#define.js An asynchronous module system for all javascript environments (node.js, browsers, ...) that is meant to replace all standard module loaders (e.g. "require" of node.js) and to solve all problems in creating cross-environment code.
##why define.js? Since the "require" module system of node.js is synchronous, it is impossible to bring modules for it to the browser in a clean way. You'd eiter have to make blocking XHR's or to use tools like "node-browserify" to do it. This is NOT professional!
So, if you want to make cross-environment javascript modules, you'd have to use an asynchronous third-party module system. There are a lot of them (AMD, require.js, DefineJS, ...), so why define.js?
- define.js has, except the asynchronous system, an identical API (module, exports, __filename, __dirname, ...)
- porting over node.js modules to define.js is very simple & fast
- you can load built in & normal node.js modules through define.js
- you can hide server-only code to the browser very easy
- you can build a whole application in one single file with all its dependencies for browserside usage
##defining a module
define(function(){
exports.text = "Hello World!";
});
##defining a module that uses other modules
define("a","b",function(a,b){
exports.a = a;
exports.b = b;
});
##creating an app that uses a define.js module
require("define");
define(__filename,"mymodule",function(mymodule){
mymodule.doSomething();
});
##loading node.js modules
define("http",function(http){
http.createServer(function(req,res){
res.end("Hello World!");
}).listen(80);
});
##creating a package.json
{
"name","mymodule",
"define":"./mymodule.js"
}
##creating different entry points for browser and node.js
{
"name":"mymodule",
"define":{
"node":"./server.js",
"browser":"./client.js"
}
}
##building a module with all its dependencies for browserside usage
require("define");
var code = define.build(__filename,"mymodule");
###saving it to a file
require("fs").writeFile("/where/i/want/to/store/the/module.js",code);
###sending it to the client
require("http").createServer(function(req,res){
if(req.url = "/mymodule.js"){
res.writeHead(200,{"content-type":"text/javascript"});
res.end(code);
}else{
res.writeHead(200,{"content-type":"text/html"});
res.end("<html>...</html>);
}
}).listen(80);
###using it on the browser side
<html>
<head>
<script src="./mymodule.js"></script>
<script>
define("mymodule",function(mymodule){
mymodule.doSomething();
});
</script>
</head>
</html>