Sherpa

Simple HTTP routing in Javascript.

Example

Recognition

Here is an example of simple recognition run from Node.js.

var Sherpa = require('./lib/sherpa')
var sherpa = new Sherpa.Router();
sherpa.add('/test').to('testRoute')
sherpa.recognize('/test')

Would return:

{
  "destination": "testing",
  "params": {},
}

You can have a path with a variable in it by prepending a : to it. For example:

sherpa.add('/test/:variable').to('testing')
sherpa.recognize('/test/iloveyou')

Would return

{
  "destination": "testing",
  "params": {
    "variable": "iloveyou"
  }
}

Variables by default will not match beyond a slash (/) or a period (.).

sherpa.recognize('/test/iloveyou.html')

Would return

undefined

You can get around this by adding a matchesWith regex

sherpa.add('/test/:variable', {matchesWith: {variable: /.*/}}).to('testing')
sherpa.recognize('/test/iloveyou.html')

Would return

{
  "destination": "testing",
  "params": {
    "test2": "testing.help"
  }
}

And…

sherpa.add('/test2/:test2.:format', {matchesWith: {format: /html|text/}}).to('testing')
sherpa.recognize('/test2/testing.json')

Would return

undefined

But if you change the extension to one supported by the matchesWith specified,

sherpa.recognize('/test2/testing.html')

Would return

{
 "destination": "testing",
 "params": {
  "test2": "testing",
  "format": "html"
 }
}

Optional parts of the path are marked with ( and ). For example:

sherpa.add('/test(/:variable)').to('testing')
sherpa.recognize('/test/world')

Would return

{
 "destination": "testing",
 "params": {
  "variable": "world"
 }
}

And

sherpa.add('/test(/:variable)').to('testing')
sherpa.recognize('/test')

Would return only

{
 "destination": "testing",
 "params": { }
}

You can also specify other parts of the request to match on using conditions.

sherpa.add('/test', {conditions: {method: 'GET'}}).to('testing')
sherpa.recognize('/test', {method: 'GET'})

{
  "destination": "testing",
  "params": {}
}

But

sherpa.recognize('/test', {method: 'POST'})

Will just return

undefined

You can also use regex here, such as:

sherpa.add('/test', {conditions: {method: /GET|POST/}}).to('testing')

Generation

Generating is easy too.

sherpa.add('/test2/:test2.:format').name('test')
sherpa.generate('test', {test2: 'variable', format: 'html'})

Would return

"/test2/variable.html"

Any extra variables used as params would be appended as part of the query string.

sherpa.generate('test', {test2: 'variable', format: 'html', page: '1'})

Would return

"/test2/variable.html?page=1"

Connect

Sherpa has an interface to allow it to work with the Connect framework.

var Sherpa = require('sherpa/connect'),
    router = new Sherpa.Connect();

In addition to the normal methods avaliable with the router, there are also a number of helpers defined.

GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS, ANY

router.GET(     "/some url", function(req,resp,next){ doSomething(); });
router.POST(    "/some url", function(req,resp,next){ doSomething(); });
router.GET(     "/some url", function(req,resp,next){ doSomething(); });
router.DELETE(  "/some url", function(req,resp,next){ doSomething(); });
router.HEAD(    "/some url", function(req,resp,next){ doSomething(); });
router.ANY(     "/", function(req, resp, next){ pressTheAnyKey();    });

To connect the router into the Connect middleware system:

var server = Connect.createServer();
server.use("/mount_point", router.connect())

Node.js

To use this within Node.js, simply use the Node.js interface. Here is a simple example:

require('../lib/sherpa')

var sys = require("sys"), http = require("http");

http.createServer(new Sherpa.interfaces.NodeJs([
  ['/hello', function (request, response) {
    response.sendHeader(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.sendBody("Hello World\n");
    response.finish();
  }],
  ['/hello/:name', {matchesWith: {name: /^\d+$/}}, function (request, response) {
    response.sendHeader(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.sendBody("Hello Number "+request.sherpaResponse.params['name']+"\n");
    response.finish();
  }],
  ['/hello/:name', function (request, response) {
    response.sendHeader(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.sendBody("Hello "+request.sherpaResponse.params['name']+"\n");
    response.finish();
  }],
  ['/hello/:name', {conditions:{method: 'POST'}}, function (request, response) {
    response.sendHeader(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.sendBody("Hello POSTY "+request.sherpaResponse.params['name']+"\n");
    response.finish();
  }],
  ['not found', function (request, response) {
    response.sendHeader(404, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.sendBody("I can't find what you're looking for..");
    response.finish();
  }]

]).listener()).listen(8000);
sys.puts("Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8000/");

Then calling to /hello would produce Hello World, /hello/daniel would produce Hello daniel and any other request would respond with a 404 and I can't find what you're looking for...