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NodeJS/Express web application

Set up your component repository to use the node/npm/express stack. With the Docker Generic scaffolder, developers can create a Dockerfile that allows setting up a NodeJS application that starts an Express server.

Prerequisites​

  • Application previously created to hold the NodeJS component that we will add.
  • Basic knowledge of Dockerfile in case the provided Dockerfile needs customization.
  • node & npm
    • On your local computer, you must use npm v7 or posterior versions. As a matter of fact, this repository uses version 2 of package-lock.json. While version 2 is backward compatible with version 1 (used by npm v5 and v6), you should upgrade your local npm version to at least v7 to avoid possible issues.
    • CodeNOW's deployment will use Node v18 (cf. Dockerfile). In order to have deployment environments as close as possible to your local environment, we recommend you to use the same node version.
  • git is installed.

Steps​

The quickest way to set up a NodeJS Express web application is as follows:

  1. Navigate to your application.
  2. Create a component with the Docker Generic scaffolder.
  3. Clone the component's Git repository to your local machine.
  4. Clone CodeNOW's NodeJS/Express scaffolding repository to your local machine.
  5. Copy the contents of the current repository (now on your local machine) to the component's Git repository.
  6. NOTE: do not copy the .git file.

You are all set! Commit those changes; push; you are then ready to build and deploy your NodeJS/Express component in CodeNOW. The scaffolding code reflects the following configuration choices:

  • Programs will run with NodeJS version 18.
  • Node will run ./bin/www on startup.
  • The npm package manager is used.
  • The application uses the Express web server framework (version 4.16).
  • package.json holds the application dependencies and their versions.
  • Your Express/NodeJS code is in the repository's home directory.
  • Pug/Jade is used as a templating language for web pages.
  • The Express's Router module is used for routing.
  • The application starts on port 80.

Customize further to reflect additional constraints or requirements:

  • Update the version of the dependencies.
  • Update the dependencies.
  • Add deployment configuration files in the /codenow/config/ folder. Files in this folder are deployed with the application so the application can access them at runtime. For more information, see Deployment configurations.

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