fh-mbaas-express-lcm

fh-mbaas-express

fh-mbaas-express is the FeedHenry MBaaS running on top of Express.

Usage

Add the following to the 'dependencies' section of the app's 'package.json' file:

"fh-mbaas-express" : "~4.0.0",
"express" : "~4.0.0"

Add a file to the app's 'application.js', with the following contents:

var express = require('express');
var mbaasExpress = require('fh-mbaas-express');
var cors = require('cors');
 
// list the endpoints which you want to make securable here
var securableEndpoints;
// fhlint-begin: securable-endpoints
securableEndpoints = ['/hello'];
// fhlint-end
 
var app = express();
 
// Enable CORS for all requests
app.use(cors());
 
// Note: the order which we add middleware to Express here is important!
app.use('/sys', mbaasExpress.sys(securableEndpoints));
app.use('/mbaas', mbaasExpress.mbaas);
 
// Note: important that this is added just before your own Routes
app.use(mbaasExpress.fhmiddleware());
 
// allow serving of static files from the public directory
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
 
// fhlint-begin: custom-routes
app.use('/', require('./lib/cloud.js')());
// fhlint-end
 
// Important that this is last!
app.use(mbaasExpress.errorHandler());
 
var port = process.env.FH_PORT || process.env.VCAP_APP_PORT || 8001;
var server = app.listen(port, function() {
  console.log("App started at: " + new Date() + " on port: " + port);
});

When running on the FeedHenry platform, this module should not be used directly. Instead, fh-mbaas-api module should be used and an instance of fh-mbaas-express cab be obtained via fh-mbaas-api. E.g.

var mbaasApi = require('fh-mbaas-api');
var mbaasExpress = mbaasApi.mbaasExpress();

Customising & Extending

The above application.js is just an Expressjs application - it's easily extensible.

Custom APIs

You can create custom API handlers in the Express format by doing:

app.use('/myapi', function(req, res){
  res.end('My custom response');
});

See Express Router for more information.

Serving Static Files

Express has a built-in static file server. In this example, we host files under the public directory:

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

REST API

Cloud

(POST | GET | PUT | DELETE) /:someFunction

Authentication : Optional - can be enabled globally or on a per-endpoint basis under "Endpoints" section of the studio. Response formats : JSON, binary, plain text

Headers

x-fh-auth-app : API key of your application, found under the "details" section of the studio.

Body:

JSON format - paramaters to be passed to the exported function, see 'Writing API Functions'.

Response:

Result as passed to the callback function of the exported function - see 'Writing API Functions'.

Writing API functions

See Express Router for more information.

function helloRoute() {
  var hello = new express.Router();
  hello.use(bodyParser());
 
  // GET REST endpoint - query params may or may not be populated
  hello.get('/hello', function(req, res) {
    var world = req.query ? req.query.hello : 'World';
 
    res.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type":"application/json"});
    res.end(JSON.stringify({msg: 'Hello ' + world}));
  });
  return hello;
}
 

mBaaS

POST /mbaas/db

Authentication : Required - App API key goes here. Response format : JSON

Headers

x-fh-auth-app : API key of your application, found under the "details" section of the studio.

POST Body:

JSON body - same as $fh.db params. A summary of body options follows - For more, see $fh.db docs

{
    "act": "create|update|list|delete|deleteall",
    "type": "collectionName",
    "guid": "GUID of object operating on - not required for list or deleteall",
    "fields": "JSON definition of fields - required for create|update",
    "eq|ne|in" : "JSON definition of query to match - supported for list only"
}

Response:

As per $fh.db

Sys

GET /sys/info/ping

Authentication : None Response formats : Plaintext

Headers

None

Response:

"OK"

if application is running as expected. Will respond with a 404 otherwise

GET /sys/info/endpoints

Authentication : None Response formats : JSON

Headers

None

Response:

{
  endpoints : ['array of endpoints exported as public functions']
}

GET /sys/info/memory

Authentication : None Response formats : JSON

Headers

None

Response:

{
  rss: 13721600, // Resident set size
  heapTotal: 7195904, // V8's total available memory
  heapUsed: 2369744  // V8's used memory
}

GET /sys/info/memory

Authentication : None Response formats : Plaintext

Headers

None

Response:

0.1.0

Backward compatability with main.js

If you want to use the older fh-nodeapp/fh-webapp style main.js, you need to change the /cloud endpoint in your application.js as follows:

var mainjs = require('./lib/main.js');
app.use('/cloud', mbaas.cloud(mainjs));

Additionally, you need to ammend the call to sys for secure endpoints:

app.use('/sys', mbaas.sys(securableEndpoints, mainjs));