Namespaces for separation in Express - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Namespaces for Separation in Express

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple web server using Express.js. You want to organize your routes into separate namespaces to keep your code clean and easy to manage.

🎯 Goal: Create an Express server with two separate namespaces: /api/users and /api/products. Each namespace should respond with a simple JSON message.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an Express app instance

Create two routers: usersRouter and productsRouter

Mount usersRouter on /api/users

Mount productsRouter on /api/products

Each router should have a GET route on / that sends a JSON response

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Organizing routes into namespaces helps keep large Express applications clean and maintainable by grouping related routes together.

💼 Career

Understanding how to use routers and namespaces in Express is essential for backend developers building scalable web APIs.

1

Create the Express app and users router

Create an Express app by calling express() and assign it to app. Then create a router by calling express.Router() and assign it to usersRouter.

Express

const express = require('express');

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use const app = express() to create the app and const usersRouter = express.Router() to create the router.

2

Create the products router

Create another router by calling express.Router() and assign it to productsRouter.

Express

const express = require('express');

const app = express();
const usersRouter = express.Router();

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Create productsRouter the same way as usersRouter.

3

Add GET routes to both routers

Add a GET route on / to usersRouter that sends JSON { message: 'Users namespace' }. Also add a GET route on / to productsRouter that sends JSON { message: 'Products namespace' }.

Express

const express = require('express');

const app = express();
const usersRouter = express.Router();
const productsRouter = express.Router();

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use router.get('/', (req, res) => { res.json(...) }) for each router.

4

Mount routers on namespaces and start server

Mount usersRouter on /api/users and productsRouter on /api/products using app.use(). Then start the server on port 3000 using app.listen().

Express

const express = require('express');

const app = express();
const usersRouter = express.Router();
const productsRouter = express.Router();

usersRouter.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ message: 'Users namespace' });
});

productsRouter.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ message: 'Products namespace' });
});

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use app.use('/api/users', usersRouter) and app.use('/api/products', productsRouter). Then start the server with app.listen(3000).