FeathersJS Quickstart - JavaScript

Are you a JavaScript developer looking for a framework to build real-time applications? Look no further than FeathersJS! FeathersJS provides an easy-to-use API and support for real-time data syncing with websockets. In this quickstart guide, we’ll take a look at how to get started with FeathersJS using JavaScript.

Prerequisites

Before we get started, make sure you have Node.js installed on your system. You can download it from the official website: https://nodejs.org/

Installation

To install FeathersJS, you can use the Node.js package manager (npm). Open a terminal and run the following command:

npm install -g @feathersjs/cli

This will install the FeathersJS CLI globally on your system.

Creating a new project

Next, let’s create a new FeathersJS project. In your terminal, navigate to the directory where you want to create the project and run the following command:

feathers generate app

This will start a prompt where you can enter the name of your project and choose which modules to include. For this quickstart, we’ll select the defaults.

After the project is generated, navigate into the project directory and start the server:

cd <project_name>
npm start

This will start the server on http://localhost:3030

Adding a service

Now that we have a basic FeathersJS application running, let’s add a service. A service in FeathersJS provides methods for working with data. We’ll create a simple “messages” service that allows us to create and retrieve messages.

To create the service, run the following command in your terminal:

feathers generate service

This will start a prompt where you can enter the name of your service and choose which methods to include. For this quickstart, we’ll select “create” and “find”.

After the service is generated, open the src/services/messages/messages.service.js file and add the following code:

const { Service } = require('feathers-nedb');

exports.Messages = class Messages extends Service {
  constructor(options, app) {
    super(options);
    this.app = app;
    this.Model = app.get('messagesModel');
  }

  async create(data, params) {
    const message = await super.create(data, params);
    return message;
  }

  async find(params) {
    const messages = await super.find(params);
    return messages;
  }
};

This code extends the Service class and overrides the create and find methods. The create method saves the new message to the database and returns it, while the find method retrieves all messages.

Next, open the src/app.js file and add the following line inside the configure function:

app.use('/messages', new Messages(options, app));

This registers the new messages service with the FeathersJS app.

Testing the service

To test the service, we can use a tool like Postman to send HTTP requests to the server.

First, send a POST request to http://localhost:3030/messages with the following JSON in the body:

{
  "text": "Hello, world!"
}

This will create a new message in the database.

Next, send a GET request to http://localhost:3030/messages, which should return an array containing the message you just created.

Conclusion

That’s it for this FeathersJS quickstart! We’ve covered how to install FeathersJS, create a new project, add a service, and test it using Postman. With FeathersJS, you can easily build real-time applications with minimal setup and a simple API. Happy coding!