This tutorial assumes you have node.js version 0.8.1+ as well as npm version 1.2.18+ properly installed. It further assumes working on a POSIX-ish environment. Also assumed is that the reader has at least passing knowledge of JavaScript.
"Hello Google"
In order to better illustrate the steps, we are going to develop a super trivial app that will send a search query to google, retrieve the results in json format and then print the results to the screen. So, let's get moving:
1. Let's create a directory and cd into it:
$ mkdir hello-google && cd $_
2. Now the crucial step to get your node module started:
$ npm init
This will create a file named package.json which should look something like this:
{
"name": "hello-google",
"version": "0.0.1",
"description": "A trivial app to illustrate node.js dev",
"main": "main.js",
"scripts": {
"test": ""
},
"dependencies": {
},
"repository": "",
"author": "Ruben Orduz",
"license": "MIT"
}
3. Install request module (easier to use than the default http client):
$ npm install request
4. Let's add request to the list of dependencies in package.json:
{
"name": "hello-google",
"version": "0.0.1",
"description": "A trivial app to illustrate node.js dev",
"main": "main.js",
"scripts": {
"test": ""
},
"dependencies": {
"request": ""
},
"repository": "",
"author": "Ruben Orduz",
"license": "MIT"
}
5. Let's create main.js and write some code (you can use your text editor of choice in place of 'open'):
$ touch main.js && open $_
6. Now copy and paste the following code in main.js:
$ cd ..
$ node hello-google/
In a few seconds, you should see something along the lines of:
PRISM (surveillanc -> http://en.wikipedia.org/w
Nine Companies Tied to http://www.usnews.com/new
What Is PRISM? - G -> http://gizmodo.com/what-i
NSA slides explain the http://www.washingtonpost
8. If you have never submitted any packages to npm before, you must register with the following command:
$ npm adduser
it will prompt you some questions and within seconds you will have your user and machine authorized to publish to npm's public servers.
9. Once you are 100% ready that you want to publish a module for public consumption, you can run the following command:
$ npm publish
10. To make sure your module can be installed and run:
$ npm install hello-google
11. Let's test it through node:
$ echo "r = require('hello-google');" > test.js && node test.js
Note that the name the module will be published as it's not the name of the directory, it's the name declared in the package.json
