Minimizing duplicate routes index.js

Question

I am trying to build a REST API with express router, which contains of nested sub routes. I have mounted these sub routes in my index.js file.

I have defined it as follows:

// Mounted routes
app.use('/api/v1/Project', new ProjectRouter().routes);
app.use('/api/v1/Project/:projectId/Context', new ContextRouter().routes);
app.use('/api/v1/Project/:projectId/Context/:contextId/Question', new QuestionRouter().routes);
app.use('/api/v1/Project/:projectId/Context/:contextId/Question/:questionId/Answer', new AnswerRouter().routes);

I want to arrange my routes revolved around the functionality and being more complaint towards REST standards.

In the case the route prefix /api/v1/Project/ is being repeated over and over again.

Is there some best practice to minimize the redundant routes by prefixing?

Answer 1

This is where the Express Router class comes in. You could define a router for ‘api/v1/Project’, mount that router to you main app, and then add the individual routes to the router.

Answer 2

The main idea is you can define routes in each controller (no matter how). For hide the base route, you can use a base class with a method addRoute and a property baseRoute or just use a simple variable for base route.

With Ecma6 will look something like this:

in projects.controller.js

require('base.controller.js')
class ProjectsController extends BaseController {
  constructor(app){
    super(app, "/api/v1/Project");
    this.addRoute("/", "get", this.getAll);
    this.addRoute("/:id", "get", this.getOne)
  }
  getAll(){}
  getOne(){}
}
module.exports = ProjectsController;

in 'base.controller.js':

class BaseController {
  constructor(app, baseRoute){
    this.baseRoute = baseRoute;
    this.app = app
  }
  addRoute(route, method, callback){
    const url = this.baseRoute + route;
    console.log('controllerRoute', url, method);
    this.app[method](url, callback.bind(this));
 }
}
module.exports=BaseController;

and in index.js (or app/server.js), for each controller:

require("./projects.controller.")(app);

The simplest way:

let baseRoute = "/api/v1/Project";
app.use(baseRoute + "/", new ProjectRouter().routes);
app.use(baseRoute + '/:projectId/Context', new ContextRouter().routes);