to generate a barebones nodejs app named tupla-gen powered by pug and sass, and create a remote copy of the app’s code on GitHub
check version of node, npm and express
node --version
npm --version
express --version
update all npm packages
npm update -g
then install (or update) express app generator
npm install -g express-generator
navigate to the parent folder in which you want your newly generated app to reside
generate a barebones express app with:
express tulpa-gen --view=pug --css=sass
this creates a folder dedicated to the app, all of the next steps happen inside this, navigate into it
cd tulpa-gen
open the package.json file (in vs-code) and review the dependencies (i.e. node packages needed to run the newly created app)
check for the latest dependency package versions on npm package website or install a dedicated package
npm install -g npm-check-updates
then check for available updates in the CLI using
ncu
update the version numbers in package.json manually OR use
ncu -u
be cautious with upgrading the package.json file dependency versions while dealing with mature code as changing package versions might inadvertently break a fully functional app
make other changes to package.json at this point as desired - i.e.
"version": "0.0.1",
"description": "express app to demo generation of tulpas",
"engines": {
"node": "10.x"
},
all the dependencies listed in package.json are installed to the app’s root by
npm install
when this step is successfully completed, a package-lock.json file is created, and CLI will state that this needs to be committed
so initialize a git repository in the app root by
git init
this initializes a repository with a default master branch in the app’s root folder
then create a .gitignore file (if you’ve been using vs-code, file > new file and name file .gitignore)
open this file and add relevant folders to ignore i.e. paste into .gitignore
# Dependency directories
node_modules/
# Optional npm cache directory
.npm
here is an extensive list of nodejs gitignores
new dependencies
install new dependencies using
npm install dotenv --save
npm install mongodb --save
dotenv is for enabling the use of a .env file in the app root folder, mongodb is a database driver package for nodejs
the --save option automatically adds the dependency in the package.json file in addition to installing the package files into node_modules folder
remember to require the installed dependencies as per the package’s documentation on the npm website - i.e.
require('custom-env').env()
const MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient
delete dependencies
uninstall unnecessary existing dependencies using
npm uninstall cookie-parser --save
npm uninstall debug --save
including --save removes entry in the package.json file in addition to uninstalling. remember to remove the require statements from app.js
development-only dependencies
to install dev only dependencies, use the option --save-dev
npm install nodemon --save-dev
nodemon is for auto sever refresh when new file saves are detected - useful for development, but negatively affects performance, so exclusively a development dependency
then add "devstart": "nodemon ./bin/www" to the scripts object in package.json
begin serving the app by
npm run devstart
watch the CLI for errors; (morgan package with dev level logging is enabled by default in the auto-generated app.js file)
if no errors are thrown, the served app can be locally accessed with a browser @ localhost:3000
to end the app server, hit Ctrl + C in the CLI
to run app without nodemon, use
npm start
make sure app serves the default index.pug content @ localhost:3000 without errors in the CLI
stage and commit the git repository
git add .
git commit -m "Zeroth Commit"
the package-lock.json file has been committed. tupla-gen can be a starting point for developing complex apps
this app can be pushed to a remote repository on hosting services like Github, Gitlab, or Bitbucket
for this tulpa-gen example, first a remote called origin is set
for this, create a blank GitHub repository (needs an active GitHub account) and copy it’s url - lets call that remote-url-slug
then, add a remote for this url (to the git config file of the local repository) by
git remote add origin _remote-url-slug_
by convention, the name origin is intended to be the first remote (or the direct) clone of the local repository
verify that origin url has been set correctly
git remote --verbose
origin must be listed twice in the output for this command with the specified remote_url, one for push and another for fetch
having set origin successfully, push the local code repository to the remote repository using
git push -u origin master
here master is the default branch, which is pushed to the remote repository named as origin
if you encounter errors in this step, it’s very likely your remote repository is not totally empty and was initialized with a file
here is my tulpa-gen remote