/cullen-express-intro

Express Intro for Cullen

Primary LanguageJavaScript

Cullen Express Intro

Gonna be great... :

.json (javascript object notation) - used for configuration to track information about the project

  1. In Terminal initialize as a node project repo "npm init"
  2. Terminal will check for what the defaults are, return through each until it checks if it's okay
  3. in terminal run "npm install express"
  • adds dependencies: "express" : "^4.17.1"
    • at least version 4.17.1
  • new folder called node modules
    • This is where we can find the express file which is a new LIBRARY FOR US TO USE!!!
  1. now we need to tell git to ignore the node_modules
  • .gitignore
  • Tell this file to ignore node_modules
  1. now we need to install body-parser: npm install body-parser
  2. Now you are ready to start your server!
  • add a server directory and a server.js file within it
  • When you type localhost:5000 (or whatever port number you gave), you'll first get an error: "cannot GET /"
    • simply because we have no files to grab yet
  1. Add a public file to put in your html.index and anything you'd want to send out to your users
  • anything you want to share must be in that public folder, can be in a directory within public
  • THESE ARE CLIENT SIDE
  1. You can set up a simpler way to get your code up in running

  • Open package.json and add "start": "node ./server/server.js" to scripts make sure to add a comma before!

  • now you can start your server with npm start

  • ^C will stop your sever if you need to restart it

  • if you get code: 'EADDRINUSE' error

    • you've probably got the server running in a second terminal or someone is already listening on that port
    • run: killall -9 node

  • if you are pulling from another repo, you'll need to install node_modules again, but you can run npm install for that

  • big errors if you put spaces in you file or directory names

LEVEL UP

  • body-parser is now apart of the express package
  • You'll want to keep your modules separate for business data etc.
    • makes testing easier

API

API = "Application Program Interface"

Web server (eg. a Node.js server) with endpoints (ie. "URLs") that can receive or send data.

GET /quotes

Returns a new quote, every time you hit it.

Like so:

{
  "quote": "Something pithy",
  "author": "someone smart"
}

POST /quotes

Create a new quote, like

{
  "quote_to_add": {
    "quote": "Something pithy",
    "author": "someone smart"
  }
}