What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

Express Web Application Development

Chapter 2. Your First Express App

This chapter is about understanding the core structural and functional aspects of an Express app. We will start with a very basic app and proceed to make it gradually more complex by introducing the components of a relatively advanced Express app one after another.

This chapter is essential to develop a very good understanding of what an Express app is made up of, and how it works.

You will learn the following in this chapter:

How to create a very basic Express app
How to define basic routes and handle them
How to use views
How to include CSS, JavaScript, and images in the app
How to use middleware
How to include Node modules in the app
How to log requests to the app
How to configure the app
How to run the app in different modes

Empowering Express with middlewares

In Chapter 1, What is Express?, we learned about Express middlewares and saw how to create one. Now, let's go find out how to include one in our app. Remember we use app.use() for including middlewares.

Though we can write our own middlewares, we will focus on using one of the middlewares that comes bundled with Express.

For your reference, the following is the list of the middlewares that are available in Express, by default:

Middleware	Description
`router`	The app's routing system
`logger`	Log requests to the server
`compress`	gzip/deflate support on the server
`basicAuth`	Basic HTTP authentication
`json`	Parse `application`/ `json`
`urlencoded`	Parse `application`/`x-www-form-urlencoded`
`multipart`	Parse multipart/form-data
`bodyParser`	Parse request body. Bundles `json`, `urlencoded`, and multipart middlewares together
`timeout`	Request timeout
`cookieParser`	Cookie parser
`session`	Session support
`cookieSession`	Cookie-based...

Logging requests to the App

Express comes with a built-in logging module called logger, it can be a very useful tool while you are developing the app. You enable it like any other Express module:

app.use(express.logger());

Without any options, the logger middleware will log a detailed log. You can customize the details with the following tokens in the format option of the logger middleware:

Token	Content
`:req[header]`	The specific HTTP header of the request
`:res[header]`	The specific HTTP header of the response
`:http-version`	The HTTP version
`:response-time`	How long it took to generate the response
`:remote-addr`	The user agent's IP address
`:date`	Date and time of request
`:method`	The HTTP method used for making the request
`:url`	The requested URL
`:referrer`	The URL that referred the current URL
`:user-agent`	The user-agent signature
`:status`	The HTTP status

And this is how you specify the log format using the tokens:

app.use(express.logger({ format: ':remote...

Setting and getting application options

An Express application has a set of predefined application variables that are used to configure various options of the app. These variables are used for setting various dynamic aspects of the app and can be set using the app.set() method. So far we have used two of them:

app.set('view engine', 'jade');
app.set('views', './views');

The values of application variables can be retrieved using the corresponding app.get() method.

The following table lists all the options that can be configured in an Express app:

Option	Purpose
`env`	The environment the app is running on. Not recommended to set manually. You will read more about this in the next section.
`trust proxy`	Enables reverse proxy.
`jsonp callback name`	Callback name for JSONP requests.
`json replacer`	The JSON replacer callback.
`json spaces`	The amount of space for indenting JSON responses.
`case sensitive routing`	Makes route names case-sensitive.
`strict routing`	Trailing slash at...

Key benefits

Exploring all aspects of web development using the Express framework

Starts with the essentials

Expert tips and advice covering all Express topics

Description

Express is a minimal and flexible node.js web application framework, providing a robust set of features for building single and multi-page, and hybrid web applications. It provides a thin layer of features fundamental to any web application, without obscuring features that developers know and love in node.js. "Express Web Application Development" is a comprehensive guide for those looking to learn how to use the Express web framework for web application development. Starting with the initial setup of the Express web framework, "Express Web Application Development" helps you to understand the fundamentals of the framework. By the end of "Express Web Application Development", you will have acquired enough knowledge and skills to create production-ready Express apps. All of this is made possible by the incremental introduction of more advanced topics, starting from the very essentials. On the way to mastering Express for application development, we teach you the more advanced topics such as routes, views, middleware, forms, sessions, cookies and various other aspects of configuring an Express application. Jade; the recommended HTML template engine, and Stylus; the CSS pre-processor for Express, are covered in detail. Last, but definitely not least, Express Web Application Development also covers practices and setups that are required to make Express apps production-ready.

What you will learn

Understand the core concepts and objects that make up the Express framework and an Express app

Create Jade-based views for Express apps and render them

Create routes for an Express app and handle them

Serve different kinds of responses and handle various kinds of errors

Create dynamic apps using HTML forms, cookies, and sessions

Learn about the Jade HTML templating language in detail

Learn about the Stylus CSS pre-processor syntax and language in detail

Customize and prepare your Express apps to make them production ready

What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

Frequently bought together

$54.99

$48.99

Advanced Express Web Application Development

$43.99

Total $ 147.97

Filter reviews by

All

Amazon verified reviews

Gertraud Wilms-Hemmer Oct 07, 2013

Das Buch habe ich gewählt wegen des Themenbereiches Echtzeit und weil es die Erklärung einer neueren Software-Technologie (node.js) verspricht, inklusive dessen Installation. Ich bewerte das Buch uneingeschränkt positiv wegen der guten, ausführlichen Erklärungen ohne überflüssigen Ballast. Positiv ferner: Den Quellcode kann man sich per E-Mail zuschicken lassen. Die dargestellten Beispiele laufen sofort. Vorkenntnisse in einer Programmiersprache, am besten JavaScript, sollten beim Leser vorhanden sein.

Amazon Verified review

yauh Sep 07, 2013

I have learned node.js and express on my own in building web and mobile apps. While it's ok to pick up different pieces of info from different websites and forums about node and express, it is much better to start with a beginner book like this one.Upon reading the book, I rounded out my knowledge with the author's clear technical explanations. It is a much welcome review of the important concepts. I would have had a much easier time if I were to learn from scratch with this book.High recommended for beginners trying to pick up node.js and express, and for people with practical experience but need a refresher.Much like express which is a concise framework doing the core things right, this book succinctly explains the core concepts to help developers get started. The clean explanations are also accompanied with working code samples.

Wilson Oct 11, 2013

I really have to admit the writer has a talent for writing technical books. I didn't find any resource or book that covers express.js in a lot of detail and explaining in interesting way.

Nam Nguyen Sep 16, 2013

If you are looking for a good Express.js book, this is the one you should read. Certainly this book teaches me Express.js, from basic to advanced techniques. It has clear technical explanations. I like this book a lot because the author actually walks you through actual processes by teaching you what you should, should not do, how to organize all your projects, how to use configurations in your app. This is very important because after a certain level of complexity in your app, you will need to organize your routes.The last three chapters are the best, it actually shows you how to make your app production-ready such as how to benchmark your app using siege command, how to make your app scale and performance well using cluster module, how to ensure maximum uptime for the app, and how to handle critical events.I also recently found out that the author has a forum at [...] so you can post your questions. I did posted some questions and was able to get answers quickly

Simos Aug 26, 2013

It is a great book to read for anyone willing to get to know hot to create an express app. It is perfectly suited to developers with no prior knowledge on Node.js because is very explanatory and is moving forward step-by-step, helping the reader to follow at all steps. It enlightens the reader for some basic aspects of how to use Node.js, and at the same time guides the less-experienced developers on adding commonly used functionality for web apps. What i liked most on this book was the last chapter which goes through some much-needed modules and techniques that are almost mandatory for every Node.js app.

Express Web Application Development: Here's a comprehensive guide to making the most of Express's flexibility in building web applications. With lots of screenshots and examples, it's the perfect step-by-step manual for those with an intermediate knowledge of JavaScript.

What do you get with Print?

Express Web Application Development

Chapter 2. Your First Express App

Your first Express app

The Express manifest file

Auto-generating an Express app

Empowering Express with middlewares

Empowering Express with Node modules

Note

Logging requests to the App

Using a configuration file

Note

Setting and getting application options

Express in different environments

Summary

Page 1 of 10

Key benefits

Description

Who is this book for?

What you will learn

Product Details

What do you get with Print?

Product Details

Frequently bought together

Table of Contents

Recommendations for you

Customer reviews

Filter reviews by

People who bought this also bought

About the author

FAQs

Express Web Application Development: Here's a comprehensive guide to making the most of Express's flexibility in building web applications. With lots of screenshots and examples, it's the perfect step-by-step manual for those with an intermediate knowledge of JavaScript.

What do you get with Print?

Key benefits

Description

Who is this book for?

What you will learn

Product Details

What do you get with Print?

Product Details

Packt Subscriptions

Frequently bought together

Table of Contents

Recommendations for you

Customer reviews

Filter reviews by

People who bought this also bought

About the author

FAQs