NodeJS from scratch

Building a NodeJS web application from scratch.

Install NodeJS and NPM on Windows/MacOS

Download LTS installer from: https://nodejs.org/en/download/

Install NodeJS and NPM on Linux

sudo apt install build-essential checkinstall libssl-dev
sudo apt install nodejs npm

Update NodeJS and NPM on Linux

sudo npm install -g npm   // Update NPM
sudo npm install -g n     // Install Node.js version management
sudo n stable|latest      // Update NodeJS with stable or latest version

Create initial project with default values

npm init -y

Install necessary packages

npm install --save-dev nodemon  // Helps develop applications by automatically restarting when files changes
npm install --save express express-session express-flash passport passport-local cors ejs mongoose

Adjust package.json configuration file

Do some (optional) changes inside your package.json file. I recommend to rename the main script file into server.js to make clear, that this is your server application script.

{
    "name": "NodeJS-from-Scratch",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "Building a NodeJS web application from scratch.",
    "main": "server.js",
    "scripts": {
        "start": "node server.js",
        "startDev": "nodemon server.js"
    },
    "keywords": [],
    "author": "",
    "license": "MIT",
    "devDependencies": {
        "nodemon": "^2.0.3"
    },
    "dependencies": {
        "cors": "^2.8.5",
        "ejs": "^3.1.2",
        "express": "^4.17.1",
        "express-session": "^1.17.1",
        "mongoose": "^5.9.10",
        "passport": "^0.4.1",
        "passport-local": "^1.0.0"
    }
}

Create a plain JavaScript server.js script

See well documented server.js file inside /examples directory of this repository.

Run your NodeJS server for the first time

npm run start       // Executes 'node server.js'
npm run startDev    // Executes 'nodemon server.js', recommend while developing

You should see 'Server is up and listening on port 3000' in your console log. Browse to http://localhost:3000/ (or whatever your FQDN is) to check, if your server is responding. You'll see a Cannot GET / error message, because we didn't set any routes yet. Alternatively, you may also execute 'node server.js' / 'nodemon server.js' without running the defined scripts inside package.json directly in console.

Add routes

See well documented routes.js file inside /examples directory of this repository.

Add templates

See files inside /public/views directory. For this example, the Bootstrap starter template was used.

Add database support with Mongoose

Open a new Mongoose connection is very easy (see server.js for documentation).

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/nodefromscratch', { useNewUrlParser: true, useUnifiedTopology: true, useCreateIndex: true })
mongoose.connection.on('error', () => console.log('Connection to database failed'))
mongoose.connection.once('open', () => console.log('Database successfully connected'))

Mongoose uses so called schemes to create a collection (better known as a table in relational databases). See user-schema.js file inside /models directory for a detailed documentation

const userSchema = new Schema({
    email: { type: String, required: true, unique: true },
    password: { type: String, required: true },
}, { timestamps: true })

Read more about collections and documents here: Introduction to Mongoose for MongoDB

Add user authentication

See well documented passport-config.js file.