErrorMiddleware.use is a new function that can be called to add error handling middleware, globally or per route, to ensure it is added last.

1.0.4

Allow case-insensitive method names to be passed as the first param to JsonRoutes.add() (e.g., JsonRoutes.add('get',...) and JsonRoutes.add('GET',...) are both acceptable)
Add JsonRoutes.sendError with automatic parsing of error objects.
Catch handler errors and automatically send a response. Look for statusCode and data properties on thrown errors.
Add JsonRoutes.Middleware to eventually replace JsonRoutes.middleWare (since 'middleware' is one word)
Fix Connect middleware deprecation error stubailo/meteor-rest#18

1.0.3

Add JsonRoutes.middleWare for adding middleware to the stack

apiko-dev/meteor-json-routes