Controllers

Controllers are loaded from http/controllers. There are two types of controllers, and they are loaded separately.

Resource controllers are loaded from http/controllers/resource. Basic controllers are loaded from http/controllers/basic.

You have to name your controller files *.controller.js. Your controller file will be called with two arguments: models and services.

If you set controller.default to true, then controller.index will be used for the / - the home page.

Resource Controllers

These are automatically routed based on their names. Routes are created for available actions:

In the action for the controllers with :id, the id is available as req.params.id.

Extra Middleware for Resource Controllers

If you want to add middleware to one of the automatically attached methods, then create a new method called: ${controller.name}Middleware. Have this method return and array of desired middlewares.

For example:

    index(req, res) {
        res.json(req.user);
    }
    
    indexMiddleware() {
        return [(req, res, next) => { console.log('ensuring logged in'); next(); }, ensureLoggedIn()];
    }

Basic Controllers

They can be attached to routes in routes.js. The actually middleware is on the action: app.get('/something', controllers.myController.create)

Take a look at the “examples” directory.

Order

Resource controllers are loaded first. routes.js is called second. This is so a standard express 404 pages can be included in routes.js using something like app.get('*', controllers.notFound.index);

If you need to add something before the resource controllers (e.g. auth on them), do it in routes-init.js or before you pass app into boot.

Examples

// app/http/controllers/resource/pages.controller.js
'use strict';

class PagesController {

    constructor (models) {
        this.default = true;
        this.models = models;
    }

    index (req, res, next) {
        // Index will show what /home shows
        req.params.page = 'home';
        this.show(req, res, next);
    }

    show (req, res, next) {
        this.models.Pages.findOne({
            where: { slug: req.params.page }
        })
            .then(page => {
                res.send(page.title + ' : ' + page.content);
            })
            .catch(e => {
                console.log(404);
                next();
            });
    }
}

module.exports = models => {
    return new PagesController(models);
};

Note that module.exports is called with whatever you decide to. This is controlled in your model loader. Typically you would pick models and services. Here is a sample model loader, and here is how you configure it for an app.