app_modules

Get rid of relative import syntax by making app subdirectories appear as modules.

E.g.,

require('app/foo');
// instead of
require('../../../foo');

Works seemlessly with transpiled code (see below).

Install

npm install app_modules

Configure

Run code like the following as early as possible in your app:

// before requiring other files...
var app_modules = require('app_modules');
 
// IRL, compute the following paths dynamically:
 
// initialize the library (this creates an app_modules dir in your project root):
app_modules.init('/path/to/my/project/');   
 
// make src/ available as a module named app:
app_modules.addModule('app', '/path/to/my/project/src/'); // app_modules/app now points to src/

Example

Given a Node.js project as follows:

- myproject
  - package.json
  - src/
    - main.js # start script 
    - foo/
      - bar.js
  - lib/ # transpiled code 

Initialize app_modules with dynamically computed paths:

// src/main.js
var app_modules = require('app_modules');
var path = require('path');
 
app_modules.init(path.resolve(__dirname, '..'));  // path of project root
app_modules.addModule('app', __dirname);  // dynamically link app to either src/ or lib/
 
// ... continue loading

Now you can write:

var bar = require('app/foo/bar');

The app module links correctly to src/ or lib/ depending on whether you're running the untranspiled src/main.js or transpiled lib/main.js code.

Warning

This library uses an old but unofficial method _initPaths defined on the Modules class.

API

init

Ensures a directory exists in the project root and adds it to the NODE_PATH. Directories in this folder will be accessible as modules.

init(projectRoot, app_modules_dirname)
// where
// projectRoot - path to the root dir of your node project
// app_modules_dirname - defaults to 'app_modules'

addModule

Symlinks a directory into your app_modules directory.

addModule(moduleName, sourcePath)
// where
// moduleName - name you'd like the sourcePath to be accessible as
// sourcePath - absolute path to a directory