billforward

BillForward Node.js client library

This client library provides (via Node) easy access to the BillForward API.

Install

###Via npm

Install to your node application like so:

npm install billforward --save

###Via GitHub

Install to your node application like so:

npm install git+ssh://[e-mail]:billforward/bf-node.git --save

You may need to add your SSH public key to your GitHub profile.

Include

Include like this:

var BillForward = require('billforward');

Note that lower-case is used for the package name, but StudlyCaps is preferred for the namespace.

Invoke

Once the BillForward library is included, you can invoke it. First you need credentials with which to connect to BillForward.

###Use credentials to connect to BillForward ####Step 1. Getting BillForward credentials Login to (or Register) your BillForward Sandbox account.

Grab a Private API token.

####Step 2. Connect to BillForward using BillForward.Client

You can instantiate the BillForward Client now. It is static, so you only need to do this once:

var config = {
  urlRoot:     "https://api-sandbox.billforward.net:443/v1/",
  accessToken: "INSERT_ACCESS_TOKEN_HERE"
};

BillForward.Client.makeDefault(config);

####Step 3. Make API calls

With the BillForward Client configured, you can now make an API call:

BillForward.Account.getAll()        // get accounts
.then(function(accounts) {
  console.log(accounts[0].profile.toString());  // print profile of an account
})
.catch(function(err) {
  console.error(err);
});

We use promises. Everything is async.

##Error Handling

All errors we throw are instances of at least BFError (which inherits from JavaScript's built-in Error).

Errors may be more specific still, and inherit further from BFError.

A comprehensive list of errors is available in lib/BillForward/Error.ts.

You can check for errors like so:

BillForward.Account.getByID("not here mate")
.catch(function(e) {
  if (e instanceof BillForward.BFError)
    console.error("Something went wrong"); // prints
  if (e instanceof BillForward.BFNoResultsError)
    console.error("Also we know it's because there were no results"); // prints
  if (e instanceof BillForward.BFMalformedAPIResponseError)
    console.error("It's not this; why are you checking?"); // doesn't print
  console.error(e.toString(), e.stack);
})
.done(); // 'done' at end of promise chain makes sure unhandled exceptions are thrown too

You can also follow stack traces further up the promise chain if you enable longStack in your client's config:

var config = {
  urlRoot:     "https://api-sandbox.billforward.net:443/v1/",
  accessToken: "INSERT_ACCESS_TOKEN_HERE",
  longStack:   true
};

BillForward.Client.makeDefault(config);

You can also enable more tracing in your config:

var config = {
  urlRoot:     "https://api-sandbox.billforward.net:443/v1/",
  accessToken: "INSERT_ACCESS_TOKEN_HERE",
  requestLogging: true, // print the REST responses we send
  responseLogging: true, // print the REST responses we receive
  errorLogging: true // print errors occurring during REST conversations
};

Develop

Git clone this repository.

Install dependencies:

npm install

#####Build TypeScript You shouldn't need to do this, because we check in a built version.

Nevertheless.. the curious can rebuild all TypeScript using Grunt:

grunt ts

Useful if you feel like deleting bin/.

#####Watch TypeScript Launch a Grunt server to watch your changes to TypeScript:

grunt watch

Edit any .ts file in lib, then save it.

Grunt will see the change and regenerate bin/index.js.

Test

We use Sinon for mocking, Chai for assertions, and Mocha as our testrunner.

Test settings (including BillForward credentials) are loaded from the file config.json in test/config.

You will have to make this file yourself; you can base it on the template config.example.json.

Run all tests:

npm test

Run one test file:

mocha -u bdd $file

#####Sublime build! I run test files using a custom Sublime build script:

  {
      "cmd": ["mocha", "--no-colors", "-u", "bdd", "$file"],
      "file_regex": "(.*\\.js?)\\s\\(([0-9]+)\\,([0-9]+)\\)\\:\\s(...*?)$",
      "selector": "source.js",
      "osx": {
         "path": "/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin"
      },
      "windows": {
          "cmd": ["mocha.cmd", "-u", "bdd", "$file"]
      }
  }

Releases

npm

Minor release

Finish your commit, then run:

npm version patch
npm publish
git push origin master --follow-tags

Or run sh ./npm-release-minor.sh

Major release

Finish your commit, then run:

npm version major
npm publish
git push origin master --follow-tags

Or run sh ./npm-release-major.sh