TeqFW: Organizing the Top Level Code

Publication date: 2024-02-15

I develop web applications using my own framework called Tequila Framework (TeqFW). One of the distinguishing features of this framework is its ability to develop JS code that can be used unchanged both on the server and in the browser (for example, constants or DTO).

Often, developers separate front-end and back-end code into different npm packages simply because the development requirements for these two options are different. Front-end primarily deals with interaction with people (input-output of information), while back-end deals with other applications (databases, message queues, etc.).

Of course, you can divide the front-end and back-end code at the directory level within a single npm package:

./src

./back

./front If an application’s code is shared between the front-end and back-end, you can also add a third directory:

./src

./back

./front

./shared This directory structure with source files is used in the TeqFW platform, with the slight difference that all directories and file names within ./src use CamelCase notation:

./src

./Back

./Front

./Shared

./Dto

./UserAuth This is because the TeqFW platform constructs its own name for each ES6 module in the application, and these names are then used by the Object Container for dependency injection. For example, a file ./src/Shared/Dto/UserAuth/Permission.js depending on the npm package settings may have the name Vendor_App_Shared_Dto_UserAuth_Permission. This approach allows the Object Container to address any ES6 module within the teq-application.

Such division of the ./src directory into three directories (./Back, ./Front, ./Shared) is mandatory for all npm packages built according to the TeqFW platform rules. This is because the platform provides web access from the browser to the sources in the ./Front and ./Shared directories. Therefore, these directories cannot contain ES6 modules using any server resources (Node.js or npm packages not complying with TeqFW rules). For example, the following code cannot be processed in the browser:

import {existsSync, mkdirSync, rmSync} from ‘node:fs’;

Since there is no file system support from Node.js in the browser.

Examples of existing teq-plugins (npm packages):

Summary

Any npm package that is a Tequila platform plugin places its sources in directories within its root source directory in accordance with this structure:

./src

./Back

./Front

./Shared The platform does not impose restrictions on the name of the root directory (./src or ./source). If there is no code from any sphere (Front, Back, or Shared) in the npm package, the corresponding directory is also absent.

I dedicated a separate post to these three directories because it’s not just a recommendation, but a requirement. Within these three directories, you can structure files however you like, but such division of code by usage spheres is mandatory for any plugin of the platform.

Additional source-code excerpts

src/
  Back/
  Front/
  Shared/
    Dto/
      UserAuth/

Vendor_App_Shared_Dto_UserAuth_Permission

import { existsSync, mkdirSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs';