Controllers

Controllers act as the primary interface between the client and server. They handle incoming requests, validate payloads against an input DTO, and emit responses in the DTO pattern. In essence, controllers bridge the communication between clients and service layers, also known as use-cases.

Create a controller

In order to create a controller use the CLI tool with the following command:

expressots g c controller-name

Example of a generated controller:

expressots g c product

ProductController.ts

import { controller } from "@expressots/adapter-express";

@controller("/")
export class ProductController {}

Patterns

As mentioned before, controllers can be created in two different patterns: SOLID and MVC. The choice between these patterns depends on the project's requirements and the developer's preference.

SOLID

One controller, one execution method, and one use case

    @controller("/product/create")
    export class ProductCreateController {
        @Post("")
        exeute() {
            return "Product created!";
        }
    }

MVC

Several routes in a single controller

@controller("/product")
export class ProductController {
    @Post("/")
    createProduct() {
        return "Product created!";
    }
    @Get("/")
    readProduct() {
        return "Product read!";
    }
    @Patch("/:id")
    updateProduct() {
        return "Product updated!";
    }
    @Delete("/:id")
    deleteProduct() {
        return "Product deleted!";
    }
}

Routing

Routing in ExpressoTS is handled with decorators. The @controller() decorator sets the base route, while HTTP method decorators like @Get() and @Post() define specific routes.

You can also apply middleware at the controller level which affects all methods, while applying it to a method affects only that specific route. This approach ensures a clean and structured way to manage routing and middleware in your application.

Example of controller routing concatenation:

BASE_URL/product/create

@controller("/product")
export class ProductController {
    @Post("/create")
    createProduct() {
        return "Product created!";
    }
}

Example of middleware usage:

Middleware usage in a controller and in a specific route

@controller("/product", authMiddleware)
export class ProductController {
    @Post("/create", bodyParsingMiddleware)
    createProduct() {
        return "Product created!";
    }
}

Route string patterns

Routes based on string patterns can be defined as well. This feature is useful when you need to define a route with a dynamic parameter.

Route with a dynamic parameter

@controller("/ab?cd")
export class AppController {
    @Get("")
    stringPattern(): string {
        return "Routes to be used in the following paths: /acd or /abcd";
    }
}

Read more about route string patterns and all the possibilities here.

Scope

The default scope of a controller is Request, as it is inherited from the AppContainer and default Module class scope. However, you can override the scope of a controller by using the @scope() decorator. This decorator accepts the same BindingScopeEnum values.

caution

If you define the module scope you can not override it in a specific controller by using the @scope decorator. The @scope decorator can only be used in specific controllers if the module scope is not defined.

Here is an example of usage:

Use BindingScopeEnum.Singleton or simply a string "Singleton".

@scope("Singleton")
@controller("/")
class ProductController {}

The controller above will be scoped as Singleton and will be shared across all requests.

Request object

In order to access the request object, you can use the @request() decorator.

Request object example

import { controller, Get, request } from "@expressots/adapter-express";
import { Request } from "express";

@controller("/product")
export class ProductController {
    @Get("/")
    getAllProducts(@request() req: Request) {
        return "Return all products";
    }
}

tip

You can take advantage of the express types to access the request object as they are already imported in the @expressots/adapter-express package.

The request object is just one of the decorators available in ExpressoTS. See more in the below section.

Controller decorators

HTTP methods and parameters decorators are a set of annotations used in ExpressoTS applications to define the routing and request handling for HTTP requests. Using the decorators listed below can simplify the routing and handling of HTTP requests in ExpressoTS applications, and make the code more readable and maintainable.

Parameter Decorators

Here's a list of all available parameter decorators in ExpressoTS, along with their description and usage:

Decorator	Description	Usage
@request()	Injects the Express Request object.	execute(@request() req: Request)
@response()	Injects the Express Response object.	execute(@response() res: Response)
@param(paramName?: string)	Injects a parameter from the request URL path.	execute(@param('id') id: string)
@query(paramName?: string)	Injects a parameter from the request URL query string.	execute(@query('searchTerm') searchTerm: string)
@body()	Injects the request body payload.	execute(@body() body: MyDTO)
@headers(headerName?: string)	Injects a header from the request headers.	execute(@headers('authorization') auth: string)
@cookies(cookieName?: string)	Injects a cookie from the request cookies.	execute(@cookies('session') session: string)
@next()	Injects the Express NextFunction object.	execute(@next() next: NextFunction)

Method Decorators

Here's a list of all available @httpMethods() decorators in ExpressoTS, along with their description and usage:

Decorator	Description	Usage
@Get	Binds a controller method to a GET HTTP verb.	@Get("/path")
@Post	Binds a controller method to a POST HTTP verb.	@Post("/path")
@Put	Binds a controller method to a PUT HTTP verb.	@Put("/path")
@Patch	Binds a controller method to a PATCH HTTP verb.	@Patch("/path")
@Head	Binds a controller method to a HEAD HTTP verb.	@Head("/path")
@Delete	Binds a controller method to a DELETE HTTP verb.	@Delete("/path")
@Method	Binds a controller method to a specified HTTP verb.	@Method("verb", "/path")

For a full list of available decorators, please refer to the Decorators.

Status code

Status Code is an enum that provides a list of HTTP status codes that can be used in the application.

The default status code based on the HTTP method:

• GET: 200
• POST: 201
• PUT - PATCH - DELETE: 204

You can import StatusCode from @expressots/core to use the default status codes.

Read more about status codes in the Status Code section.

Using the StatusCode to improve the code readability

import { StatusCode } from "@expressots/core";

@Http(StatusCode.NoContent)

HTTP decorator

The @Http() decorator is used to define the status code of the response. This decorator is useful when you need to return a specific status code for a request.

Using the @Http() decorator

import { controller, Get, Http } from "@expressots/adapter-express";

@controller("/")
export class AppController {
    @Get("")
    @Http(200)
    execute() {
        return "App is running!";
    }
}

Payloads

In a request, payloads refer to the data sent between the client and server, typically in the body of the request. This data is crucial for operations like creating, updating, or querying resources.

The DTO pattern standardizes these payloads for communication between different application layers. By providing clear and consistent data structures for input and output, DTOs separate business logic from data exchange, reducing complexity, improving performance, and enhancing scalability.

For example, imagine a user registration scenario where name, email, and password are collected, and ID is auto-generated. The user object DTO for Input and Response could have possible formats, as shown below:

user-create.dto.ts

interface UserCreateRequestDTO {
    name: string;
    email: string;
    password: string;
}

interface UserCreateResponseDTO {
    id: string;
    name: string;
    message: string;
}

Having two different DTO formats is essential in this case because while registering a user, we don't want to return the password to the client due to security concerns. Therefore, we created a different DTO for the response, adding a complementary field called message, where a message is typically sent to the client, indicating that the user was created successfully.

As a result, DTOs help to segregate and filter the data being sent to the client, reducing the amount of data processed by the application.

Using DTOs in ExpressoTS is straightforward. You can use the @body() decorator to inject the request body payload into the controller method.

Using the @body() decorator

@controller("/user")
export class UserController {
    @Post("")
    register(@body() payload: UserCreateRequestDTO): UserCreateResponseDTO {
        return {
            id: "1",
            name: payload.name,
            message: "User created successfully",
        };
    }
}

Error handling

For error handling, ExpressoTS provides a built-in error handler middleware that can be used to catch errors thrown in the application. This middleware is automatically added to the application when it is initialized in the app.ts file.

Read more about error handling in ExpressoTS in the Error Handling section.

Initializing the Application without a controller

ExpressoTS will prevent you from initializing the Application without a controller since there are no listeners to handle incoming requests. You will see the following message in the console: No controllers have been found! Please ensure that you have register at least one Controller.

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