{"id":3949,"date":"2016-12-22T08:20:53","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T08:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.botreetechnologies.com\/blog\/?p=3949"},"modified":"2023-02-16T16:07:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T10:37:31","slug":"auto-generate-rest-api-using-sailsjs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.botreetechnologies.com\/blog\/auto-generate-rest-api-using-sailsjs\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto Generate REST API using SailsJS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sails is a lightweight framework that sits on top of Express<\/a>. Its ensemble of small modules work together to provide simplicity, maintainability, and structural conventions to NodeJS apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is SailsJS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sails<\/a> is one of the most popular MVC<\/a> framework used to build NodeJS apps. And for those who are from Ruby on Rails<\/a> background will find SailsJS easy to use because of the directory structure is similar as any Rails app. Sails can be used to create Rest API’s, chat application, multiplayer games. etc. and many more. Just like Rails, it help to reduce boilerplate code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

100% Javascript<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compatible with MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auto-generate REST API<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support Web sockets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follows convention over configuration<\/a> policy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and much more<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can create REST API using simple commands in few minutes. Let see how it can be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First all you need to install NodeJS<\/a> on your machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can then install stable version of Sails using following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

npm install sails -g<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Creating API<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now lets create a Sails application<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sails new test_app<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You should see following message in your console after the app is created successfully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
info: Created a new Sails app ‘test_app’!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now move to the app directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cd test_app\/<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
and start Sails server with following command<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sails lift<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If everything goes right you will see following screen.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
\"sails<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
It uses port no 1337 as the default port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Visit http:\/\/localhost:1337<\/code> in your browser to see the home page of your sails app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, lets create simple REST API for User model with attributes name and email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Run the following command in your console<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sails generate api users name email<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This will create API with REST actions. Now when you start the server, you will have three options to choose(see attached).<\/p>\n\n\n
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\"API<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Choose 2 (i.e the alter option) and press enter. Now the REST API is ready to use! So easy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following are the routes which we can use. It deals with JSON<\/a> data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n