Server Foundation, built with Node.JS and PostgreSQL

Foundation for a backend server, database, session management & API.

What this Foundation Contains

• Database is PostgreSQL
• Database pool instantiator, database/Database.js
• Router & routes follow a specific design pattern - see below
• Dotenv is used to pull environment variables from the .env file
  • Use .env.sample for all of the default values, which can be copied into .env
  • .env.sample is never used in the program
• .gitignore is provided with usual Node.JS ignores + .env
• src/util includes common utility files
• Mocha is included for testing, including default tests
• Nodemon is included for rapid development iteration
• Dockerfiles & Docker Compose are included for a consistent development environment

Installation

npm install - Installs packages from package.json into node_modules

Ways to start your app

npm start - Default, runs normally npm run start-dev - Run using nodemon

Testing

npm run test - Runs all the tests within the test folder.

A default test is provided, called foundation.js.

How to add new routes

The router pulls all of the routes within the src/routes folder and uses the folder(s) + filename exactly, unless the endpoint variable is passed back.

Each individual file in src/routes is treated as a single API endpoint.

Example: If the folder structure & file is src/routes/ping/ok.js, then the API call will generate the endpoint at ping/ok. If the file returns an endpoint variable, it will override the default endpoint from the folder structure.

Docker

For ease of use, Dockerfiles and a Docker Compose file are provided for portability.

Setup

Build the Docker images

docker-compose build

Start the Docker containers

docker-compose up -d

Stop the Docker containers

docker-compose down

Coding Standards

Indentation

Each file uses tab-indentation prior to code. Tab size does not matter, this is a user-preference that does not affect anyone else's workflow or code readability.

Alignment

When aligning lines of values together for readability, use spaces following the first non-tab character. This guarantees that alignment is preserved across users and code review services.

Example:

// Tabs for indentation, spaces for alignment
function send(res, code, data) {
	let payload = {
		'data'   : data || {},
		'status' : code || 500
	};

	res.send(payload);
	return res.end();
}

Contributors

This server software was designed by our developers at Blockade Games, either directly or indirectly.

• Adam Gibbons
• Adrian Seeley
• Ben Heidorn
• Chris Chapman
• Rhea Myers
• Troy Salem