User:Roger Pearse/JavaScript Basics

Installing stuff with NPM

Starting a new node project

Start any node.js project by:

mkdir MyProject
cd MyProject
echo {} >> package.json

Install tools into the project using:

npm install karma --save-dev

Rather than globally with

npm install karma -g 

because then you aren’t dependent on local configuration.

What’s –save-dev? That’s an option that updates the installed packages in the ‘devDependencies’ section of the package.json file. It signifies that a developer will need this package to work with the application, but it’s not required to run the applicaiton i.e. in production.

http://www.bradoncode.com/blog/2015/05/19/karma-angularjs-testing/

Starting the project 2

Npm's init command line option will launch a wizard, which creates a package.json for our project.

npm init

Do this after creating the directory.

Path problem in Windows

If you find that stuff installed with npm is not in the path in git bash, this means that when node was installed, the idiot didn't install as administrator, and the path stuff ended up in his local environment variables, rather than in the system environment variables. Might be able to fix via Windows | env, manually. Otherwise deinstall node from Control Panel, and reinstall.

Editor

Getting started with VS Code

• Great little tutorial! – add to basics - VS Code is the editor to use.

Node.js

• W3 Schools tutorial

• Why use Node.js – to replace php and postgres, use node.js and mongo. More scalable.

My first js (in myfirst.js):

'use strict'

// Based on:
//   https://www.w3schools.com/nodejs/nodejs_get_started.asp
// Revised against:
//   https://nodejs.org/api/synopsis.html

// Get a handle on the http interfaces in node.js
// originally had "var" - use const (for immutable) or let (for assignable)
const http = require('http');

const hostname = '127.0.0.1';
const port = 8080;

// Create a server and pass a function in to listen to the request.
// The function passed in is a "request listener" which is automatically added to the "request" event
// The createServer() returns a new instance of http.Server
// In the horrible condensed way of js, the server is activated at the same time by .listen() on the end,
// in the original example.  But split out in the node.js docs, so have done the same
const myServer = http.createServer(function (request, response) {
     response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
     response.end('Hello World!');
});

myServer.listen(port, hostname); 

console.log("Not blocked by the listen");

Express

MVC framework built on Node. Has an express generator that will build the project dirs. From here:

Install the Express Generator by running the following from a terminal:

npm install -g express-generator

The -g switch installs the Express Generator globally on your machine so you can run it from anywhere. You won't want it as part of your project anyway.

We can now scaffold a new Express application called myExpressApp by running:

express myExpressApp

This creates a new folder called myExpressApp with the contents of your application. To install all of the application's dependencies (again shipped as NPM modules), go to the new folder and execute npm install:

cd myExpressApp
npm install

At this point, we should test that our application runs. The generated Express application has a package.json file which includes a start script to run node ./bin/www. This will start the Node.js application running.

From a terminal in the Express application folder, run:

npm start

The Node.js web server will start and you can browse to http://localhost:3000 to see the running application.

Unit Testing

Mocha seems to have the lead...

Jasmine = BDD

• Jasmine quick start – excellent - http://www.bradoncode.com/blog/2015/05/12/angularjs-testing-getting-started/

Mocking

Use Sinon instead of Mockito. There’s a before() and after() function. Stub the xhtmlrequest calls.