eobject

eobject is a package designed to quickly and easily create a API from a JavaScript object.

Compatible with all data types valid in JavaScript objects, eobject automatically generates Express.js routes.

JSON	Web
	example.com/info - {name:"Test",version: "1.0.0"} example.com/info/name - Test example.com/info/version - 1.0.0 example.com/users - {} example.com/users/add - nothing example.com/users/add?email=[email protected] - [email protected]

Learn more about the usage of functions in eobject

Getting Started

• Install the package: npm install eobject
• Start with the setup function to provide the object: eobject.setup(*object*,*settings (optional)*);
• Use the generator function in app.use();.
  To use on the root: app.use(eobject.generator);
  To use on a directory: app.use('/*path*',eobject.generator);
• Then, it should be accessible. Ex: *object*.info.name should corespond to /info/name

See the full working example for more guidance.

Docs

eobject.setup( object , ?settings )

The setup function configures eobject with the object that it should generate routes from. It accepts a JavaScript object and a optional settings object.

Example

eobject.setup({test:"test"})

---

var object = {test: "test"}
var settings = {debug: true}
eobject.setup(object,settings)

eobject.generator( req , res , next )

Important: The generator function is a Express.js middleware function and shouldn't be used directory.
To only be used within: app.use(eobject.generator) or app.use('*PATH*',eobject.generator)

Example

app.use('/api',eobject.generator)

---

app.use(eobject.generator)

Settings Documentation

Default Settings Object

{
  debug: false,
  secureonly: false,
  rootpagedisplay: true,
  ifnotfoundsendtonext: true,
  ifemptyobjectstillsend: true,
  acceptqueryfunctionarguments: true,
  acceptbodyfunctionarguments: false,
  requestdata: false,
  responsedata: false,
  executefunctionintrycatch: true,
  functionerrormessage: (err) => {return {error:err}},
  validtypes: {
    function: true,
    object: true,
    string: true,
    number: true
  }
}

Settings Options

The following table specifies each settings option: (See above for default settings)

Name	Description
debug	Option for debug mode. It will show the process behind each and every request.
secureonly	Option for allowing secure connections only. Only HTTPS connections will be allowed and anything else will be rejected by a 403 Forbidden response.
rootpagedisplay	Option to display the root 'welcome' screen.
ifnotfoundsendtonext	Option to send any unresolved requests beyond eobject to other Express.js routes.
ifemptyobjectstillsend	Option to still send any empty objects (empty object: {}) back to the client.
acceptqueryfunctionarguments	Option to disable accepting function arguments from URL query strings.
acceptbodyfunctionarguments	Option to enable accepting function arguments from the request body. (See: "Pulling Arguments From the Query String of the Requested URL")
requestdata	Option to provide the Express.js request (req) object as the last parameter in a given function, if said last parameter is named req.
executefunctionintrycatch	Option to execute functions in a try/catch, where eobject will return a error message (which can be configured in the functionerrormessage option, see below) or not. If the function is not executed in a try/catch, if the function throws an error, the entire program will exit.
functionerrormessage	A function that configures the error message that is displayed when a function returns an error.
validtypes	Options to independently disable any specific data type from being used in eobject.

Functions

eobject has two methods of "mapping" functions into a API.

• URL Query Strings
• JSON Request Body

URL queries work without any extra configuration, but using a request body requires some extra configuration. See Pulling arguments from the request body

Pulling arguments from the query string of the requested URL

eobject by default pulls argument data from the query string of the URL that is requested via key/value combinations of the query string, parsed by the native URL constructor. You can disable pulling arguments from query strings via the acceptqueryfunctionarguments option in the settings.

The order of the query strings does not matter, but the name of the key must exactly match the name of the argument in the function, including the case.
Example:
If the argument name is firstName:
/users/[email protected] - Will Work
/users/[email protected] - Will Not Work
/users/[email protected] - Will Not Work

Thus, it is recommended that function names do be named in lower-case. In the future, function names will become case-insensitive.

Pulling arguments from the request body

eobject also has the option of pulling argument data from a JSON-formatted body of a HTTP request. This functionality must be enabled via the acceptbodyfunctionarguments option in the settings in order to be used.

Although having a body for other types of requests is theoretically valid, eobject only accepts common practice request bodies in PUT, POST and PATCH requests.

Express also requires that the body-parser package be used to parse the request body. The full working example includes a implementation of this. It requires the following lines of code be included before the app.use(express.generator(*object*)) line and after app initalization of Express:

const bodyParser = require("body-parser");
app.use(bodyParser.json())

Example

Full working example:

const eobject = require('eobject');
const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require("body-parser");
const app = express();

var object = {
  info: {
    name: "Test",
    version: '1.0.0'
  },
  users: {
    add: async function(firstName,lastName,email) {
      return {
        name: firstName + " " + lastName,
        email: email
      }
    }
  }
}

var settings = {
  "acceptbodyfunctionarguments": true,
  "secureonly": true
}

app.use(bodyParser.json())

eobject.setup(object,settings);
app.use('/',eobject.generator)

app.get('*',(req,res) => {
  res.send("test")
})

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('server started');
});