How to import module in nodejs from some external file

Question

I have this file indexjs where I am exporting data

exports.updateMobileNumber = updateMobileNumber;

and in my appjs I am importing it.

var index = require('./../helpers/index');

Now another file mainjs is on external URL like

https://github.com/../models/catalog/main.js

How to import this file in my appjs

I don't want to download the file as it has its own server. Is it possible to make http request from one nodejs to another nodejs running simultaneously so that I get the required value. If yes, please help how to do it!

I have 1st node running at 3000 and another running at 3003, what should be the next step?

• Joe Clay: I'm not sure there's any way of doing this, and for good reason - executing code from a remote server is a pretty bad idea! What's the use case here?
• Sumit Sahay: there are some validation like mobile number validation, otp verification, mail verification so I want to keep it in separate file so this won't be disturbed while running code.
• Defiant: Hmm, I don't think there's a way to do this. You could GET a remote JSONP file, but NodeJS files must be locally accessible.
• Marc: you can of course "download" or request the file by an url but as already mentioned this is most of the time not a convenient way.
• Defiant: @Sumit you could expose the file using a route on one server, e.g. to have the url 127.0.0.1:3000/mainFile and then get it on your other node instance using a GET request to that route. This way you would be using HTTP. Does this make sense?

Answer 1

NPM is designed for you to install and manage remote modules. Modules must be locally accessible and installed when a NodeJS instance is started up.

If you require a module not known to your package.json file, an error will be thrown.

Edit: require is synchronous, so it can't load non-local files (which would be an asynchronous operation). You could load data asynchronously though, using request.

Answer 2

Short answer for the bare question (as it's written in title):

Download the file and place it inside your project, so you can use it with require.

--

You should think about: (as already mentioned in a lot of comments):

1. If your remote file is data only (most of the time json) it's a convenient and correct way requesting the file via http, save it and then use it with require again!

   more about http inside node:

   • https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_request_options_callback
   • https://github.com/request/request

2. If the remote file is not about data only and you thought about executing remote code - it's the wrong way! think about it! your remote file is in your case a kind of a "vendor library / util / helper" which you should implement strictly in awareness. (keywords: npm, modularization, vendors, helpers)