MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, and Node.JS

320 Pages·2015·4.88 MB·English

by  Adam Bretz

Summary of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Node.js Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Modules and npm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4. Node’s Programming Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5. Core Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6. Building the Node Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7. MongoDB Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
8. Interacting with MongoDB Using Mongoose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9. Using MongoDB and Mongoose in Our Sample App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
10. Alternatives to Mongo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
11. Introduction to Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
12. Architecture of an Express Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
13. Using Express in Our App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
14. Alternative Server Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15. AngularJS Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
16. Data Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
17. Angular Directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
18. Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
19. Client-side Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
20. Angular in Our App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
21. Task Runners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
22. Debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
23. Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

FULL STACK
JAVASCRIPT
DEVELOPMENT
WITH MEAN
BY ADAM BRETZ
& COLIN J. IHRIG
iv
Full Stack JavaScript Development with MEAN
byAdamBretzandColinJ.Ihrig
Copyright©2014SitePointPty.Ltd.
Product Manager:SimonMackie English Editor:KellySteele
Technical Editor:DonNguyen Cover Designer:AlexWalker
Notice of Rights
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystemortransmitted
inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher,exceptinthecase
ofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalarticlesorreviews.
Notice of Liability
Theauthorandpublisherhavemadeeveryefforttoensuretheaccuracyoftheinformationherein.
However,theinformationcontainedinthisbookissoldwithoutwarranty,eitherexpressorimplied.
NeithertheauthorsandSitePointPty.Ltd.,noritsdealersordistributorswillbeheldliableforany
damagestobecausedeitherdirectlyorindirectlybytheinstructionscontainedinthisbook,orbythe
softwareorhardwareproductsdescribedherein.
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Ratherthanindicatingeveryoccurrenceofatrademarkednameassuch,thisbookusesthenamesonly
inaneditorialfashionandtothebenefitofthetrademarkownerwithnointentionofinfringementof
thetrademark.
PublishedbySitePointPty.Ltd.
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Email:[email protected]
ISBN978-0-9924612-5-6(print)
ISBN978-0-9924612-4-9(ebook)
PrintedandboundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
v
About Adam Bretz
AdamBretzisasoftwareengineerfocusingonclientandserversideJavaScript.Adamearned
hisBachelorofScienceinComputerSciencein2007fromMillersvilleUniversityof
Pennsylvania.Atapreviousjob,Adamwaspartoftheteamofengineersthathelpedmigrate
thecompanyfromPHPtoapureJavaScriptsolution.AdamcurrentlyresidesinthePittsburgh
areawithhiswife,Jenna.
About Colin J. Ihrig
ColinJ.Ihrigisasoftwareengineer,workingprimarilywithNode.js.Colinistheauthorof
ProNode.jsforDevelopers,andiscurrentlythemanagingeditorofSitePoint'sJavaScript
channel.ColinreceivedhisBachelorofScienceinEngineering,andMasterofSciencein
ComputerEngineeringfromtheUniversityofPittsburghin2005and2008,respectively.
About SitePoint
SitePointspecializesinpublishingfun,practical,andeasy-to-understandcontentforweb
professionals.Visithttp://www.sitepoint.com/toaccessourblogs,books,newsletters,articles,
andcommunityforums.You’llfindastackofinformationonJavaScript,PHP,Ruby,mobile
development,design,andmore.

To Mom and Dad ― thanks for
getting me a Nintendo when I was
seven and a computer when I was
ten. ― Adam
This book is dedicated to my wife,
Alaina, my sons, CJ and Carter,
and my mom. I love you all so
much! ― Colin

Table of Contents
Preface
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Who Should Read This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Conventions Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Code Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Tips, Notes, and Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Supplementary Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Want to Take Your Learning Further? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Rise of Full-stack JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Node.js . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Node.js Ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
MongoDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
AngularJS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 2 Node.js Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Familiarity with JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Problem with I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
An Example Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Stepping Around the I/O Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Real World Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Your First Node.js Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Installing Node.js . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
REPL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Writing the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20