Express Remote Handlebars

Handlebars view engine for Express which transparently integrates remotely stored templates into your rendering flow.

This is useful in an SOA environment where separate applications are responsible for rendering different parts of a site while still requiring one shared layout.

Installation

Install using npm:

$ npm install --save express-remote-handlebars

Tests

Run tests using npm:

$ npm test

Usage

Simple App

A simple application will look as follows:

var express = require('express');
var remoteHandlebars = require('express-remote-handlebars');
var app = express();
 
app.engine('handlebars', remoteHandlebars({ layout: 'http://localhost/template.handlebars', cacheControl: 'max-age=600, stale-while-revalidate=86400' }));
app.set('view engine', 'handlebars');
 
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
    res.render('index');
});

In the example above, when res.render() is called the view engine will:

• Get view and layout from cache if available - Stale items are revalidated in the background (configured using stale-while-revalidate)
• Otherwise read views/index.handlebars from disk and download http://localhost/template.handlebars
• Cache local view forever and remote layout for 10 minutes (configured using max-age)
• Render view and layout (view will be inserted in {{{content}}} placeholder which is configurable using options.placeholder)
• Send response

Overriding Defaults

You can override instance specific defaults using the options param of res.render():

var express = require('express');
var remoteHandlebars = require('express-remote-handlebars');
var app = express();
 
app.engine('handlebars', remoteHandlebars({ layout: 'http://localhost/template.handlebars' }));
app.set('view engine', 'handlebars');
 
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
    res.render('index'); // Will be rendered with default layout
});
 
app.get('/users/:id', function (req, res) {
    res.render('post', {
        layout: false // Will be rendered without a layout
    });
});

See documentation for all overridable options.

Request in Parallel

In most applications you will get data from a database or REST API before rendering your views.

In order to minimize response times you can fetch layouts together with any other async request using getLayout():

var express = require('express');
var remoteHandlebars = require('express-remote-handlebars').create({ cacheControl: 'max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=600' });
var app = express();
 
app.engine('handlebars', remoteHandlebars.engine);
app.set('view engine', 'handlebars');
 
app.get('/users/:id', function (req, res, next) {
    async.parallel([
        function (callback) {
            // Get user
            User.findOne({ id: req.params.id }, callback);
        },
        function (callback) {
            // Fetch layout
            remoteHandlebars.getLayout('http://localhost/template.handlebars', callback);
        }
    ], function (error, results) {
        if (error) return next(error);
        res.render('index', {
            user: results[0], // User data from database
            layout: results[1] // Compiled Handlebars template from getLayout()
        });
    });
});

Documentation

• RemoteHandlebars
• render
• getLayout
• getView
• getPartials

RemoteHandlebars (options)

Constructor to instantiate a new view engine.

Arguments

• options.cacheControl - Cache control string (default: max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=600)

  Use max-age=<seconds> to define when the item will expire.

  Combine with stale-while-revalidate=<seconds> to set the time window after max-age has expired in which the item is marked as stale but still usable. After both max-age and stale-while-revalidate have expired the item will be deleted from cache.

  Examples:

  • no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate - Will be dropped out of cache immediately
  • max-age=600, must-revalidate - Will be cached for 10 minutes and then dropped out of cache
  • max-age=600, stale-while-revalidate=86400 - Will be cached for 10 minutes and then revalidated in the background if the item is accessed again within a time window of 1 day

• options.helpers - Object with custom helper functions

• options.layout - URL or request object of layout template (default: false)

• options.partialsDir - Path(s) to partials (default: views/partials/)

• options.placeholder - Name of content placeholder in layout (default: content)

• options.request (options, callback) - Function used to request templates (Default: request)

• options.size - Maximum number of layouts to cache (default: Infinity)

Examples

Simple:

var remoteHandlebars = require('express-remote-handlebars');
app.engine('handlebars', remoteHandlebars(options));

Factory:

var remoteHandlebars = require('express-remote-handlebars').create(options);
app.engine('handlebars', remoteHandlebars.engine);

Constructor:

var RemoteHandlebars = require('express-remote-handlebars').RemoteHandlebars;
app.engine('handlebars', new RemoteHandlebars(options).engine);

Note: Simple syntax only exposes the view engine. Factory and constructor pattern give access to public methods for more advanced use cases.

---

render (filePath, options, callback)

Called by Express when running res.render().

Arguments

• filePath - Path to template
• options - Context for template (Merged with app.locals and res.locals)
• options.cache - Toggle caching (This is set by Express via app.enable('view cache') but can also be overridden manually)
• options.helpers - Object with custom helper functions
• options.layout - URL, request object or template function
• options.partialsDir - Path(s) to partials
• callback (error, rendered) - Called once view with layout has been fully rendered

---

getLayout ([url, options], callback)

Fetches and compiles a template from remote.

Template is temporarily cached (see max-age, stale-while-revalidate and size) unless disabled.

Arguments

• url - URL or request object of layout template (optional, default: this.layout)
• options.cache - Toggle caching (optional, default: true)
• callback (error, template) - Called once template has been fetched and compiled

---

getView (filePath, [options], callback)

Reads and compiles a template from disk.

Template is cached forever unless disabled.

Arguments

• filePath - Path to template
• options.cache - Toggle caching (optional, default: true)
• callback (error, template) - Called once template has been read and compiled

---

getPartials ([partialsDir, options], callback)

Recursively finds and compiles all partials in a directory.

Partials are cached forever unless disabled.

Arguments

• partialsDir - Path(s) to partials (optional, default: this.partialsDir)
• options.cache - Toggle caching (optional, default: true)
• callback (error, partials) - Called once partials have been read and compiled