Monorail.js - Ultra lightweight MVC Framework for Node.js

TLDR; Monorail.js will never force you, and uses only what you need.
Monorail.js will never force you to install anything not needed for your project.
The goal is to use what you need.
Anything other than creating a project will always be optional.
Scaffold models in seconds

npm install Monorail.js

Or start a project right now with Railing.sh

./railing.sh Project_Name

No configuration required.
Zero Touch Configuration to get you up and running.

$ ./monorail.js new project example
Creating Project example
Making directory example
Making directory example/static
Making directory example/static/img
Making directory example/static/js
Making directory example/static/css
Making directory example/themes
Making directory example/themes/classic
Making directory example/themes/classic/img
Making directory example/themes/classic/js
Making directory example/themes/classic/css
Making directory example/models
Making directory example/views
Making file example/monorail.project
Making file example/routes.js
Making file example/redis.config
Making file example/themes/classic/classic.html
Making file example/themes/classic/css/classic.css
Copying libs...

$ cd example

$ cat monorail.project
name : example
theme : classic
express_port : 8123

$ ../monorail.js start server
Starting Redis...
Redis Running on Process 3822
Starting Express
Express Running on Process 3825

Congratulations. You're DONE!

Example

Lets install Mootools and RightJS

[user@machine tmp]$ ls 
Example  README.md  lib  monorail.js  monorail.js-small.png  monorail.js.png  package.json

[user@machine tmp]$ cd Example/

[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js
install [mootools | rightjs | jquery | dojo | prototype ] ; Install JS Framework in this project
start server ; Start project Redis & Express server
new project [project_name] ; Creates project
new page [page_name] ; Creates new project page

[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js install mootools
[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js install rightjs 
[user@machine Example]$ tree static/
static/
|-- css
|-- img
`-- js
	  |-- mootools-core-1.4.5-full-compat.js
	  `-- right-2.3.1.js

3 directories, 2 files

Make a new page

$ ../monorail.js new page user

Lets view our user view

$ cat views/user.xml 
<#CODE#>html_body = 'This code block takes 100% node.js code.';</#CODE#>

Change it to this

<#CODE#>html_body = 'Viewing profile of '+username;</#CODE#>

Lets view our user model

$ cat models/user.js 

var nohm = require('../lib/nohm').Nohm;
var redis = require('../lib/nohm/node_modules/redis');
var client = redis.createClient();

nohm.setClient(client);
nohm.model('user',{});

Lets add a controller to the bottom of route.js

app.get('/user/:name', function(req, res) {
  user = req.params.name;
  view = loadView('user',{ username: user });
  page = railed('Viewing User - '+user, view);
  res.send(page);
});

app.listen(express_port);

Lets start the server up and point our browser to http://localhost:8123/user/any_name_here

$ ../monorail.js start server
Starting Redis...
Redis Running on Process 3822
Starting Express
Express Running on Process 3825

There's more examples in the wiki :)

Scaffolding in Node.js

	[user@machine Exampel]$ ../monorial.js generate blogpost title:string pubDate:timestamp
	[user@machine Example]$ cat models/blogpost.js
	var nohm = require('../lib/nohm').Nohm;
	var redis = require('../lib/nohm/node_modules/redis');
	var client = redis.createClient();

	nohm.setClient(client);
	nohm.model('blogpost', {
		 idGenerator: 'increment',
		 properties: {
			  title: {
			     type: 'string',
			     validations: ['notEmpty']
			  },
			  pubDate: {
			     type: 'timestamp',
			     defaultValue: new Date()
			  }
		 }
	});

What's new in version 1

	[user@machine Monorail.js]$ ./monorail.js new project Example
	Creating Project Example
	Making directory Example
	Making directory Example/static
	Making directory Example/static/img
	Making directory Example/static/js
	Making directory Example/static/css
	Making directory Example/themes
	Making directory Example/themes/classic
	Making directory Example/themes/classic/img
	Making directory Example/themes/classic/js
	Making directory Example/themes/classic/css
	Making directory Example/models
	Making directory Example/views
	Making file Example/monorail.project
	Making file Example/routes.js
	Making file Example/redis.config
	Making file Example/themes/classic/classic.html
	Making file Example/themes/classic/css/classic.css
	Copying libs...
	[user@machine Monorail.js]$ cd Example/
	[user@machine Example]$ ls
	lib  models  monorail.project  redis.config  routes.js  static  themes  views

	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js 
	hashtree 
	|_ Return a hash tree of the current project

	install [mootools | rightjs | jquery | dojo | prototype ] 
	|_ Install JS Framework in this project

	new model [model_name] 
	|_ Creates model w/  no view

	new page [page_name] 
	|_ Creates new project page

	new project [project_name] 
	|_ Creates project

	new view [view_name] 
	|_ Creates view w/ no model

	reset project 
	|_ Removes files from static, models, and views

	snapshot [ create | clean ] 
	|_ backup your models, views, and routes

	start server 
	|_ Start project Redis & Express server

	summary 
	|_ Returns a project summary

	update 
	|_ Download the latest Monorail.js (script only)

	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js snapshot create
	Saved
	[user@machine Example]$ ls -l snapshots/
	total 16
	-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 3371 Mar 29 00:58 2012.03.28T15.58.43.524Z.zip
	-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 3371 Mar 29 00:58 2012.03.28T15.58.45.467Z.zip
	-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 3371 Mar 29 00:58 2012.03.28T15.58.46.133Z.zip
	-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 3371 Mar 29 00:58 2012.03.28T15.58.46.829Z.zip
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js snapshot clean

	WARNING: All snapshots will be DELETED!
	Type continue to continue: continue
	Snapshots deleted.

	[user@machine Example]$ ls -l snapshots/
	total 0
	
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js new page home
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js new view about
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js new model user
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js summary 
	views: 2
	models: 2
	themes: 1
	
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js hashtree
	./views/about.xml: 72c05ce377c77bf828f19290f6a984f3133cabbb
	./views/home.xml: 6a1f00f99f017f79d7f683e080f7ebdfa5783211
	./models/user.js: be9f2b1e2cf13d2c7ecdb65104b110593718600f
	./models/home.js: 5bd607fa91b475405f49ba6314552c0ede345e99
	./routes.js: cf579e914e61a235aab5ad25fc72d4052c42fa3d
	./redis.config: c220348239ca26abdb54651cd7f340b2a98f0e83
	./monorail.project: 958f07662d6ca27b36d744703094ed8d1e761341
	
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js reset project

	WARNING: All files in the views, models, and static folders will be DELETED!
	Type the word continue to continue: continue
	Cleaning up ./views/about.xml...
	Cleaning up ./views/home.xml...
	Cleaning up ./models/home.js...
	Cleaning up ./models/user.js...
	Your project has been reset :)
	
	[user@machine Example]$ ../monorail.js update
	Saving to new_monorail.js
	
	[user@machine Example]$ du -hs new_monorail.js 
	888K	new_monorail.js

Documentation

Monorail.js

https://github.com/runexec/Monorail.js/wiki

JS Frameworks

http://docs.jquery.com/Main_Page
http://mootools.net/docs/core
http://rightjs.org/docs
http://api.prototypejs.org/
http://dojotoolkit.org/documentation/

Redis ORM

http://maritz.github.com/nohm/

Redis

https://github.com/mranney/node_redis

Express Routing, Cookies, and Sessions

http://expressjs.com/guide.html#session-support
http://expressjs.com/guide.html#http-methods
http://expressjs.com/guide.html#routing
http://expressjs.com/guide.html#passing-route control
http://expressjs.com/guide.html#route-middleware
http://expressjs.com/guide.html#route-param pre-conditions

Compatibility

It has currently only been tested on unix, but should work on windows with little or no changes.

Built and tested with node v0.6.13
nohm ORM vs 0.9.0
express 2.58

TODO

Add easy html.escape/html.unescape functions
Create examples for the new switches below
Add scaffolding
Add update Monorail.js switch
Add reset project switch
Add create snapshot switch
Add clear snapshots switch
Add build hash tree switch
Add create model (independent of view) switch
Add create view (independent of model) switch
Add project summary switch
(MAYBE) Add recover snapshot switch  Never
(MAYBE) Add compare snapshot switch  Never
Theme/Template documentation
More Wiki-Examples coming very very soon.
Heavy Bug Testing

License

MIT License Copyright (c) 2012 Ryan Kelker and individual contributors.