Organize routes in Node.js

I start to look at Node.js. Also I'm using Express. And I have a question - how can I organize web application routes? All examples just put all this app.get/post/put() handlers in app.js and it works just fine. This is good but if I have something more than a simple HW Blog? Is it possible to do something like this:

var app = express.createServer();
app.get( '/module-a/*', require('./module-a').urls );
app.get( '/module-b/*', require('./module-b').urls );

and

// file: module-a.js
urls.get('/:id', function(req, res){...}); // <- assuming this is handler for /module-a/1

In other words - I'd like something like Django's URLConf but in Node.js.

I found a short example in ´Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere´ that I really liked.

By defining module-a and module-b as its own express applications, you can mount them into the main application as you like by using connects app.use( ) :

module-a.js

module.exports = function(){
  var express = require('express');
  var app = express();

  app.get('/:id', function(req, res){...});

  return app;
}();

module-b.js

module.exports = function(){
  var express = require('express');
  var app = express();

  app.get('/:id', function(req, res){...});

  return app;
}();

app.js

var express = require('express'),
    app = express();

app.configure(..);

app.get('/', ....)
app.use('/module-a', require('./module-a'));    
app.use('/where/ever', require('./module-b'));    

app.listen(3000);

This would give you the routes

localhost:3000/
localhost:3000/module-a/:id
localhost:3000/where/ever/:id

Check out the examples here:

https://github.com/visionmedia/express/tree/master/examples

'mvc' and 'route-separation' may be helpful.

There also is a screencast of @tjholowaychuk (creator of express) where he uses the method @Vegar described.

Available on Vimeo: Modular web applications with Node.js and Express

One more alternative;

App.js

var express = require('express')
      , routes = require('./routes')
      , user = require('./routes/user')
      , http = require('http')
      , path = require('path');

    var app = express();


// all environments
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);


app.get('/', routes.index);
app.get('/users/:id', user.getUser);

http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
  console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});

index.js

exports.index = function(req, res){
  res.render('index', { title: 'Express' });
};

user.js

exports.getUser = function(req, res){


    //your code to get user

};

Check out the article about the express-routescan node module. This module helps to organize maintainable routing for express application. You can try it. This is the best solution for me.

Organize routes in Node.js

Available on Vimeo: Modular web applications with Node.js and Express

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