Express-Handlebars Boilerplate

This boilerplate may be used as a starting point for building a full-stack app with Handlebars, Express, and Sequelize/MySQL. This boilerplate if configured for easy deployment on Heroku with JawsDB MySQL add-on.

• Setup
• Development
• Sessions
• Authentication
• Templates
• Code Style
• Deploy to Heroku

Setup

1. Run npm i.
2. You will need an existing MySQL database.
3. Create .env file with MySQL credentials for local development and a SECRET. Refer to .env.EXAMPLE
4. Run npm start to start the app.

Development

This boilerplate includes nodemon. Run npm run watch to start the server in watch mode during development.

Sessions

express-session and connect-session-sequelize are used for session management. Configure cookies and sessions in config/session.js

Authentication

Passwords are hashed using bcrypt. Middleware for protected routes redirects to /login. This can be modified by updating util/withAuth.js.

Templates

Handlebars.js and express-handlebars are used for rendering templates.

You can add your own custom helper functions by exporting them from util/helpers.js.

Code Style

ESLint and Prettier are included for enforcing consistent code quality and format. The default configuration includes the ESLint recommended plugin, the Prettier plugin, plus a couple of additional rules. Modify .eslintrc.js to customize the rules.

Deploy to Heroku

Prerequisites

Sign up for an Heroku account and install the Heroku CLI.

The app must be setup using Git for version control in order to deploy on Heroku following this guide. Be sure to initialize Git before proceeding if you did not initially create this project by using the template repo.

Create and Configure a Heroku App

The code for this boilerplate is pre-configured to deploy to Heroku and connect to the JAWS DB add-on for MySQL. In order to deploy, you must provision the JAWS DB add-on.

IMPORTANT: Payment info. must be provided in order to use the JawsDB MySQL add-on. The service is currently free with limitations. (as of 11/2/2021) However, you must provide a credit card to use the service.

1. Create a Heroku app in the command line. heroku create <optionally-provide an app name>

2. Provision the JawsDB MySQL add-on with the free pricing plan. heroku addons:create jawsdb:kitefin

3. Add environmental variables to the heroku config. The boilerplate uses SECRET to sign the session id cookie. Use a tool to generate a long randomized string for this value. (e.g. hsKVlvYcC5b#Fw1FS*qz) Add SECRET to config by running heroku config:set SECRET=<your long random secret>.

4. Use the same command to add any other environmental variables required for your app to function. (heroku config:set <name>=<value>)

5. Deploy the app by running git push heroku main. (Use the command again to deploy updates.)

6. Open your app in the browser with heroku open.

Seed JawsDB

Running heroku run npm run seed will run the seed script in Heroku if your seeds are required for production.