SimpleMVC.js

A highly opinionated MVC micro web-framework for Node.js

Examples

1. Simple Blog

   Shows the basic use of routing, views, static files, and the SimpleMVC.SMTP class.

2. Simple SaaS - Coming Soon

   Utilizes all parts of the SimpleMVC library (routing, views, json responses, static files, SMTP, and Membership)

3. Shortlinker

Quick Start

This quick start assumes atleast a base familiarity with Node.js, NPM, and how to build a website.

1. Initialize your NPM package

   npm init, and fill out the questions

2. Include simplemvc.js in your project

   1. By downloading and including simplemvc.js manually in your project.
   2. Through npm by running npm install simplemvcjs

3. Create and open app.js (needed for steps 4-6)

4. Import SimpleMVC

   const SimpleMVC = require('simplemvcjs');

   or if you downloaded the project:

   const SimpleMVC = require('/path/to/simplemvc.js');

5. Create your first SimpleMVC.Controller

   const HomeController = new SimpleMVC.Controller("/", {
       "": function() {
           return this.text("Hello, World!");
       }
   });

6. Create your SimpleMVC.App

   const app = new SimpleMVC.App();
   app.addControllers(HomeController);
   app.listen();

7. Create the .env file

   #server
   HOST=localhost
   PORT=8080
   SESSION_SECRET=
   
   #database
   MONGO_SCHEME=
   MONGO_USER=
   MONGO_PASSWORD=
   MONGO_SERVER=
   MONGO_DB=
   
   #smtp
   SMTP_USER=
   SMTP_PASS=
   SMTP_HOST=
   SMTP_PORT=
   SMTP_SECURE=

8. Run it via node ./app.js

Project Structure

While SimpleMVC is highly opinionated, we have a relatively lax project structure requirement. There is a specific structure for the core files required.

/.env       - this is the dotenv file the sets your application's global variables
/app.js     - this can be any name, but throughout documentation it will be refered to as app.js
/views/     - the root directory for your view templates
/static/    - the root directory for your static files - can be renamed with app.initStaticFiles('/path/to/static/files');

These directories would be relative to your app.js file and are required for finding specific views and static content.

Routing

Routing in SimpleMVC is defined by the combination of a base path (the first constructor parameter) and a routes dictionary (the second constructor parameter), and can then be expanded after initialization through the Controller.addRoutes() function.

const HomeController = new SimpleMVC.Controller("/", {
    "": function() {
       return this.view('index');
    }
})

Individual routes are defined as such:

HomeController.addRoutes({
   "route/path": function(req, res) {
        const model = { someProperty: "some value" };
        return this.view('viewName', model);
    }
});

In the previous example, if the controller's base path was defined as "/", the route would be /route/path and the view file would be located at ./src/views/viewName.

Views

Views are Mustache(5) templates. And when you return a view with a model from your route, the model will be accessed as {{model}} inside the Mustache templates.

All views need a .html file extension.

A Simple Example

const SimpleMVC = require('../libs/simplemvc.js');
const BlogService = require('./services/BlogService.js');

const HomeController = new SimpleMVC.Controller("/", {
    "": async function () {
        const latestPosts = await BlogService.getPostsDesc(0, 10);
        let view = {
            title: "My Website",
            posts: latestPosts,
        };
        return this.view('index', view);
    },
    "post/:id": async function (req) {
        const post = await BlogService.getPost(req.params.id);
        return this.view('single', post);
    },
    "about": function () {
        return this.view('about', { title: "About Me" });
    }
});

const app = new SimpleMVC.App();
app.initDbConnection();
app.addControllers(HomeController);
app.listen();