jsonresponse

A JSON response helper that wraps response data with metadata about the response status.

A standard success response would have the format:

{
  "success": true,
  "error": null,
  "results": {
    id: 123,
    firstname: "Brian",
    lastname: "Mancini",
    age: 32
  }
}

An error response would have the format:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "message": "Code did something bad",
    "stack": "Error: Code did something bad\n    at Object.exports.throwError [as handle] ... "
  },
  "results": null
}

Additionally, this module will automatically call toClient method on the Object or Array that JsonResponse receives in its constructor.

Usage

Install jsonresponse from NPM:

npm install jsonresponse;

You can then include it in a module via:

var JsonResponse = require('jsonresponse');

JsonResponse

JsonResponse constructor takes two arguments, in the standard node style (err, result).

To create a success response, pass in the results object, array, or value as the second argument:

var results = { foo: 'bar' }
var json = new JsonResponse(null, results);

To create an error response, pass in the error result as the first argument.

var error = new Error('Boom!')
var json = new JsonResponse(error);

Working with Express

If you are using express, you can manually use JsonResponse by constructing an object as shown above

app.get('/', function(req, res) {
  
  someAsyncCall(function(err, result) {
    if(err) {
      res.send(500, new JsonResponse(err));
    } else {
      res.send(new JsonResponse(null, result);
    }
  });

});

Alternatively, you can reduce boilerplate by using the express Helper that will construct the JsonResponse object for you and send the result back.

app.get('/error', function(req, res) {
  
  var jsonResponse = JsonResponse.expressHandler(res);
  makeAsyncCall(jsonResponse);

});

toClient

The toClient handling of the result argument will automatically execute for Objects or Arrays. The toClient method should return a mutated version of the object.

Take for example this object with its toClient method:

var result = {
  _id: '1234'
  __V: 0,

  toClient: function() {
    this.id = this._id;
    delete this._id;
    delete this.__V;
  }
};

The toClient method will conver _id to id and strip out the _id and __V properties for a result that looks like:

{
  id: '1234'
}

The JsonResponse object will automatically perform that conversion in its constructor.

Contributing

You can contribute to this project by adhearing to the following standards.

Prior to contributing you should install grunt.

npm install -g grunt-cli

You can then easily validate your code:

grunt validate

Formatting

Follow these coding standards

• Use spaces instead of tabs
• Use 2 spaces instead of 4 spaces

Linting

Run JSHint on your code. Linting can be run via grunt:

grunt lint

Testing

Ensure proper code coverage. Tests can be run via grunt

grunt test

Commenting

Use JSDoc style commenting for methods and classes. Other comments can use standard // style comments.