4LOOP MEAN

4LOOP MEAN is a framework for an easy starting point with MySQL / MariaDB, Node.js, Express, and AngularJS based applications. It is designed to give you a quick and organized way to start developing MEAN based web apps with useful modules pre-bundled and configured.

Prerequisite Technologies

Linux

• Node.js - Download and Install Node.js, nodeschool has free node tutorials to get you started. We recommend node-4.x as the preferred node version to run mean.io.
• MongoDB - Download and Install mongodb - Checkout their manual if you're just starting.

If you're using ubuntu, this is the preferred repository to use...

$ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_4.x | sudo -E bash -
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install nodejs

• Git - Get git using a package manager or download it.

Windows

• Node.js - Download and Install Node.js, nodeschool has free node tutorials to get you started.
• MongoDB - Follow the great tutorial from the mongodb site - "Install Mongodb On Windows"
• Git - The easiest way to install git and then run the rest of the commands through the git bash application (via command prompt) is by downloading and installing Git for Windows

OSX

• Node.js - Download and Install Node.js or use the packages within brew or macports.
• MongoDB - Follow the tutorial here - Install mongodb on OSX
• git - Get git from here.

Prerequisite packages

• Mean currently uses gulp as a build tool and bower to manage frontend packages.

$ npm install -g gulp
// and bower
$ npm install -g bower

Installation

To start with MEAN

1. Download the repository
2. Install npm modules:

$ npm install

3. Install bower dependencies

$ bower install

4. Start up the server:

$ node index

5. Then, open a browser and go to:

http://localhost:3000

Running on a different port

If you have a node, or other MEAN project already running, you may need to use a different port. You can set the port and start your new MEAN project with one command:

$ export PORT=3001 && node index

Then, open a browser and change the port number before you visit:

  http://localhost:3001

Troubleshooting

During installation depending on your os and prerequisite versions you may encounter some issues.

Most issues can be solved by one of the following tips, but if you are unable to find a solution feel free to contact us via the repository issue tracker or the links provided below.

Update NPM, Bower or Gulp

Sometimes you may find there is a weird error during install like npm's Error: ENOENT. Usually updating those tools to the latest version solves the issue.

• Updating NPM:

$ npm update -g npm

• Updating Gulp:

$ npm update -g gulp

• Updating Bower:

$ npm update -g bower

Cleaning NPM and Bower cache

NPM and Bower has a caching system for holding packages that you already installed. We found that often cleaning the cache solves some troubles this system creates.

• NPM Clean Cache:

$ npm cache clean

• Bower Clean Cache:

$ bower cache clean

Installation problems on Windows 8 / 8.1

Some of Mean.io dependencies uses node-gyp with supported Python version 2.7.x. So if you see an error related to node-gyp rebuild follow next steps:

1. install Python 2.7.x
2. install Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2012 Express
3. Run NPM update

$ npm update -g

Git "not found" on Windows

If you get this error when trying to mean init:

Prerequisite not installed: git

And you definitely have Git for Windows installed, then it's not included in your path. Find the folder containing git.exe (likely C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd) and add it to your PATH.

Technologies

The MEAN stack

MEAN is an acronym for MySQL/MariaDB , Express.js , Angular.js and Node.js

Additional Tools

• Node MySQL - A pure node.js JavaScript Client implementing the MySql protocol.
• Passport - An authentication middleware for Node.js which supports authentication using a username and password, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
• Twitter Bootstrap - The most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects.
• UI Bootstrap - Bootstrap components written in pure AngularJS

Packages

File structure

The file structure is similar to that of the MEAN project itself

Fundamental Files at the root of the package

Server

Packages are registered in the app.js Defines package name, version and mean=true in the package.json

All of the Server side code resides in the /app directory.

app       
--- controllers   # Server side logic goes here
--- daos          # Database Active Objects (Database Queries logic goes here)
--- routes        # Rest api endpoints for routing
--- views         # Swig based html rendering

All of the Server side configuration resides in the /config directory.

config            # Configuration files
--- environment   # node environment

All of the API documentation resides in the /docs directory.

 docs
 --- api   # swagger json file

Client

All of the Client side code resides in the /public directory.

There are 2 types for Client side setup:

1.)

public
--- assets        # JavaScript/CSS/Images (not aggregated)
--- controllers   # Angular controllers
--- config        # Contains routing files
--- services      # Angular services (also directive and filter folders)
--- views         # Angular views

2.)

public
--- assets                                 # CSS/Images (not aggregated)
--- scripts      
    ---- services                          # Angular services
    ---- directives                        # Angular directives
    ---- filters                           # Angular filters
    ---- config                            # Contains main routing files  
--- modules                                # Angular views and controllers
    ---- (feature)foldername
	----- feature.html                 # Angular View
	----- feature.modal.html           # Angular View
	----- feature.config.js            # Contains routing files
	----- controllers                  # Angular controllers
		----- feature.controller.js
	    

Config

All the configuration is specified in the config folder, through the env files, and is orchestrated through the meanio NPM module. Here you will need to specify your application name, database name, and hook up any social app keys if you want integration with Twitter, Facebook, GitHub, or Google.

Environmental Settings

To run with a different environment, just specify NODE_ENV:

$ NODE_ENV=test node index

or :

$ node index test

Heroku

Before you start make sure you have the Heroku toolbelt installed.

Add the db string to the production env in server/config/env/production.js.

Create heroku app (if needed)

$ git init
$ git add .
$ git commit -m "initial version"

$ heroku apps:create

If you get missing module errors, install missing dependencies

npm i -S ms kerberos
npm update --save
git commit -m "save versions to package.json"

Push to heroku and configure

$ git push heroku master
$ heroku config:set NODE_MODULES_CACHE=false
$ heroku config:set NODE_ENV=production
$ heroku config:set CPU_COUNT=2

You can adjust the CPU_COUNT variable up or down based on how much memory your app is consuming, or leave it unset to fork a process for each CPU.

More Information

• Visit us at 4loop.ph.

License

We believe that MEAN should be free and easy to integrate within your existing projects so we chose The MIT License