NEF Node-Express-Firebase REST APIs implementation made easy

This is a simple boilerplate implementation of making REST APIs in Node.js using ES6 (ECMA Script 2015) and Express with implementation of Firebase Admin for Authentication implemented with JWT (JSON Web Token) for more fast and secure communication. Using Airbnb's Javascript style guide.

Using modified base from Kunalkapadia that Heavily inspired from Egghead.io - How to Write an Open Source JavaScript Library.

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Features

Feature	Summary
Firebase Admin Authetification	Firebase Auth for making client simply using Google Firebase for creating and updating account, reduce your development time for making Auth System
Uses yarn over npm	Yarn caches every package it downloads so it never needs to download it again. It also parallelizes operations to maximize resource utilization so install times are faster than ever, check from official website here
ES6 syntax transform using Babel	Babel has support for the latest version of JavaScript through syntax transformers. These plugins allow you to use new syntax, right now without waiting for browser.
JWT Authentication	JSON Web Token (JWT) is an open standard (RFC 7519) that defines a compact and self-contained way for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object. Node.js using library from jsonwebtoken.
Code Linting	JavaScript code linting is done using ESLint - a pluggable linter tool for identifying and reporting on patterns in JavaScript. Uses ESLint with eslint-config-airbnb, which tries to follow the Airbnb JavaScript style guide.
Auto server restart	Restart the server using nodemon in real-time anytime an edit is made, with babel compilation and eslint.
ES6 Code Coverage via istanbul	Supports code coverage of ES6 code using istanbul and mocha. Code coverage reports are saved in coverage/ directory post yarn test execution. Open coverage/lcov-report/index.html to view coverage report. yarn test also displays code coverage summary on console. Code coverage can also be enforced overall and per file as well, configured via .istanbul.yml
Debugging via debug	Instead of inserting and deleting console.log you can replace it with the debug function and just leave it there. You can then selectively debug portions of your code by setting DEBUG env variable. If DEBUG env variable is not set, nothing is displayed to the console.
Promisified Code via bluebird	We love promise, don't we ? All our code is promisified and even so our tests via supertest-as-promised.
API parameter validation via express-validation	Validate body, params, query, headers and cookies of a request (via middleware) and return a response with errors; if any of the configured validation rules fail. You won't anymore need to make your route handler dirty with such validations.
Pre-commit hooks	Runs lint and tests before any commit is made locally, making sure that only tested and quality code is committed
Secure app via helmet	Helmet helps secure Express apps by setting various HTTP headers.

• CORS support via cors
• Uses http-status to set http status code. It is recommended to use httpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR instead of directly using 500 when setting status code.
• Has .editorconfig which helps developers define and maintain consistent coding styles between different editors and IDEs.

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Installation

Creating Firebase Account

After you clone or fork this, you must create Firebase account here then create new project firebase docs and generate Firebase Admin Secret Key and download or save your on project folder.

NOTE: Paste and rename your .json file for firstime use to firebaseServiceAccount.json

Create MongoDB Database

There is plenty of ways for creating mongodb database, but for development purpose i recomend using FREE databases from mLab.com. After you sign-up and create new databases watch for your database url, port and name. You will get database url prettymuch like this: You can insert in your .env folder

DATABASE URL: mongodb://USERNAME:PASSWORD@somelink.mlab.com:PORT/DATABASE_NAME

Setting Up Environtment

Clone the repo:

git clone git@github.com/asyrafduyshart/node-express-firebase.git
cd node-express-firebase

Install yarn: This will install yarn package globally in your computer

npm install -g yarn

Install dependencies: Make sure you open your terminal where packege.json is, it basically replace npm install

yarn

Set environment (vars): This will become your environtment file, watch for your DATABASE connect url here

cp .env.example .env

Start server:

# Start server
yarn start

# Selectively set DEBUG env var to get logs
DEBUG=node-express-firebase:* yarn start

Refer debug to know how to selectively turn on logs.

Tests:

# Run tests written in ES6 
yarn test

# Run test along with code coverage
yarn test:coverage

# Run tests on file change
yarn test:watch

# Run tests enforcing code coverage (configured via .istanbul.yml)
yarn test:check-coverage

Lint:

# Lint code with ESLint
yarn lint

# Run lint on any file change
yarn lint:watch

Other gulp tasks:

# Wipe out dist and coverage directory
gulp clean

# Default task: Wipes out dist and coverage directory. Compiles using babel.
gulp

Conceptual Aside

What is Firebase?

Firebase is a technology that permits you to make web applications with no server-side programming so that development turns out to be quicker and easier. With Firebase, we don't have to stress over-provisioning servers or building REST APIs with just a little bit of configuration; we can give Firebase a chance to take every necessary step: storing data, verifying users, and implementing access rules.

It supports the web, iOS, OS X, and Android clients. Applications using Firebase can just use and control data, without having to think about how data would be stored, and synchronized across various examples of the application in real time. There is no need to write server side code, or to deploy a complex server framework to get an app started with Firebase.

What is Express?

Express.js, or simply Express, is a web application framework for Node.js, released as free and open-source software under the MIT License. It is designed for building web applications and APIs. It is the de facto standard server framework for Node.js.

What is ECMAScript 6?

ECMAScript 6, also known as ECMAScript 2015, is the latest version of the ECMAScript standard. ES6 is a significant update to the language, and the first update to the language since ES5 was standardized in 2009. Implementation of these features in major JavaScript engines is underway now.

What is Yarn?

Yarn is a new package manager that replaces the existing workflow for the npm client or other package managers while remaining compatible with the npm registry. It has the same feature set as existing workflows while operating faster, more securely, and more reliably.

What is gulp?

Gulp is a toolkit for automating painful or time-consuming tasks in your development workflow, so you can stop messing around and build something.

• Automation - gulp is a toolkit that helps you automate painful or time-consuming tasks in your development workflow.
• Platform-agnostic - Integrations are built into all major IDEs and people are using gulp with PHP, .NET, Node.js, Java, and other platforms.
• Strong Ecosystem - Use npm modules to do anything you want + over 2000 curated plugins for streaming file transformations
• Simple - By providing only a minimal API surface, gulp is easy to learn and simple to use

What is ESLint?

ESLint is an open source JavaScript linting utility originally created by Nicholas C. Zakas in June 2013. Code linting is a type of static analysis that is frequently used to find problematic patterns or code that doesn’t adhere to certain style guidelines. There are code linters for most programming languages, and compilers sometimes incorporate linting into the compilation process.

Debugging

TODO

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2016-2017 Asyraf Duyshart

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.