NodeJS local modules for complex application structures

Question

I\'m currently part of team building a Windows 8 application using JavaScript. We are using npm and browserify to manage dependencies and convert our modules to AMD browser

Answer 1

The problem of the require() function is that the paths are relative from the current file. You could put your modules inside the node_modules directory but this is the worst thing you could do. node_modules is the directory where live all the third-party modules. If you follow this simple rule it's very easy and handy to stay always up to date, you can remove all the dependencies (removing the node_modules) and just doing npm install.

The best solution is to define your own require function and make it global. For example:

Your project structure is:

my-project
| tools
|- docs
|- logs
|- conf
`- src
   |- node_modules
   |- package.json
   |- mod.js
   |- a
   |  `- b
   |     `- c.js
   `- d
      `- app.js

mod.js

global.mod = function (file){
  return require ("./" + file);
};

app.js

//This should be the first line in your main script
require ("../mod");

//Now all the modules are relative from the `src` directory
//You want to use the a/b/c.js module
var c = mod ("a/b/c");

That's all, easy. If you want to get a third-party module located in node_modules use require(). If you want to get your own modules use mod().

And remember, node_modules is only for third-party modules, rule nº1.