approot

An utility to build path based on a base path. Useful in node.js application, such as web app server. Recommend to instantiate an approot in global namespace, to provide an specific reference path across all files in the project

Install

Install using npm.

$ npm install approot

Usage

Suppose the code is located in /var/application

// build approot based on __dirname, and __dirname is /var/application
var approot = require('approot')(__dirname);
 

HINT: It is recommended to expose approot in global, which will be helpful to share the path across the whole javascript files.

global.approot = require('approot')(__dirname);

Basic Usage

approot()                         // return /var/application
approot('models')                 // return /var/application/models
approot('models', 'user.js')      // return /var/application/models/user.js
 

Consolidate

consolidate can inject sub-directories automatically, which is still a approot function.

approot.consolidate();            // Scan then inject all subdirectories automatically
approot.models()                  // return /var/application/models, exists after consolidate is called
approot.models('user.js')         // return /var/application/models/user.js
 

HINT: since consolidate method return the approot itself, so you can use in this way:

var approot = require('approot')(__dirname).consolidate();

Consolidate with arguments

consolidate with arguments will extend generate approot instance as argument regardeless the file system. Due to this nature, it can be used in browser environment.

var rootPath = '/'
var approot;
 
approot = require('approot')(rootPath);
approot()                         // return '/'
 
approot = require('approot')(rootPath).consolidate('models');
approot.models()                  // return '/models'
 
approot = require('approot')(rootPath).consolidate(['models', 'routes']);
approot.models()                  // return '/models'
approot.routes()                  // return '/routes'
 
approot = require('approot')(rootPath).consolidate({models: true, routes: 'admin', assets: ['js', 'css'], config: { credential: 'secret' }});
approot.models()                  // return '/models'
approot.routes()                  // return '/routes'
approot.routes.admin()            // return '/routes/admin'
approot.assets()                  // return '/routes/assets'
approot.assets.js()               // return '/routes/assets/js'
approot.assets.css()              // return '/routes/assets/css'
approot.config()                  // return '/routes/config'
approot.config.credential()       // return '/routes/config/credential'
approot.config.credential.secret()// return '/routes/config/credential/secret'

List Children

approot.listChildren()                  // list all files and folders in current folder
approot.listChildren('sub', 'grandsub') // list all files and folders in './sub/grandsub'
 

Relative Require

require method is a syntactic sugar that make require a little bit easier

// suppose approot is create somewhere before
var User = approot.models.require('user'); // Equivalent to "require(approot.models('user'))"

Browser Support

approot can be used in bowser with the help of Browserify or Webpack. But there are some limitations due to lack of fs API support.

When used in browser, approot cannot scan file system automatically, so the API behavior changes in following circumstances:

• Use consolidate without arguments does not scan the file system automatically, it just return itself. Use consolidate with arguments instead.
• listChildren always returns a empty array

Used with lazily-require

When used in conjunction of lazily-require to initialize the application environment.

// initEnv.js
var lazy = require('lazily-require');
 
// suppose __dirname is /var/application
global.appRoot = require('approot')(__dirname).consolidate(); // expose the approot to global and consolidate first-layer directories
 
global.configuration = require(appRoot.config('configuration'));
 
global.Services = lazy appRoot.services();
global.Routes = lazy appRoot.routes();
global.Records = lazy appRoot.records();
global.Models = lazy appRoot.models();
global.Entities = lazy appRoot.entities();
 
// a differnt javascript file
var User = Models.User; // var User = require('/var/application/models/User');

License

MIT