node-express

This is a simple Node JS sample project which uses the Express framework. This project offers a homepage with a customizable message, a health endpoint, and simple REST API.

Before running for the first time you need to install the project dependencies. Run the command npm install to install them all. A list of these dependencies can be found in the package.json file. They include Express, EJS, and Jest.

You can run the server as a standalone app using npm run server command in the root of the project. The server will be listening to request on port 3000. You can test the server in a browser by accessing http://localhost:3000 or via cURL or httpie.

Running Tests

Some unit tests have been provided which use the Jest unit testing framework. From the root folder of the project, run the command npm test. Jest will then execute the test suite and report back the unit testing results.

Viewing The Homepage

Point your browser tohttp://localhost:3000

Viewing The Messages REST Endpoint

Point your browser tohttp://localhost:3000/api/messages or follow the link on the homepage.

Dynamically Reload The Local Server On Code Changes

Nodemon can be used to monitor the source code and dynamically reload the application when there are changes to the server code.

sudo npm install -g nodemon
nodemon server.js

Deploying to VMware Tanzu Application Platform workload with Tanzu CLI

NOTE: The provided config/workload.yaml file uses the Git URL of this sample. When you want to modify the source, you must push the code to your own Git repository and then update the spec.source.git information in the config/workload.yaml file.

When you are done developing your app, you can simply deploy it using either:

A full command:

tanzu apps workload create node-express --dry-run \
  --git-repo https://github.com/benwilcock/node-express \
  --git-branch main \
  --type web \
  --label apps.tanzu.vmware.com/has-tests=true \
  --label app.kubernetes.io/part-of=node-express \
  --param-yaml testing_pipeline_matching_labels="{'apps.tanzu.vmware.com/pipeline':'test', 'apps.tanzu.vmware.com/language':'nodejs'}" \
  --annotation autoscaling.knative.dev/minScale=1

Or, the workload file descriptor:

tanzu apps workload apply -f config/workload.yaml

If you would like deploy the code from your local working directory you can use the following command:

tanzu apps workload create node-express -f config/workload.yaml \
  --local-path . \
  --source-image <REPOSITORY-PREFIX>/node-express-source \
  --type web

Accessing the app deployed to your cluster

If you don't have curl installed it can be installed using downloads here: https://curl.se/download.html

Determine the URL to use for the accessing the app by running:

tanzu apps workload get node-express

To access the deployed app open the URL shown in your browser.

This depends on the TAP installation having DNS configured for the Knative ingress.

Application Endpoints

1. / HTML home page (shows a single page app containing a static image and some text). Contains a link to the source code.
2. /api/messages REST Json [GET] (shows a single hardcoded message as part of a list of messages).

Code Customisation

For a simple code customization demonstration, in the application code (in the messages.js file) change the name of the client property in the messages object from "VMware" to something else and then commit/redeploy/restart.

const messages = {
    msg_subject: 'Secure software supply chains are great!',
    msg_body: 'This is my message body.',
    client: 'VMware', //change this value
    framework: 'Node JS, Express, and EJS'
};

The homepage will then use your new client name value in the text at the bottom of the home page.