node.js & express - global modules & best practices for application structure

Question

I\'m building a node.js app that is a REST api using express and mongoose for my mongodb. I\'ve got the CRUD endpoints all setup now, but I was just wondering two things.

Answer 1

I found this StackOverflow post very helpful:

File Structure of Mongoose & NodeJS Project

The trick is to put your schema into models directory. Then, in any route, you can require('../models').whatever.

Also, I generally start the mongoose db connection in app.js, and only start the Express server once the connection is up:

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/whateverdb')
mongoose.connection.on('error', function(err) {
  console.log("Error while connecting to MongoDB:  " + err);
  process.exit();
});
mongoose.connection.on('connected', function(err) {
  console.log('mongoose is now connected');
  // start app here
  http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
    console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
  });

});