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base is the foundation for creating modular, unit testable and highly pluggable node.js applications, starting with a handful of common methods, like set, get, del and use.

Install

Install with npm:

$ npm install --save base

What is Base?

Base is a framework for rapidly creating high quality node.js applications, using plugins like building blocks.

Guiding principles

The core team follows these principles to help guide API decisions:

Compact API surface: The smaller the API surface, the easier the library will be to learn and use.
Easy to extend: Implementors can use any npm package, and write plugins in pure JavaScript. If you're building complex apps, Base simplifies inheritance.
Easy to test: No special setup should be required to unit test Base or base plugins

Minimal API surface

The API was designed to provide only the minimum necessary functionality for creating a useful application, with or without plugins.

Base core

Base itself ships with only a handful of useful methods, such as:

.set: for setting values on the instance
.get: for getting values from the instance
.has: to check if a property exists on the instance
.define: for setting non-enumerable values on the instance
.use: for adding plugins

Be generic

When deciding on method to add or remove, we try to answer these questions:

Will all or most Base applications need this method?
Will this method encourage practices or enforce conventions that are beneficial to implementors?
Can or should this be done in a plugin instead?

Composability

Plugin system

It couldn't be easier to extend Base with any features or custom functionality you can think of.

Base plugins are just functions that take an instance of Base:

var base = new Base();
 
function plugin(base) {
  // do plugin stuff, in pure JavaScript
}
// use the plugin
base.use(plugin); 

Inheritance

Easily inherit Base using .extend:

var Base = require('base');
 
function MyApp() {
  Base.call(this);
}
Base.extend(MyApp);
 
var app = new MyApp();
app.set('a', 'b');
app.get('a');
//=> 'b'; 

Inherit or instantiate with a namespace

By default, the .get, .set and .has methods set and get values from the root of the base instance. You can customize this using the .namespace method exposed on the exported function. For example:

var Base = require('base');
// get and set values on the `base.cache` object
var base = Base.namespace('cache');
 
var app = base();
app.set('foo', 'bar');
console.log(app.cache.foo);
//=> 'bar' 

API

Usage

var Base = require('base');
var app = new Base();
app.set('foo', 'bar');
console.log(app.foo);
//=> 'bar' 

<a href="index.js#L44">Base</a>

Create an instance of Base with the given config and options.

Params

config **{Object}**: If supplied, this object is passed to cache-base to merge onto the the instance upon instantiation.
options **{Object}**: If supplied, this object is used to initialize the base.options object.

Example

// initialize with `config` and `options`
var app = new Base({isApp: true}, {abc: true});
app.set('foo', 'bar');
 
// values defined with the given `config` object will be on the root of the instance
console.log(app.baz); //=> undefined
console.log(app.foo); //=> 'bar'
// or use `.get`
console.log(app.get('isApp')); //=> true
console.log(app.get('foo')); //=> 'bar'
 
// values defined with the given `options` object will be on `app.options
console.log(app.options.abc); //=> true 

<a href="index.js#L107">.is</a>

Set the given name on app._name and app.is* properties. Used for doing lookups in plugins.

Params

name **{String}**
returns **{Boolean}**

Example

app.is('foo');
console.log(app._name);
//=> 'foo'
console.log(app.isFoo);
//=> true
app.is('bar');
console.log(app.isFoo);
//=> true
console.log(app.isBar);
//=> true
console.log(app._name);
//=> 'bar' 

<a href="index.js#L145">.isRegistered</a>

Returns true if a plugin has already been registered on an instance.

Plugin implementors are encouraged to use this first thing in a plugin to prevent the plugin from being called more than once on the same instance.

Params

name **{String}**: The plugin name.
register **{Boolean}**: If the plugin if not already registered, to record it as being registered pass true as the second argument.
returns **{Boolean}**: Returns true if a plugin is already registered.

Events

emits: plugin Emits the name of the plugin being registered. Useful for unit tests, to ensure plugins are only registered once.

Example

var base = new Base();
base.use(function(app) {
  if (app.isRegistered('myPlugin')) return;
  // do stuff to `app`
});
 
// to also record the plugin as being registered
base.use(function(app) {
  if (app.isRegistered('myPlugin', true)) return;
  // do stuff to `app`
}); 

<a href="index.js#L175">.use</a>

Define a plugin function to be called immediately upon init. Plugins are chainable and expose the following arguments to the plugin function:

app: the current instance of Base
base: the first ancestor instance of Base

Params

fn **{Function}**: plugin function to call
returns **{Object}**: Returns the item instance for chaining.

Example

var app = new Base()
  .use(foo)
  .use(bar)
  .use(baz) 

<a href="index.js#L197">.define</a>

The .define method is used for adding non-enumerable property on the instance. Dot-notation is not supported with define.

Params

key **{String}**: The name of the property to define.
value **{any}**
returns **{Object}**: Returns the instance for chaining.

Example

// arbitrary `render` function using lodash `template`
app.define('render', function(str, locals) {
  return _.template(str)(locals);
}); 

<a href="index.js#L222">.mixin</a>

Mix property key onto the Base prototype. If base is inherited using Base.extend this method will be overridden by a new mixin method that will only add properties to the prototype of the inheriting application.

Params

key **{String}**
val **{Object|Array}**
returns **{Object}**: Returns the base instance for chaining.

Example

app.mixin('foo', function() {
  // do stuff
}); 

<a href="index.js#L268">.base</a>

Getter/setter used when creating nested instances of Base, for storing a reference to the first ancestor instance. This works by setting an instance of Base on the parent property of a "child" instance. The base property defaults to the current instance if no parent property is defined.

Example

// create an instance of `Base`, this is our first ("base") instance
var first = new Base();
first.foo = 'bar'; // arbitrary property, to make it easier to see what's happening later
 
// create another instance
var second = new Base();
// create a reference to the first instance (`first`)
second.parent = first;
 
// create another instance
var third = new Base();
// create a reference to the previous instance (`second`)
// repeat this pattern every time a "child" instance is created
third.parent = second;
 
// we can always access the first instance using the `base` property
console.log(first.base.foo);
//=> 'bar'
console.log(second.base.foo);
//=> 'bar'
console.log(third.base.foo);
//=> 'bar'
// and now you know how to get to third base ;) 

<a href="index.js#L293">#use</a>

Static method for adding global plugin functions that will be added to an instance when created.

Params

fn **{Function}**: Plugin function to use on each instance.
returns **{Object}**: Returns the Base constructor for chaining

Example

Base.use(function(app) {
  app.foo = 'bar';
});
var app = new Base();
console.log(app.foo);
//=> 'bar' 

<a href="index.js#L337">#extend</a>

Static method for inheriting the prototype and static methods of the Base class. This method greatly simplifies the process of creating inheritance-based applications. See static-extend for more details.

Params

Ctor **{Function}**: constructor to extend
methods **{Object}**: Optional prototype properties to mix in.
returns **{Object}**: Returns the Base constructor for chaining

Example

var extend = cu.extend(Parent);
Parent.extend(Child);
 
// optional methods
Parent.extend(Child, {
  foo: function() {},
  bar: function() {}
}); 

<a href="index.js#L379">#mixin</a>

Used for adding methods to the Base prototype, and/or to the prototype of child instances. When a mixin function returns a function, the returned function is pushed onto the .mixins array, making it available to be used on inheriting classes whenever Base.mixins() is called (e.g. Base.mixins(Child)).

Params

fn **{Function}**: Function to call
returns **{Object}**: Returns the Base constructor for chaining

Example

Base.mixin(function(proto) {
  proto.foo = function(msg) {
    return 'foo ' + msg;
  };
}); 

<a href="index.js#L401">#mixins</a>

Static method for running global mixin functions against a child constructor. Mixins must be registered before calling this method.

Params

Child **{Function}**: Constructor function of a child class
returns **{Object}**: Returns the Base constructor for chaining

Example

Base.extend(Child);

Base.mixins(Child);

<a href="index.js#L420">#inherit</a>

Similar to util.inherit, but copies all static properties, prototype properties, and getters/setters from Provider to Receiver. See class-utils for more details.

Params

Receiver **{Function}**: Receiving (child) constructor
Provider **{Function}**: Providing (parent) constructor
returns **{Object}**: Returns the Base constructor for chaining

Example

Base.inherit(Foo, Bar);

In the wild

The following node.js applications were built with Base:

Test coverage

Statements   : 98.91% ( 91/92 )
Branches     : 92.86% ( 26/28 )
Functions    : 100% ( 17/17 )
Lines        : 98.9% ( 90/91 ) 

History

v0.11.2

fixes https://github.com/micromatch/micromatch/issues/99

v0.11.0

Breaking changes

Static .use and .run methods are now non-enumerable

v0.9.0

Breaking changes

.is no longer takes a function, a string must be passed
all remaining .debug code has been removed
app._namespace was removed (related to debug)
.plugin, .use, and .define no longer emit events
.assertPlugin was removed
.lazy was removed

About

Related projects

base-cwd: Base plugin that adds a getter/setter for the current working directory. | homepage
base-data: adds a data method to base-methods. | homepage
base-fs: base-methods plugin that adds vinyl-fs methods to your 'base' application for working with the file… more | homepage
base-generators: Adds project-generator support to your base application. | homepage
base-option: Adds a few options methods to base, like option, enable and disable. See the readme… more | homepage
base-pipeline: base-methods plugin that adds pipeline and plugin methods for dynamically composing streaming plugin pipelines. | homepage
base-pkg: Plugin for adding a pkg method that exposes pkg-store to your base application. | homepage
base-plugins: Adds 'smart plugin' support to your base application. | homepage
base-questions: Plugin for base-methods that adds methods for prompting the user and storing the answers on… more | homepage
base-store: Plugin for getting and persisting config values with your base-methods application. Adds a 'store' object… more | homepage
base-task: base plugin that provides a very thin wrapper around https://github.com/doowb/composer for adding task methods to… more | homepage

Contributing

Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue.

Contributors

Commits	Contributor
141	jonschlinkert
30	doowb
3	charlike
1	criticalmash
1	wtgtybhertgeghgtwtg

Building docs

_(This project's readme.md is generated by verb, please don't edit the readme directly. Any changes to the readme must be made in the .verb.md readme template.)_

To generate the readme, run the following command:

$ npm install -g verbose/verb#dev verb-generate-readme && verb

Running tests

Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command:

$ npm install && npm test

Author

Jon Schlinkert

License

This file was generated by verb-generate-readme, v0.6.0, on September 07, 2017.