Express Starter Kit README

Introduction

This README provides a comprehensive guide to the Express Starter Kit, designed to jumpstart development with Express.js. It leverages cutting-edge tools and practices to deliver a robust foundation for building web applications.

Features

• Express.js Backend: Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js.
• Handlebars Templating: Minimalistic templating engine, making it easy to create semantic templates.
• TypeORM Integration: Adds support for data manipulation using Object-Relational Mapping.
• Awilix Dependency Injection: Simplifies the management of dependencies for inversion of control.
• Modern Tooling Setup: Includes configurations for Babel (for using ES6+ syntax), ESLint (for code quality), Prettier (for formatting), and Webpack (for bundling).

Prerequisites

Before installing, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (latest version recommended)
• npm (comes with Node.js)

Installation

To set up the project locally, follow these steps:

1. Clone the Repository

   git clone https://github.com/Nam077/express-starter.git
   

2. Navigate to Project Directory

   cd express-starter
   

3. Install Dependencies

   npm install
   

4. Run the Application

   npm start
   

Structure Overview

• /src: The heart of the application, containing all server-side logic, organized into various folders for better maintainability.
  • /controllers: Responsible for handling incoming requests and returning responses to the client.
  • /services: Contains business logic, service layers interact directly with models to perform data operations.
  • /models: Represents data models, typically corresponding to database tables in ORM.
  • /routes: Defines server routes, associating them with controller functions.
  • /views: Holds Handlebars template files, which are rendered and sent by controllers.
  • /config: Configuration files and environment variables for different aspects of the application, such as database connections.
  • /public: Static files accessible to the public, such as images, CSS files, and client-side JavaScript.
  • /validation: Defines validation rules for incoming requests.
  • /utils: Utility functions used throughout the application.
• /tests: Tests for the application, including unit and integration tests to ensure code quality and functionality.
• .env: A file for environment variables (not tracked in Git for security reasons) used to store sensitive information like database passwords.
• package.json: Defines npm dependencies along with project or package information.

Development

• Running in Development Mode: Use npm run dev to start the application with nodemon, allowing for hot reloading.
• Environment Configuration: Store sensitive information and configuration in .env files (not included in the repository for security reasons).

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have suggestions or want to contribute code, please:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your features or fixes.
3. Submit a pull request with a comprehensive description of changes.

License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.

For more detailed information, refer to the official repository.