In Node.js, how do I “include” functions from my o

Question

Let's say I have a file called app.js. Pretty simple:

var express = require('express');
var app = express.createServer();
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.get('/', function(req, res){
  res.render('index', {locals: {
    title: 'NowJS + Express Example'
  }});
});

app.listen(8080);

What if I have a functions inside "tools.js". How would I import them to use in apps.js?

Or...am I supposed to turn "tools" into a module, and then require it? << seems hard, I rather do the basic import of the tools.js file.

Answer 1

This is the best way i have created so far.

var fs = require('fs'),
    includedFiles_ = {};

global.include = function (fileName) {
  var sys = require('sys');
  sys.puts('Loading file: ' + fileName);
  var ev = require(fileName);
  for (var prop in ev) {
    global[prop] = ev[prop];
  }
  includedFiles_[fileName] = true;
};

global.includeOnce = function (fileName) {
  if (!includedFiles_[fileName]) {
    include(fileName);
  }
};

global.includeFolderOnce = function (folder) {
  var file, fileName,
      sys = require('sys'),
      files = fs.readdirSync(folder);

  var getFileName = function(str) {
        var splited = str.split('.');
        splited.pop();
        return splited.join('.');
      },
      getExtension = function(str) {
        var splited = str.split('.');
        return splited[splited.length - 1];
      };

  for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
    file = files[i];
    if (getExtension(file) === 'js') {
      fileName = getFileName(file);
      try {
        includeOnce(folder + '/' + file);
      } catch (err) {
        // if (ext.vars) {
        //   console.log(ext.vars.dump(err));
        // } else {
        sys.puts(err);
        // }
      }
    }
  }
};

includeFolderOnce('./extensions');
includeOnce('./bin/Lara.js');

var lara = new Lara();

You still need to inform what you want to export

includeOnce('./bin/WebServer.js');

function Lara() {
  this.webServer = new WebServer();
  this.webServer.start();
}

Lara.prototype.webServer = null;

module.exports.Lara = Lara;

Answer 2

app.js

let { func_name } = require('path_to_tools.js');
func_name();    //function calling

tools.js

let func_name = function() {
    ...
    //function body
    ...
};

module.exports = { func_name };

Answer 3

If you'd like to take advantage of multiple CPUs & Microservice architecture, to speed things up...Use RPCs over forked processes.

Sounds complex, but it's simple if you use octopus.

Here's an example:

on tools.js add :

const octopus = require('octopus');
var rpc = new octopus('tools:tool1');

rpc.over(process, 'processRemote');

var sum = rpc.command('sum'); // This is the example tool.js function to make available in app.js

sum.provide(function (data) { // This is the function body
    return data.a + data.b;
});

on app.js, add :

const { fork } = require('child_process');
const octopus = require('octopus');
const toolprocess = fork('tools.js');

var rpc = new octopus('parent:parent1');
rpc.over(toolprocess, 'processRemote');

var sum = rpc.command('sum');

// Calling the tool.js sum function from app.js
sum.call('tools:*', {
    a:2, 
    b:3
})
.then((res)=>console.log('response : ',rpc.parseResponses(res)[0].response));

disclosure - I am the author of octopus, and built if for a similar usecase of mine, since i couldn't find any lightweight libraries.

Answer 4

You can simple just require('./filename').

Eg.

// file: index.js
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var child = require('./child');
app.use('/child', child);
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('parent');
});
app.listen(process.env.PORT, function () {
  console.log('Example app listening on port '+process.env.PORT+'!');
});

// file: child.js
var express = require('express'),
child = express.Router();
console.log('child');
child.get('/child', function(req, res){
  res.send('Child2');
});
child.get('/', function(req, res){
  res.send('Child');
});

module.exports = child;

Please note that:

1. you can't listen PORT on the child file, only parent express module has PORT listener
2. Child is using 'Router', not parent Express moudle.

Answer 5

I just want to add, in case you need just certain functions imported from your tools.js, then you can use a destructuring assignment which is supported in node.js since version 6.4 - see node.green.

---

Example: (both files are in the same folder)

tools.js

module.exports = {
    sum: function(a,b) {
        return a + b;
    },
    isEven: function(a) {
        return a % 2 == 0;
    }
};

main.js

const { isEven } = require('./tools.js');

console.log(isEven(10));

output: true

---

This also avoids that you assign those functions as properties of another object as its the case in the following (common) assignment:

const tools = require('./tools.js');

where you need to call tools.isEven(10).

---

NOTE:

Don't forget to prefix your file name with the correct path - even if both files are in the same folder, you need to prefix with ./

From Node.js docs:

Without a leading '/', './', or '../' to indicate a file, the module must either be a core module or is loaded from a node_modules folder.