restable

A Simple Isomorphic REST API Pattern for Express

Build a server-side RESTful API that can be called directly or via http REST client.

Install

npm install --save restable express

Usage

The syntax for consuming your API from the client-side and server-side is identical, but it's obviously faster from the server-side because there is no http request!

Create your API

var restable = require('restable')
var db = require('./db')
 
var books = {
  get: function ($) {
    $.send({
      book: $.db.getBook($.query.id)
    })
  },
  post: function ($) {
    // $.body
    // $.query
    $.error('POST not allowed')
  }
}
 
var api = restable({
  resources: {
    books: books
  },
  helpers: {
    db: db
  }
})

Expose your API as a REST service

var express = require('express')
var app = express()
app.use('/api', api.rest)
app.listen(8080)

Consume your API with http REST client

var client = require('idiot')({
  baseUrl: 'http://localhost:8080/api/'
})
 
// GET /api/books?id=123
client.get('books', {
  query: {
    id: 123
  }
}, function (statusCode, data) {
  console.log('book:', data.book)
})

Consume your API directly (no http)

var api = restable(opts)
 
// GET /api/books?id=123 (but no http!)
api.get('books', {
  query: {
    id: 123
  }
}, function (statusCode, data) {
  console.log('book:', data.book)
})
 
// POST /api/books (but no http!)
api.post('books', function (statusCode, data) {
  if (data.error) {
    console.log(data.error.message)
  }
})

Options

restable(opts)

opts

• resources - an object whose keys are resource names
  • a resource is an object with get, post, put and/or delete methods
• helpers - an object whose keys are helper names
  • a helper is a value that is available in all resource methods
  • i.e. passing in your db as a helper is recommended

Your resource methods need to call either send(json) or error(message).

var myResource = {
  get: function ($) {
    // $.myHelper
    // $.myOtherHelper
 
    // $.send(json)
    // $.send(200, json)
 
    // $.error(message)
    // $.error(obj)
    // $.error(400, message)
    // $.error(400, obj)
  }
}

Advanced usage

You might have endpoints that behave differently based on the user that is calling it.

When your endpoint is called via http, the req and res objects are available. For example, you might be using some sort of authentication middleware:

GET /api/my/books

var api = restable({
  resources: {
    'my/books': {
      get: function ($) {
        if (!$.req.authenticated) {
          return $.error(403, 'access denied')
        }
        $.send({
          books: []
        })
      }
    }
  }
})
api.rest.listen(8080)

But oh no! This won't work if we call it from the server-side without a req object. But it's cool since we can specify req like this:

GET /my-books.html

// express route
app.get('/my-books.html', function (req, res) {
  // get the books for the logged in user
  api.get('my/books', {
    req: req
  }, function (statusCode, data) {
    if (statusCode === 403) {
      return res.send(data.error.message)
    }
    res.send('You have ' + data.books.length + ' books.')
  })
})

Helpers

If you're using client-sessions or bleh, this is handy:

helpers.getUser = function () {
  var $ = this
  return $.req && $.req.session && $.req.session.user || $.user || {}
}