Node.js Development Guide

By default, Node.js is already installed on the teracy-dev VM with the following configuration:

{
  "nodejs":{
    "enabled":true,
    "version":"0.10.28",
    "checksum":"abddc6441e0f208f6ed8a045e0293f713ea7f6dfb2d6a9a2024bf8b1b4617710",
    "npm": {
      "version":"1.4.3",
      "globals": [
        {
          "name":"grunt-cli",
          "version":""
        },
        {
          "name":"gulp",
          "version":""
        },
        {
          "name":"bower",
          "version":""
        },
        {
          "name":"yo",
          "version":""
        },
        {
         "name":"phantomjs",
         "version":""
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Make sure you have the teracy-dev VM running ($ vagrant up) by following the Getting Started guide.

Verify Node.js

$ vagrant ssh and check:

  1. node

    $ node --version
v0.10.28

  2. npm

    $ npm --version
1.4.3

Hello World

We’re going to follow the example from https://nodejs.org/ to create a Hello World web server.

$ ws
$ cd personal
$ mkdir node-hello
$ cd node-hello

Let’s use vim to create a file named example.js under the node-hello directory with the following content:

var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(3000, '0.0.0.0');
console.log('Server running at http://0.0.0.0:3000/');

Run it with:

$ node example.js
Server running at http://0.0.0.0:3000/

And then open the browser at http://localhost:3000 and you should see the Hello World displayed.

We can start digging Node.js now at: https://nodejs.org/documentation/

Express Framework

We’re going to follow Getting started section from http://expressjs.com/starter/hello-world.html to create a Hello World web application.

$ ws
$ cd personal
$ mkdir myapp
$ cd myapp
$ sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/tmp/
$ npm init
$ npm install express --save

Note

sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/tmp/ is required to make sure you don’t get any permission error, something like:

npm ERR! Error: EACCES, mkdir '/home/vagrant/tmp/npm-19210-ZLDRmRUG'
npm ERR!  { [Error: EACCES, mkdir '/home/vagrant/tmp/npm-19210-ZLDRmRUG']
npm ERR!   errno: 3,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   path: '/home/vagrant/tmp/npm-19210-ZLDRmRUG',
npm ERR!   parent: 'myapp' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! System Linux 3.13.0-49-generic
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "express" "--save"
npm ERR! cwd /home/vagrant/workspace/personal/myapp
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.28
npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.9
npm ERR! path /home/vagrant/tmp/npm-19210-ZLDRmRUG
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno 3
npm ERR! stack Error: EACCES, mkdir '/home/vagrant/tmp/npm-19210-ZLDRmRUG'
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/vagrant/workspace/personal/myapp/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

Let’s use vim to create app.js file under myapp directory with the following content:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

var server = app.listen(3000, function () {

  var host = server.address().address;
  var port = server.address().port;

  console.log('Example app listening at http://%s:%s', host, port);

});

Run it with:

$ node app.js
Example app listening at http://0.0.0.0:3000

And then open the browser at http://localhost:3000 and you should see the Hello World! displayed.

We can start digging Express now at: http://expressjs.com/

MEAN Stack

We’re going to follow http://learn.mean.io/ to get started.

MEAN requires mongodb running, you need to follow MongoDB Guide.

$ ws
$ cd personal
$ sudo npm install -g mean-cli
$ sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm
$ mean init mean-app
$ cd mean-app
$ npm install
$ bower install

Note

  • sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm is required to make sure you don’t get any permission error, something like:

    There are 56 files in your ~/.npm owned by root
Please change the permissions by running - chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/mean-cli/lib/install.js:43
       if (err) throw err;
                      ^
ROOT PERMISSIONS IN NPM

  • $ npm install could possibly not finish with this step: node tools/scripts/postinstall.js and that’s ok.

Run it with:

$ gulp

And then open the browser at http://localhost:3000 and you should see the MEAN web app displayed.

You can start digging MEAN now at: http://learn.mean.io/