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?

• unflores: This may be a little ancillary to what you are saying, but it is a common practice to limit the depth of your routes. restful-api-design.readthedocs.io/en/latest/urls.html For instance, you most likely dont need project and context in the url to modify a question's anwser.

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);

• Gerrit0: Kunal isn't using TypeScript, and this setup has multiple issues. 1. Method isn't passed to addRoute. 2. No super() call. 3. No nice way to specify another controller is under /api/v1/Project. 4. Routes are currently looking like /api/api/...
• Bogdan: Yes you are right. I corrected the mistakes. What do you mean by 3. ?
• Bogdan: You mean is not ok to define a base class for controller?
• Bogdan: About typescript: Ecma6 is very similar with Typescript (except types), so why is this a problem?