The Microposts resource

As with the Microposts resource, we’ll generate scaffold code for the Microposts resource using trainjs generate scaffold

~/toy_app $ trainjs generate scaffold Micropost content:text user_id:integer
	identical  .sequelizerc
	   create  app/controllers/microposts_controller.js
	   create  app/models/micropost.js
	identical  config/database.json
	   create  db/migrate/20151229221845_create_microposts.js
	identical  public/assets/stylesheets/form-for.css
	identical  public/assets/stylesheets/scaffolds.css
	   create  public/controllers/microposts_controller.js
	identical  public/directives/alert.js
	identical  public/helpers/alert.js
	   create  public/partials/controller_name
	   create  public/partials/microposts/form.html
	   create  public/partials/microposts/index.html
	   create  public/partials/microposts/show.html
	   create  public/services/micropost.js

To update our database with the new data model, we need to run a migration as in “The Users resource” Section

~/toy_app $ sequelize db:migrate
Loaded configuration file "config/database.json".
Using environment "development".
Using gulpfile /usr/lib/node_modules/sequelize-cli/lib/gulpfile.js
Starting 'db:migrate'...
== 20151229221845_create_microposts: migrating =======
== 20151229221845_create_microposts: migrated (0.256s)

Now we are in a position to create microposts in the same way we created users in “The Users resource” Section. As you might guess, the scaffold generator has updated the trainjs routes file with a rule for Microposts resource

module.exports = [
	{ resources: 'users' },
	{ resources: 'microposts' },
];

HTTP request	URI	Action	Purpose
GET	`/microposts`	`index`	page to list all microposts
GET	`/microposts/1`	`show`	page to show micropost with id 1
GET	`/microposts/new`	`new`	page to make a new micropost
POST	`/microposts`	`create`	create a new micropost
GET	`/microposts/1/edit`	`edit`	page to edit micropost with id 1
PUT	`/microposts/1`	`update`	update micropost with id 1
DELETE	`/microposts/1`	`destroy`	delete micropost with id 1

The Microposts controller in schematic form.

function MicropostsController() {

	this.index = function(req, res, next) {
		var microposts = ModelSync( Micropost.findAll() );
		res.end(JSON.stringify(microposts));
	};

	this.create = function(req, res, next) {
		var micropost = ModelSync( Micropost.create(req.body) );
		res.end(JSON.stringify(micropost));
	};

	this.show = function(req, res, next) {
		var micropost = ModelSync( Micropost.findById(req.params.id) );
		res.end(JSON.stringify(micropost));
	};

	this.update = function(req, res, next) {
		var micropost = ModelSync( Micropost.findById(req.params.id) );
		micropost.update(req.body).then(function(_micropost) {
			res.end(JSON.stringify(_micropost));
		})
	};

	this.destroy = function(req, res, next) {
		var micropost = ModelSync( Micropost.findById(req.params.id) );
		micropost.destroy();
		res.end();
	};

}

module.exports = MicropostsController;

The Micropost model for the demo application.

var Sequelize = require('sequelize');
var sequelize = CONFIG.database;

var Micropost = sequelize.define('micropost', {
	content: {
		type: Sequelize.TEXT,
	},
	user_id: {
		type: Sequelize.INTEGER,
	},

}, {
	freezeTableName: true // Model tableName will be the same as the model name
});

module.exports = Micropost;

You can also specify associations between the User model and the Micropost model. In the case of our User model, each user potentially has many microposts.

A user has many microposts.

var Sequelize = require('sequelize');
var sequelize = CONFIG.database;

var User = sequelize.define('user', {
	name: {
		type: Sequelize.STRING,
	},
	email: {
		type: Sequelize.STRING,
	},

}, {
	freezeTableName: true // Model tableName will be the same as the model name
});

User.associations = [
	{ hasMany: 'Micropost' }
];

module.exports = User;

A micropost belongs to a user.

var Sequelize = require('sequelize');
var sequelize = CONFIG.database;

var Micropost = sequelize.define('micropost', {
	content: {
		type: Sequelize.TEXT,
		allowNull: false,
		validate: {
			len: [1, 140]
		}
	},
	user_id: {
		type: Sequelize.INTEGER,
	},

}, {
	freezeTableName: true // Model tableName will be the same as the model name
});

Micropost.associations = [
	{ belongsTo: 'User' }
];

module.exports = Micropost;

We go to http://0.0.0.0:1337/#/microposts for listing all microposts

Conclusion

We’ve come now to the end of the high-level overview of a trainjs application. The toy app developed in this chapter has several strengths and a host of weaknesses.

Strengths

High-level overview of trainjs
Introduction to MVC
First taste of the REST architecture
Beginning data modeling
A live, database-backed web application in production

Weaknesses

No custom layout or styling
No static pages (such as “Home” or “About”)
No user passwords
No user images
No logging in
No security
No automatic user/micropost association
No notion of “following” or “followed”
No micropost feed
No meaningful tests
No real understanding

The rest of this tutorial is dedicated to building on the strengths and eliminating the weaknesses.

Click the link to see the video of this chapter

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