connect
- node server runner
connect [-H|--host ADDR] [-p|--port NUM]
[-n|--workers NUM] [-I|--include PATH]
[-E|--env ENV] [-e|--eval CODE] [-C|--chdir PATH]
[-c|--config PATH] [-P|--pidfile PATH]
[-l|--logfile PATH] [-u|--user ID|USER] [-g|--group ID|GROUP]
[-v|--verbose] [-V|--version] [-K|--no-color]
[-h|--help] [--ENV VAL]
start|stop|restart|status [PATH]
Connect is a dual purpose library, aiding in both rapid development, and deployment of node servers. Connect "middleware" can be stacked to create a robust application within minutes. The connect executable supports launching of both regular net.Server
, and connect.Server
instances.
The connect executable supplies init.d friendly start, stop, and restart commands, and accept a direct path to the module meant to be run, otherwise defaults to trying both app.js and server.js in the current working directory.
Also to check the status of a process you may use the status command, which checks if the process is running.
-H, --host ADDR Host address, defaults to INADDR_ANY
-p, --port NUM Port number, defaults to 3000
-n, --workers NUM Number of worker processes to spawn
-I, --include PATH Unshift the given path to require.paths
-E, --env ENV Set environment, defaults to "development"
-e, --eval CODE Evaluate the given string
-C, --chdir PATH Change to the given path
-c, --config PATH Load configuration module
-P, --pidfile PATH PID file, defaults to pids/connect.pid
-l, --logfile PATH Log file, defaults to logs/connect.log
-u, --user ID|USER Change user with setuid()
-g, --group ID|GROUP Change group with setgid()
-v, --verbose Display verbose output
-V, --version Output connect version
-K, --no-color Suppress colored terminal output
-h, --help Display help information
--ENV VAL Sets the given connect environment variable
Currently the following environment variables may be set
via the --ENV VAL
catchall. For example we can alter the log
format used via the command line with `connect --logFormat ":method :uri".
Boolean values may use strings such as yes, no, true, false.
--logFormat STR Custom log format
--dumpExceptions BOOL Dump exceptions to stderr
--showErrorMessage BOOL Show exception message in response (recommended for development only)
--showErrorStack BOOL Show exception stack trace (recommended for development only)
--methodOverrideKey STR Override the default method key of "_method"
--compilerSrc PATH Compiler source root directory
--compilerDest PATH Compiler destination directory
Below is an example which shows usage of the logger middleware bundled with Connect, as well as staticProvder.
var connect = require('connect');
module.exports = connect.createServer(
connect.logger(),
connect.static(__dirname + '/public)
);
As shown above the module exports a connect.Server
and does not call the listen()
method directly. This allows other modules to "mount" this app, as well as allowing the connect executable to control how the server is run.
If you prefer not to use connect, you can simply create a script executable by node, require()
the app, then invoke listen()
.
#!/usr/bin/env node
require('./app').listen();
Connect middleware is simply a function which accepts the request, response objects. Optionally the third parameter next can be used to continue down the middleware stack. For example below is a middleware layer that simply responds with "hello world".
function helloWorld(req, res) {
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
res.end('hello world');
}
connect.createServer(helloWorld).listen(3000);
Lets say we now have some middleware that will require a setup step, this can be done by returning a closure:
function respond(msg) {
msg = msg || 'hello world';
return function(req, res) {
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
res.end(msg);
}
}
connect.createServer(respond('wahoo')).listen(3000);
To pass control to the next middleware layer, we may call the next()
function with an optional instanceof Error
.
Middleware with four parameters is an error handling middleware, the err
object can then be logged, used to issue a response, ignored, etc.
function break(req, res, next) {
// Exceptions thrown will be automatically passed to next()
// however for custom exceptions / async exceptions you may pass them
next(new Error('something broke!'));
}
function errorHandler(err, req, res, next) {
res.writeHead(500, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
res.end(err.stack);
}
connect.createServer(break, errorHandler).listen(3000);
To make your middleware available to others, typically you write a module, and export the function itself:
// delay.js
module.exports = function(ms){
ms = ms || 1000;
return function(req, res, next){
setTimeout(next, ms);
}
};
// app.js // delay one second before continuing down the stack connect.createServer(require('./delay')(1000)).listen(3000);
Connect ships with several helpful middleware modules, the following are currently provided out of the box:
bodyDecoder Buffers and parses json and urlencoded request bodies (extenable)
conditionalGet Provides 304 "Not Modified" support
errorHandler Handles exceptions thrown, or passed through the stack
debug Outputs debugging console to all html responses
format Handles url path extensions or "formats"
gzip Compresses response bodies with gzip executable
lint Aids in middleware development
logger Provides common logger support, and custom log formats
methodOverride Provides faux HTTP method support by using the "_method" key by default
responseTime Responds with the X-Response-Time header in milliseconds
redirect Provides req.redirect() with "magic" urls, ex: req.redirect("back")
compiler Supports arbitrary static compilation of files, currently supports less and sass.
cacheManifest Provides cache manifest for offline apps
jsonrpc Provides JSON-RPC 2.0 support
staticProvider Serves static files
router Provides a feature rich routing API similar to Sinatra and Express
cookieDecoder Provides cookie parsing support
session Provides session support
cache Provides memory caching
pubsub Publish subscribe messaging support
jsonrpc JSON-RPC 2.0 support
format Populates req.format for urls such as "/products.json"
repl Read Evaluate Print Loop attached to "/tmp/connect.sock" for inspecting live servers
vhost Virtual host support
To view middleware specific documentation execute:
$ man connect-MIDDLEWARE
For example:
$ man connect-bodyDecoder