What's the best way to organize a node project

Question

I am working on a pretty big node project and I am wondering if my current method of requiring files then setting global variables within them (to be accessed everywhere) is a good idea or is it unsafe. I'm wondering if you guys can give me some times.

Server.Coffee

#require and define all dependencies
require 'coffee-script'
GLOBAL.fs = require 'fs'
GLOBAL.crypto = require 'crypto'
GLOBAL.hound = require 'hound'
GLOBAL.async = require 'async'

require './config'
require './functions'

#define route
require './routes/index'
require './routes/login'
require './routes/editor'

#sockets
require './sockets/chat'

console.log "Listening"

config.coffee

GLOBAL.express = require 'express'
GLOBAL.http = require 'http'
GLOBAL.ect = require 'ect'
GLOBAL.mysql = require 'mysql'
GLOBAL.sass = require 'connect-sass'
GLOBAL.coffeescript = require 'connect-coffee-script'
GLOBAL.SchemaObject = require 'node-schema-object'

GLOBAL.User = new SchemaObject
  id: Number,
  fullname: String,
  secret: String,
  email: String,
  lastOpened: Number

GLOBAL.ectRenderer = ect
  watch: true, 
  root: "#{__dirname}/views"

MemoryStore = express.session.MemoryStore
sessionStore = new MemoryStore()  
GLOBAL.app = express()
app.configure ->
  app.use(require('prerender-node'))
  app.use(coffeescript(src: "#{__dirname}/public"))
  app.use '/css/main.css', sass.serve("#{__dirname}/sass/main.scss")
  app.use(express.favicon());
  app.use(express.logger('dev'));
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(express.methodOverride());
  app.use(express.cookieParser());
  app.use(express.session({secret: 'LOLLYU83rhf99fefru9d', store: sessionStore}));
  app.use express.static("#{__dirname}/public")

GLOBAL.server = http.createServer(app).listen(8080)
GLOBAL.io = require('socket.io').listen(server)

GLOBAL.connection = mysql.createConnection
  host: '.....',
  user: '.....',
  password: '.....',
  database: '.....'

connection.connect()

is there a better way to do this. I feel like I have just guessed and made this up. I want everything to be super neat. and fast.

Answer 1

Ditch all that GLOBAL stuff. If you need app to be available in an inner closure (like configure) just use it there, it will be available.

Make sure you have a good grasp of closures before continuing, this SO post will help: How do JavaScript closures work?.

If you want to know how to layout an Express app (as in where do the files go), take a look at this SO post: express.js sample apps.

Answer 2

This example helped me a lot to organize my code. node-express-mongoose-demo

I don't see using global variables helping you, it seems better to just require your modules where needed.

Having global variables can make things more difficult to maintain, even more so if some one else has to maintain your code. Having global variables makes it hard to know what the variable is and where it was initialized(or when). Its hard to know what parts of your code is reliant on said variable as your app grows, making it hard to replace also.

Rule of thumb, global's should be avoided unless completely necessary.