rfr

node-rfr

node-rfr is a Require From (project) Root tool for Node.js.

node-rfr allows you to require modules in your project with rfr('lib/module1.js') instead of something like require('../../lib/module1.js').

Install

npm install rfr

Installing a global rfr module is NOT encouraged.

Usage

Suppose we have a project with the following structure:

project
|--package.json
|--run.js
|--lib
|  |--module1.js
|  `--module2.js
`--node_modules
   `--rfr

If we run run.js, we can require modules relatively like this:

var rfr = require('rfr');
var module1 = rfr('/lib/module1');
var module2 = rfr('lib/module2');  // Leading slash can be omitted.

The Default Root

If not specified, a default root will be applied according to where the rfr is located. Typically, the module folder "rfr" will be located in a "node_modules" folder. In this case, the folder contains "node_modules" will used as the default root.

For example, in the following project. The "project" folder will be used as the default root.

project
|--package.json
|--run.js
`--node_modules
   `--rfr  (Default root: project)

This allows rfr to be used in a module.

project
|--package.json
|--run.js
`--node_modules
   |--rfr  (Default root: project)
   `--my_module
      `--node_modules
         `--rfr  (Default root: project/node_modules/my_module)

Using a global rfr module is NOT a good idea. It often breaks when someone else required such a project as a module. Each project or module should has its own rfr dependency like the above example.

It is rare and also NOT encouraged to use a rfr copy out of any "node_modules" folder. In such case, the default root will be the environment variable RFR_ROOT. Or the PWD if RFR_ROOT is not set. Or an empty string "" if PWD is also not available.

Usage in Modules

If a project using rfr supposed to be a module depended by other projects, rfr should be a bundled dependency, rather than just a dependency. If rfr is specified as a normal dependency, it might use a peer rfr module. And the default root of the module will be incorrect.

Customize the Root

If you want to use another path as the root, set (and get) it with the .root property:

var rfr = require('rfr');
rfr.root = '/usr/local';  // rfr adds a tailing slash if needed.
rfr.root;                 // Gets "/usr/local/"

Or set it with the .setRoot() function:

var rfr = require('rfr');
rfr.setRoot('some_path');

An absolute path is preferred for the root. Maybe you want to use the default root or __dirname to help constructing the needed root.

Changes to rfr.root is permanent. This means, if another file requires rfr after a change, the change also applies. If you want to keep the change within a single file or part of a single file, use a new version (instance) of rfr. See "Multi-version RFR" below for more details.

Details about Module Path

Use .resolve() to find the absolute path of a module without actually importing it.

var rfr = require('rfr');

var path = rfr.resolve('models');
// Returns an absolute path, for example, "/project/lib/models/index.js"

Multi-version RFR

Sometimes you may want more than one RFR. For example, one for "<project_root>/lib/" and one for "<project_root>/src/". Multi-version RFR helps. In the following example, rfr, rUsr and rEtc could have different roots.

var rfr = require('rfr');
var rUsr = require('rfr')({
  root: '/usr'
});
var rEtc = require('rfr')({
  root: '/etc'
});

rfr.setRoot('/');  // Only changes the root of the master rfr

rfr('/module');   // Requires '/module'
rUsr('/module');  // Requires '/usr/module'
rEtc('/module');  // Requires '/etc/module'

You can use .isMaster property to check whether a RFR instance is the master one.

rfr.isMaster;   // true
rUsr.isMaster;  // false
rEtc.isMaster;  // false

Change Log

2015-01-01 v1.2.2 Add README about usage in modules. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2014-11-22 v1.2.1 Add .isGlobalMaster. Update README.

2014-11-17 v1.2.0 Change default root strategy. Now can be used in modules.

2014-10-24 v1.1.1 Add .root and .isMaster and .resolve().

2014-10-07 v1.1.0 Add multi-version RFR support.

2014-05-01 v1.0.0 First release with require from root support.