Roosevelt MVC web framework

Roosevelt is a web application development framework based on Express that aims to be the easiest web framework on the Node.js stack to learn and use.
Some notable features:
- Minimal boilerplate to get started. Teddy Roosevelt—the most badass President of all-time—curtailed the abuse of monopolists, so there's no way he would ever put up with all the indecipherable boilerplate common to other web frameworks.
- Default directory structure is simple, but easily configured.
- Concise default MVC architecture.
- Uses Teddy HTML templates by default which are much easier to read and maintain than popular alternatives. Can be configured to use any templating system that supports Express.
- LESS and UglifyJS preconfigured out of the box to intelligently minify your external facing CSS and JS files. Other preprocessors are supported via wrapper modules.
- Built-in, easy to use interface to browserify bundling for frontend JS modularization using the Node.js module
exports
and require
syntax. - Automatic HTML validation in development mode of your post-server rendered HTML using a local instance of the Nu HTML Checker.


Note: this is documentation for Roosevelt 0.12.x. If you need API documentation for a previous version of Roosevelt, look here.
Table of contents
Create and run a Roosevelt app
First you will need to install Node.js. Both the current and LTS version of Node.js are supported. It is recommended that you install using a Node.js version manager like nvm rather than the official installer, as a version manager will allow you to switch between multiple versions of Node.js easily.
Some important caveats to note:
The Java JDK is also required for development work. The JDK is required for the local HTML validator feature.
Once you have a sane development environment, you can proceed with the standard install procedure below.
Using the Roosevelt app generator
The Roosevelt app generator is a command line script based on Yeoman that can create a sample Roosevelt app for you.
To use it, first globally install Yeoman and the Yeoman-based Roosevelt app generator:
npm i -g yo generator-roosevelt
Create a Roosevelt app using the Roosevelt app generator:
yo roosevelt
Then follow the prompts.
Afterward, cd
to your app's directory and install dependencies:
npm i
Run in development mode:
npm run d
Or run in production mode:
npm run p
Create a Roosevelt app manually
It is also possible to create a Roosevelt app without using the app generator. This will result in a more minimalist default configuration (e.g. no CSS or JS preprocessors enabled by default).
To do that:
Available npm scripts
Roosevelt apps created with the app generator come with the following notable npm scripts prepopulated in package.json:
-
npm run production
: Runs the app in production mode.
- Default shorthands:
npm run prod
npm run p
npm start
- Script is short for:
node app.js --production-mode
-
npm run development
: Runs the app in development mode.
- Default shorthands:
- Script is short for:
node app.js --development-mode
-
npm run kill-validator
: Finds the HTML validator process and kills it if it is running.
- Default shorthand:
- Script is short for:
node ./node_modules/roosevelt/lib/scripts/killValidator.js
-
npm run clean
: Removes all build artifacts (symlinks and directories) auto-generated by Roosevelt. Will prompt to confirm before deleting any files.
- Default shorthand:
- Script is short for:
node ./node_modules/roosevelt/lib/scripts/appCleanup.js
-
npm run config-audit
: Scans current rooseveltConfig
and scripts
in package.json
and warns about any params or npm scripts that don't match the current Roosevelt API:
- Default shorthand:
- Script is short for:
node ./node_modules/roosevelt/lib/scripts/configAuditor.js
- Note: this will run automatically whenever you run
npm i
as well.
Available command line arguments
node app.js --production-mode
: Runs the app in production mode.
node app.js --development-mode
: Runs the app in development mode.
node app.js --cores <m>
: Configures how many CPUs your app will run on.
<m>
can be either a number representing the desired cores, or you can supply max
to use all available CPUs.
- Default shorthand:
node app.js --enable-validator
: Forces the HTML validator to be enabled.
node app.js --disable-validator
: Forces the HTML validator to be disabled.
node app.js --background-validator
: Forces the HTML validator to run as a detached background process.
node app.js --attach-validator
: Forces the HTML validator to run as an attached process.
node app.js --host-public
: Forces Roosevelt to always host the public folder even when alwaysHostPublic
is set to false. Useful for testing production mode.
Combining npm scripts and command line arguments
The npm scripts can be combined with the command line flags.
For example, running npm run d -- -r
will run your app in development mode and force the HTML validator to be disabled.
Recognized environment variables
The following is a list of environment variables that Roosevelt listens for.
NODE_ENV
:
- Set to
production
to force the app into production mode. - Set to
development
to force the app into development mode.
NODE_PORT
: Default HTTP port to run your app on.HTTP_PORT
: Default HTTP port to run your app on. Takes precedence over NODE_PORT
.HTTPS_PORT
: Default HTTPS port to run your app on.ROOSEVELT_VALIDATOR
:
- Set to
detached
to force the HTML validator to run as a detached background process. - Set to
attached
to force the HTML validator to run as an attached process.
Environment variable precedence:
Default directory structure
app.js
: Entry point to your application. Feel free to rename this, but make sure to update package.json
's reference to it.mvc
: Folder for models, views, and controllers. All configurable via params (see below).
controllers
: Folder for controller files.models
: Folder for model files.views
: Folder for view files.
node_modules
: A standard folder where all modules your app depends on (such as Roosevelt) are installed to. This folder is created by the npm i
command.package.json
: A standard file in Node.js apps for configuring your app.public
: All contents within this folder will be exposed as static files.statics
: Folder for source CSS, image, JS, and other static files. By default some of the contents of this folder are symlinked to from public, which you can configure (see below).
css
: Folder for source CSS files.images
: Folder for source image files.js
: Folder for source JS files.
.gitignore
: A standard file which contains a list of files and folders to ignore if your project is in a git repo.
Default .gitignore
The default .gitignore
file contains many common important things to ignore, however you may need to tweak it to your liking before committing a fresh Roosevelt app to your git repo.
Some notable things ignored by default and why:
public
: It's recommended that you don't create files in this folder manually, but instead use the staticsSymlinksToPublic
param detailed below to expose folders in your statics
directory via auto-generated symlinks..build
: By default Roosevelt will compile LESS and JS files down to minified versions in statics/.build
when the server starts. As such, it's not recommended to place files in the build directory manually.node_modules
: This folder will be auto-generated when you run the npm i
step to set up your app. Since some modules you might include later in your app can be platform-specific and are compiled for your OS during the install step, it's generally not recommended to commit the node_modules
folder to git.
Configure your app with parameters
Roosevelt is designed to have a minimal amount of boilerplate so you can focus on just writing your app. All parameters are optional. As such, by default, all that's in app.js is this:
require('roosevelt')().startServer();
Roosevelt will determine your app's name by examining "name"
in package.json
. If none is provided, it will use Roosevelt Express
instead.
Also, while it is recommended that you pass params to Roosevelt via package.json
under "rooseveltConfig"
, you can also pass params programmatically via Roosevelt's constructor like so:
require('roosevelt')({
paramName: 'paramValue',
param2: 'value2',
etc: 'etc'
}).startServer();
This is particularly useful for setting params that can't be defined in package.json
such as event handlers (see below).
App behavior parameters
-
port
: The HTTP port your app will run on.
-
enableCLIFlags
: Enables parsing of command line flags.
-
generateFolderStructure
: When enabled Roosevelt will generate user specified directories (e.g. MVC parameters and statics parameters).
- Default: [Boolean]
true
.
- Exception to default: When
package.json
is not present or rooseveltConfig
is not present in package.json
, this param will be automatically set to false
by default. This is a defensive measure to minimize the risk of files and folders being created in scenarios when they are not wanted.
- This param is useful in scenarios when you want to create a Roosevelt app entirely from nothing (without using generator-roosevelt). See create a Roosevelt app manually for an example.
-
appDir
: Root directory of your application.
- Default: [String] The directory where your project
package.json
is located.
-
localhostOnly
: Listen only to requests coming from localhost in production mode. This is useful in environments where it is expected that HTTP requests to your app will be proxied through a more traditional web server like Apache or nginx. This setting is ignored in development mode.
-
logging
: Declare the types of logging to use in Roosevelt's logger:
-
http
: [Boolean] Log HTTP requests to the console.
-
appStatus
: [Boolean] Log app status to the console.
-
warnings
: [Boolean] Log app warnings to the console.
-
verbose
: [Boolean] Enable verbose (noisy) logging.
-
disable
: [Array] Disable logging when any of the environment variables in this array are present.
- Example:
'disable': ['LOADED_MOCHA_OPTS']
-
Default: [Object]
{
"http": true,
"appStatus": true,
"warnings": true,
"verbose": false
}
-
You can also declare a custom log types and classify them as logs, warnings, or errors:
-
Default logging
param with custom log type called debug
added to it: [Object]
{
"http": true,
"appStatus": true,
"warnings": true,
"verbose": false,
"debug": {
"enable": true,
"type": "error"
}
}
-
enable
param: Enables or disables the custom log.
-
type
param: Specifies what kind of log your custom log is:
- Allowed values: [String]
info
, warn
, or error
.
-
minify
: Enables HTML minification as well as the minification step in supporting CSS and JS compilers.
- Default: [Boolean]
true
. - Note: Automatically disabled during development mode.
-
htmlValidator
: Params to send to html-validator:
-
enable
: [Boolean] Enables or disables the built-in HTML validator.
- Note: The validator is only available in development mode.
-
exceptions
: Sending a custom request header can disable the validator on a per request basis. The name of this request header and model value can be customized with this param.
-
port
: [Number] Port to spawn the validator process on.
-
separateProcess
: [Object] How to run the validator:
enable
: [Boolean] Run the validator as a detached background process.autoKiller
: [Boolean] Spawns a process to kill the validator if it is running in the background and idle for more than a certain amount of time.autoKillerTimeout
: [Number] Time (in milliseconds) that the validator auto-killer process waits before it kills the validator running in the background.
-
showWarnings
: [Boolean] When set to true, shows HTML validation warnings in addition to errors.
-
Default: [Object]
{
"enable": true,
"separateProcess": {
"enable": true,
"autoKiller": true,
"autoKillerTimeout": 360000
},
"port": 48888,
"exceptions": {
"requestHeader": "Partial",
"modelValue": "_disableValidator"
},
"showWarnings": true
}
-
multipart
: Settings to pass along to formidable using formidable's API for multipart form processing. Access files uploaded in your controllers by examining the req.files
object. Roosevelt will remove any files uploaded to the uploadDir
when the request ends automatically. To keep any, be sure to move them before the request ends. To disable multipart forms entirely, set this param to false.
- Default: [Boolean]
{
"multiples": true
}
-
toobusy
: Params to pass to the node-toobusy module.
-
maxLagPerRequest
: [Number] Maximum amount of time (in milliseconds) a given request is allowed to take before being interrupted with a 503 error.
-
lagCheckInterval
: [Number] Interval (in milliseconds) for checking event loop lag in milliseconds.
-
Default: [Object]
{
"maxLagPerRequest": 70,
"lagCheckInterval": 500,
}
-
bodyParser
: Parameters to supply to body-parser.json.
-
checkDependencies
: Whether or not to warn if dependencies are out of date.
-
cores
: By default, Roosevelt will run on 1 CPU, but you can change the number of cores that the app will run on with this param.
- Default: [Number]
1
. - To use all available cores, set this value to
max
.
-
shutdownTimeout
: Maximum amount of time in milliseconds given to Roosevelt to gracefully shut itself down when sent the kill signal.
- Default: [Number]
30000
(30 seconds).
HTTPS parameters
https
: [Object] Run a HTTPS server using Roosevelt.
- Object members:
enable
: Enable a HTTPS server.
- Default: [Boolean]
false
.
force
: Disallow unencrypted HTTP and route all traffic through HTTPS.
- Default: [Boolean]
false
.
port
: The port your app will run a HTTPS server on.
authInfoPath
: [Object] Specify either the paths where the server certificate files can be found or set the appropriate parameters to be a PKCS#12-formatted string or certificate or key strings.
- Default:
undefined
- Object members:
p12
: [Object] Parameter used when the server certificate/key is in PKCS#12 format.
- Object members:
p12Path
: [String] Either the path to a PKCS#12-formatted file (.p12/.pfx) or a PKCS#12-formatted string or buffer (i.e. the result of fs.readFileSync(/path/to/file/example.p12))
passphrase
: [String] The password used to encrypt the PKCS#12-formatted file or string.
authCertAndKey
: [Object] Parameter used when the server certificate and key are in separate PEM-encoded files.
- Object members:
cert
: [String] Either the path to a PEM-encoded certificate file (.crt, .cer, etc.) or a PEM-encoded certificate string.
key
: [String] Either the path to a PEM-encoded key file (.crt, .cer, etc.) or a PEM-encoded key string for the certificate given in cert
.
caCert
: [String] Either the path to a PEM-encoded Certificate Authority root certificate or certificate chain or a PEM-encoded Certificate Authority root certificate or certificate chain string. This certificate (chain) will be used to verify client certificates presented to the server. It is only needed if requestCert
and rejectUnauthorized
are both set to true
and the client certificates are not signed by a Certificate Authority in the default publicly trusted list of CAs curated by Mozilla.
requestCert
: [Boolean] Set whether to request a certificate from the client attempting to connect to the server to verify the client's identity.
rejectUnauthorized
: [Boolean] Set whether to reject connections from clients that do no present a valid certificate to the server. (Ignored if requestCert
is set to false
.)
- Default: [Object]
{}
.
MVC parameters
-
modelsPath
: Relative path on filesystem to where your model files are located.
- Default: [String]
"mvc/models"
.
-
viewsPath
: Relative path on filesystem to where your view files are located.
- Default: [String]
"mvc/views"
.
-
viewEngine
: What templating engine to use, formatted as "fileExtension: nodeModule"
.
-
generator-roosevelt default: [String] "html: teddy"
.
-
Also by default when using the generator, the module teddy is marked as a dependency in package.json
.
-
Bare Roosevelt default (when an app is created without the generator): [String] none
. Can also be set to null
to use no templating engine.
-
To use multiple templating systems, supply an array of engines to use in the same string format. Each engine you use must also be marked as a dependency in your app's package.json
. Whichever engine you supply first with this parameter will be considered the default.
-
Example configuration using multiple templating systems: [Object]
{
"viewEngine": [
"html: teddy",
"mustache: mustache",
"handlebars: handlebars",
"ejs: ejs"
]
}
-
controllersPath
: Relative path on filesystem to where your controller files are located.
- Default: [String]
"mvc/controllers"
.
-
errorPages
: Relative path on filesystem to where your various error page controller files are located. If you do not supply them, Roosevelt will use its default ones instead:
Statics parameters
-
staticsRoot
: Relative path on filesystem to where your source static assets are located. By default this folder will not be made public, but is instead meant to store unprocessed or uncompressed source assets that will later be preprocessed and exposed in public
.
- Default: [String]
"statics"
.
-
htmlMinifier
: How you want Roosevelt to minify your HTML:
-
enable
: [Boolean] Enable HTML minification.
- Note: Minification is automatically disabled in development mode.
-
exceptionRoutes
: [Array] List of controller routes that will skip minification entirely. Set to false
to minify all URLs.
-
options
: [Object] Params to supply to html-minifier's API.
-
Default: [Object]
{
"enable": true,
"exceptionRoutes": false,
"options": {
"removeComments": true,
"collapseWhitespace": true,
"collapseBooleanAttributes": true,
"removeAttributeQuotes": true,
"removeEmptyAttributes": true
}
}
-
css
: [Object] How you want Roosevelt to configure your CSS preprocessor:
-
sourcePath
: Subdirectory within staticsRoot
where your CSS files are located. By default this folder will not be made public, but is instead meant to store unminified CSS source files which will be minified and written to a build directory when the app is started.
-
compiler
: [Object] Which Roosevelt CSS preprocessor middleware (if any) to use.
-
nodeModule
: [String] Node module name of the Roosevelt CSS preprocessor middleware you wish to use.
- Note: Your chosen Roosevelt CSS preprocessor module must also be marked as a dependency in your app's
package.json
.
-
params
: [Object] Params to send to the Roosevelt CSS preprocessor middleware if it accepts any.
-
Note: The default preprocessor for a Roosevelt app created with generator-roosevelt is roosevelt-less, which is marked as a dependency in package.json
on freshly generated Roosevelt apps. See roosevelt-less usage for details on what params are available.
- The Roosevelt team also maintains roosevelt-sass, an alternative to roosevelt-less.
-
generator-roosevelt default configuration: [Object]
{
"nodeModule": "roosevelt-less",
"params": {
"cleanCSS": {
"advanced": true,
"aggressiveMerging": true
},
"sourceMap": null
}
}
-
Bare Roosevelt default (when an app is created without the generator): [String] none
. Can also be set to null
to use no CSS compiler.
-
whitelist
: Array of CSS files to whitelist for compiling. Leave undefined to compile all files. Supply a :
character after each file name to delimit an alternate file path and/or file name for the minified file.
- Example array member: [String]
less/example.less:.build/css/example.min.css
(compiles less/example.less
into .build/css/example.min.css
).
-
output
: Where to write compiled CSS files to. This folder will be symlinked into public
by default.
-
symlinkToPublic
: [Boolean] When enabled Roosevelt will automatically add your CSS directory to the staticsSymlinksToPublic
param.
- Note: If the compiler is enabled
output
will be symlinked. If not, sourcePath
will be symlinked.
-
versionFile
: If enabled, Roosevelt will create a CSS file which declares a CSS variable containing your app's version number from package.json
. Enable this option by supplying an object with the member variables fileName
and varName
.
-
Default: null
.
-
Example usage (with roosevelt-less): [Object]
{
"fileName": "_version.less",
"varName": "appVersion"
}
-
Assuming the default Roosevelt configuration otherwise, this will result in a file statics/css/_version.less
with the following content:
@appVersion: '0.1.0';
-
Some things to note:
- If there is already a file there with that name, this will overwrite it, so be careful!
- It's generally a good idea to add this file to
.gitignore
, since it is a build artifact.
-
Default: [Object]
{
"sourcePath": "css",
"compiler": {
"nodeModule": "roosevelt-less",
"params": {
"cleanCSS": {
"advanced": true,
"aggressiveMerging": true
},
"sourceMap": null
}
},
"whitelist": null,
"output": ".build/css",
"symlinkToPublic": true,
"versionFile": null
}
-
js
: [Object] How you want Roosevelt to configure your JS compiled:
-
sourcePath
: Subdirectory within staticsRoot
where your JS files are located. By default this folder will not be made public, but is instead meant to store unminified JS source files which will be minified and written to a build directory when the app is started.
-
compiler
: Which Roosevelt JS minifier middleware (if any) to use.
-
nodeModule
: [String] Node module name of the Roosevelt JS minifier middleware you wish to use.
- Note: Your chosen Roosevelt JS minifier module must also be marked as a dependency in your app's
package.json
.
-
showWarnings
: [Boolean] Set to true to display compiler module warnings.
-
params
: [Object] Params to send to the Roosevelt JS minifier middleware if it accepts any.
-
Note: The default minifier for a Roosevelt app created with generator-roosevelt is roosevelt-uglify, which is marked as a dependency in package.json
on freshly generated Roosevelt apps. See roosevelt-uglify usage for details on what params are available.
- The Roosevelt team also maintains roosevelt-closure, an alternative to roosevelt-uglify.
-
generator-roosevelt default configuration: [Object]
{
"nodeModule": "roosevelt-uglify",
"showWarnings": false,
"params": {}
}
-
Bare Roosevelt default (when an app is created without the generator): [String] none
. Can also be set to null
to use no JS minifier.
-
whitelist
: Array of JS files to whitelist for minification. Leave undefined to compile all files. Supply a :
character after each file name to delimit an alternate file path and/or file name for the minified file.
- Default:
null
(compiles all JS files, if a JS minifier is enabled). - Example array member: [String]
library-name/example.js:lib/example.min.js
(compiles library-name/example.js
into lib/example.min.js
).
-
blacklist
: Array of JS files to exempt from minification. These files will be copied as-is to the build folder. Leave undefined to compile all files.
- Default:
null
(compiles all JS files, if a JS minifier is enabled). - Example: [String]
example.js
.
-
output
: Where to write compiled JS files to. This folder will be symlinked into public
by default.
- Default: [String]
".build/js"
.
-
symlinkToPublic
: [Boolean] When enabled Roosevelt will automatically add your JS directory to the staticsSymlinksToPublic
param.
- Note: If the compiler is enabled
output
will be symlinked. If not, sourcePath
will be symlinked.
-
bundler
: Params related to bundling JS with browserify:
-
Note: Use of browserify in Roosevelt is optional. If no bundles are defined here, the browserify step will be skipped.
-
bundles
: [Array] Declare one or more source JS files in your sourcePath
to be browserify bundles via its bundle method.
env
: [String] Bundle only in dev
or prod
mode. Omitting env
will result in bundling in both modes.params
: [Object] The browserify params to send to browserify. If it is not set, these default params will be sent: {"paths": <your jsPath>}
.- Examples: [Array] of [Objects]
-
Browserify bundle example declaring one bundle:
[
{
"outputFile": "bundle.js",
"files": [
"landingPage.js",
"main.js",
"etc.js"
],
"params": {
"someOpt":
"someValue"
}
}
]
-
Browserify bundle example declaring one bundle only used in dev
mode:
[
{
"outputFile": "bundle.js",
"env": "dev",
"files": [
"landingPage.js",
"main.js",
"etc.js"
],
"params": {
"someOpt": "someValue"
}
}
]
-
Browserify bundle example declaring multiple bundles:
[
{
"outputFile": "bundle1.js",
"files": [
"landingPage.js",
"main.js",
"etc.js"
],
"params": {
"someOpt": "someValue"
}
},
{
"outputFile": "bundle2.js",
"files": [
"somethingElse.js",
"anotherThing.js",
"etc.js"
]
},
etc...
]
- Default: [Array]
[]
.
-
output
: Subdirectory within sourcePath
where you would like browserify to deposit bundled JS files it produces.
- Default: [String]
".bundled"
.
-
expose
: Whether or not to copy the output
directory to your build directory.
-
Default: [Object]
{
"sourcePath": "js",
"compiler": {
"nodeModule": "roosevelt-uglify",
"showWarnings": false,
"params": {}
},
"whitelist": null,
"blacklist": null,
"output": ".build/js",
"symlinkToPublic": true,
"bundler": {
"bundles": [],
"output": ".bundled",
"expose": true
}
}
Public folder parameters
-
publicFolder
: All files and folders in this directory will be exposed as static files.
- Default: [String]
"public"
.
-
favicon
: Location of your favicon file.
- generator-roosevelt default: [String]
"images/favicon.ico"
. - Bare Roosevelt default (when an app is created without the generator): [String]
none
. Can also be set to null
to use no favicon.
-
staticsSymlinksToPublic
: Array of folders from staticsRoot
to make symlinks to in your public folder, formatted as either "linkName: linkTarget"
(whitespace optional) or simply "linkName"
if the link target has the same name as the desired link name.
-
versionedPublic
: If set to true, Roosevelt will prepend your app's version number from package.json
to your public folder. Versioning your public folder is useful for resetting your users' browser cache when you release a new version.
- Default: [Boolean]
false
.
-
alwaysHostPublic
: By default in production mode Roosevelt will not expose the public folder. It's recommended instead that you host the public folder yourself directly through another web server, such as Apache or nginx. However, if you wish to override this behavior and have Roosevelt host your public folder even in production mode, then set this setting to true.
- Default: [Boolean]
false
.
Events
Roosevelt provides a series of events you can attach code to by passing a function to the desired event as a parameter to Roosevelt's constructor like so:
require('roosevelt')({
onServerStart: (app) => { }
});
Event list
onServerInit(app)
: Fired when the server begins starting, prior to any actions taken by Roosevelt.
onServerStart(app)
: Fired when the server starts.
onReqStart(req, res, next)
: Fired at the beginning of each new request.
req
: The request object created by Express.res
: The response object created by Express.next
: Callback to continue with the request. Must be called to continue the request.
onReqBeforeRoute(req, res, next)
: Fired just before executing the controller.
req
: The request object created by Express.res
: The response object created by Express.next
: Callback to continue with the request. Must be called to continue the request.
onReqAfterRoute(req, res)
: Fired after the request ends.
Making controller files
Controller files are just standard Express routes. A route is the term Express uses for URL endpoints, such as http://yoursite/blog
or http://yoursite/about
.
To make a new controller, just make a new file in the controllers directory. For example:
module.exports = (app) => {
app.route('/about').get((req, res) => {
let model = require('models/dataModel');
res.render('about', model);
});
};
Sometimes it is also useful to separate controller logic from your routing. This can be done by creating a reusable controller module.
An example would be creating a reusable controller for "404 Not Found" pages:
module.exports = (app, req, res) => {
let model = { content: 'Cannot find this page' };
res.status(404);
res.render('404', model);
}
Reusable controller modules differ from standard controller modules in that they accept req
and res
arguments in addition to app
. They are meant to be called from within routes rather than define new routes.
This allows them to be called at will in any other controller's route when needed:
const throw404 = require('controllers/notFound');
module.exports = (app) => {
app.route('/whatever').get((req, res) => {
if (something) {
let model = require('models/dataModel');
res.render('whatever', model);
}
else {
throw404(app, req, res);
}
});
};
Making model files
Since the above example requires a model file named dataModel
, you will need to make that too. To do that, place a file named dataModel.js
in mvc/models
.
Here's a simple example dataModel.js
data model:
module.exports = {some: 'data'};
Making view files
Views by default are Teddy templates. See the Teddy documentation for information about how to author Teddy templates.
You can also use different templating engines by tweaking Roosevelt's MVC parameters.
Express variables exposed by Roosevelt
Roosevelt supplies several variables to Express that you may find handy. Access them using app.get('variableName')
.
Express variable | Description |
---|
express | The Express module. |
viewEngine e.g. teddy by default | Any view engine(s) you define will be exposed as an Express variable. For instance, the default view engine is teddy. So by default app.get('teddy') will return the teddy module. |
formidable | The formidable module. Used for handling multipart forms. |
morgan | The morgan module. HTTP request logger middleware. |
winston | The winston logger module for custom logging. |
appName | The name of your app derived from package.json . Uses "Roosevelt Express" if no name is supplied. |
appVersion | The version number of your app derived from package.json . |
appDir | The directory the main module is in. |
package | The contents of package.json . |
staticsRoot | Full path on the file system to where your app's statics folder is located. |
publicFolder | Full path on the file system to where your app's public folder is located. |
cssPath | Full path on the file system to where your app's CSS source files are located. |
jsPath | Full path on the file system to where your app's JS source files are located. |
cssCompiledOutput | Full path on the file system to where your app's minified CSS files are located. |
jsCompiledOutput | Full path on the file system to where your app's minified JS files are located. |
jsBundledOutput | Full path on the file system to where your app's bundled JS files are located. |
modelsPath | Full path on the file system to where your app's models folder is located. |
viewsPath | Full path on the file system to where your app's views folder is located. |
controllersPath | Full path on the file system to where your app's controllers folder is located. |
params | The params you sent to Roosevelt. |
flags | Command line flags sent to Roosevelt. |
logger | The logging module used for simple parameterized logging. |
Additionally the Roosevelt constructor returns the following object:
Roosevelt object members | Description |
---|
expressApp | [Object] The Express app created by Roosevelt. |
httpServer | [Object] The http server created by Roosevelt. httpServer is also available as a direct child of app , e.g. app.httpServer . |
httpsServer | [Object] The https server created by Roosevelt. httpsServer is also available as a direct child of app , e.g. app.httpsServer . |
initServer | [Method] Starts the HTML validator, sets up some middleware, runs the CSS and JS preprocessors, and maps routes, but does not start the HTTP server. Call this method manually first instead of startServer if you need to setup the Express app, but still need to do additional setup before the HTTP server is started. This method is automatically called by startServer once per instance if it has not yet already been called. |
startServer | [Method] Calls the listen method of http , https , or both (depending on your configuration) to start the web server with Roosevelt's config. |
stopServer | [Method] Stops the server and takes an optional argument stopServer('close') which stops the server from accepting new connections before exiting. |
Express middleware and other configurations automatically loaded by Roosevelt
In addition to exposing a number of variables to Express and providing the MVC interface outlined above, Roosevelt also:
- Includes the compression middleware.
- Includes the cookie-parser middleware.
- Disables
x-powered-by
and etag
. - Logs HTTP requests to the console using morgan, specifically
morgan('combined')
. - Includes the method-override middleware.
Documentation for previous versions of Roosevelt