Ultimate Express & Mongo Reference

March 18, 2021

This is not a guide on how to use express and mongo, but a useful reference especially for those starting to learn these technologies. This guide will serve as documentation of the basics of all the main functions and patterns in these libraries.

Express

Installation Command: npm install express
Importing: const express = require("express")

express()

The express function returns a new application object. The application object has several different functions.

can register middleware and routes
can initiate the http listener on a particular port

Typical use

// import express
const express = require("express")

// create an application object
const app = express()

// create new router
const router = express.Router()

// register middleware with the application, (each request will run through each of these one by one)
app.set("view engine", "ejs") // specify the view engine for view rendering
app.use(express.static("public")) // serve a folder called "public" as static
app.use(express.json()) // parse json bodies based on Content-Type header
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false })) // parse urlencoded form data
app.use("/", router) // register the router with the application

// register routes with the router
router.get("/path", getHandlerFunction) // invokes function for matching get request
router.post("/path", postHandlerFunction) // invokes function for matching post request
router.put("/path", putHandlerFunction) // invokes function for matching put request
router.delete("/path", deleteHandlerFunction) // invokes function for matching delete request

// Initiate the server listening on a port with a function that runs when server starts listening
app.listen(3000, () => console.log("Listening on Port 3000"))

The Request and Response Objects

When the listener receives a request two objects are generated, Request and Response (req, res) which is passed to each middleware function & route one by one until a response is sent. These request and response objects have several useful properties.

REQUEST

req.params: an objects with an defined url parameters (defined in router paths using colons… "/:these/:are/:params")
req.query: an object of any url queries in the request url
req.headers: an object of all the headers in the request
req.method: a string detailing the method of the request (“get”, “post”, etc.)
req.body: object containing the data from the request, must be parsed by middleware that can parse the type of data sent. (express.json for json data, express.urlencoded for form data)

RESPONSE

res.send(“string”): function for sending a text response, will auto-send arrays and objects as json responses. Will send html strings as html responses.
res.json({data}): send a json response
res.render(“template”, {data}): tells view engine to render the specified template in the views folder with the data in the second argument. The resulting HTML file is sent as a response.
res.set(“header-name”,“header-value”): function for setting a response header
res.redirect(“/path”): redirect the browser to a different path

Popular 3rd Party Middleware

npm install cors : middleware for setting cors headers
npm install method-override: override request methods based on a url query
npm install morgan: request logging
npm install express-session: use session cookies with express
npm install connect-mongo: session cookie store using mongodb

Popular View Engines

EJS
Handlebars
Mustache
Nunjucks
Pug
Marko
Express-React-Views
Liquid

Mongoose

ODM (Object Document Mapper/Manager) for Mongo databases. Allows you to connect to mongo databases and create model objects.

npm install mongoose

Connecting to Mongo

const mongoose = require("mongoose")

// connect to the database, 1st argument the connection string, 2nd argument a configuration object
mongoose.connect(MongoURI, ConfigObject)

//set responses to database events
mongoose.connection
  .on("open", () => console.log("connected to mongo"))
  .on("close", () => console.log("connected to mongo"))
  .on("error", error => console.log(error))

Creating a Model Object

const { Schema, model } = require("mongoose")

// create schema
const ModelSchema = new Schema(
  {
    property1: String,
    property2: Number,
    property3: Boolean,
  },
  { timestamps: true }
)

// create model specifying model/collection name and schema
const Model = model("Model", ModelSchema)

3 Ways to Write Queries with your model with error handling

// Callback Syntax
Model.find({}, (error, data) => {
  if (error) {
    console.log(error)
  } else {
    console.log(data)
  }
})

// .then syntax
Model.find({})
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.log(error))

// using async/await
const queryFunction = async () => {
  try {
    const data = await Model.find({})
    console.log(data)
  } catch (error) {
    console.log(error)
  }
}

queryFunction()

Model Functions

Model.deleteMany()
Model.deleteOne()
Model.find()
Model.findById()
Model.findByIdAndDelete()
Model.findByIdAndRemove()
Model.findByIdAndUpdate()
Model.findOne()
Model.findOneAndDelete()
Model.findOneAndRemove()
Model.findOneAndReplace()
Model.findOneAndUpdate()
Model.replaceOne()
Model.updateMany()
Model.updateOne()

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