2013 Intro to Sails (v0.9.8)

In this talk, I give a brief introduction to Sails.js, a realtime, server-side MVC framework for Node.js. I’ll point out some of the problems that Node.js developers face when trying to build apps from scratch, and show how Sails helps solve them. I’ll also live-code examples of some tasks that are simplified by Sails.js.

Sails is an open-source framework built on top of Express, Socket.io, and other industry-standard node modules. It is designed to resemble the MVC architecture from frameworks like Ruby on Rails, but with support for the more modern, data-oriented style of web app development. It’s aim is to make Node.js practical for production applications, by providing a familiar structure for an app’s back-end while remaining unopinionated about the front-end as well as database-agnostic. It’s especially good for creating realtime features, such as chat.

(Updated:)
other topics covered:
+ High-level look at associations in Sails v0.10
+ Plugins (generators, hooks, adapters, blueprints, custom responses)

Transcript

1. sails.js
   realtime MVC framework for Node.js
   

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2. who am i?
   @mikermcneil
   

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3. We design and develop javascript apps for
   enterprise and startup customers.
   i have a startup called balderdash
   

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4. love at rst sight
   circa 2011
   Node.js...
   

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5. OPEFKTUSBOTMBUFTTFSWFSDPODFQUTJOUP
   KBWBTDSJQUUIFMJOHVBGSBODBGPSUIFFWFSZ
   NBO
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   •
   •
   •
   •
   •
   

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6. route&
   first*
   philosophy
   opt&in*
   framework*
   structure
   “smalltalk*
   ethics”
   UML
   “javascript*
   ethics”
   servlets
   mvc
   spring,*
   et.*al.
   rails
   enterprise*
   java
   ruby
   module
   system
   (npm)
   noSQL
   (mongo/
   redis)
   async*
   flow*
   control
   from*the*
   front&end:
   generators
   (yeoman)
   node.js
   convention*
   over*
   configuration
   event*loop
   ORM
   

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7. Can we use Node.js for,
   like, everything?
   i wondered...
   

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8. Can we use Node.js for,
   like, everything?
   i wondered...
   maybe.
   

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9. Realtime used to
   be kind of hard
   XMPP
   Comet
   Reverse AJAX
   Long polling
   Flash sockets
   WebSockets
   Server-sent events
   

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10. A lot easier now
    

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11. Programming
    realtime apps
    was still not
    trivial.
    Socket.io and Express
    messages/requests have to be
    handled independently, which
    leads to separate code bases for
    realtime and traditional server
    code.
    

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12. Programming
    realtime apps
    was still not
    trivial.
    Socket.io and Express
    messages/requests have to be
    handled independently, which
    leads to separate code bases for
    realtime and traditional server
    code.
    Socket programming is a new
    paradigm for many modern web
    developers
    

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13. Socket.io and Express
    messages/requests have to be
    handled independently, which
    leads to separate code bases for
    realtime and traditional server
    code.
    Socket programming is a new
    paradigm for many modern web
    developers
    Questions about scalability
    Programming
    realtime apps
    was still not
    trivial.
    

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14. Express wasn’t
    “structured
    enough”
    Authentication has to be rolled
    from scratch
    

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15. Express wasn’t
    “structured
    enough”
    Authentication has to be rolled
    from scratch
    No standard,
    implementation-agnostic method
    of working with datastores
    

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16. Express wasn’t
    “structured
    enough”
    Authentication has to be rolled
    from scratch
    No standard,
    implementation-agnostic method
    of working with datastores
    Low level and free-form -- not a
    lot of guidelines for teams used
    to convention-over-con guration
    frameworks
    

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17. Lots
    of different
    kinds of
    projects
    There weren’t really any simple
    and reproducible patterns for
    structuring complicated Node.js
    aplications top to bottom
    

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18. Lots
    of different
    kinds of
    projects
    There weren’t really any simple
    and reproducible patterns for
    structuring complicated Node.js
    aplications top to bottom
    Could be working with an
    existing client, or writing a new
    client for a mobile web browser,
    an automobile, a toaster, or god
    knows what
    

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19. Lots
    of different
    kinds of
    projects
    There weren’t really any simple
    and reproducible patterns for
    structuring complicated Node.js
    aplications top to bottom
    Could be working with an
    existing client, or writing a new
    client for a mobile web browser,
    an automobile, a toaster, or god
    knows what
    Lots of different 3rd party
    proprietary services to deal with
    on the back-end -- there was no
    standard way to integrate new
    systems
    

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20. too bad.
    we went with Node anyway.
    

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21. so Sails.js was born
    

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22. MVC structure
    Sails.js is modeled after the same
    convention-over-con guration philosophy
    you’re used to from frameworks like Rails,
    Grails, Symfony, and Zend.
    Controllers are just Express middleware
    Views are ejs by default, but you can use
    jade, etc. We rarely use them since we’re
    normally making single page apps with
    client-side templates.
    

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23. Lightweight ORM
    Kept querying semantics dead-simple and
    adapter-agnostic whenever possible
    Pulled the best of Active Record,
    Hibernate, and Mongoose
    Made it easy to add purpose-built adapters
    at the app level
    

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24. Policies
    Policies are just more Express middleware
    They can be chained together to “protect”
    or preprocess requests for controllers
    E.g. access control, storage quotas, or
    anything else you’d want to use
    middleware for
    

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25. Socket.io Express
    interpreter
    Translated incoming socket.io messages into
    Express requests
    Translated res.send(), res.json(), and res.view()
    to respond via the socket, as well as allowing
    for streams
    Added res.broadcast() and req.join() methods
    for pubsub
    Normalized con guration
    

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26. Blueprints
    Instead of something like Rails HTML
    scaffolds, by default, when you generate a
    model and controller, Sails serves an API
    Built-in search, sort, pagination, and
    complex queries
    Authentication/access control can be built
    on top using policies
    

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27. Other
    cool
    stuff
    CLI tool
    REPL
    Custom adapters
    Optional server-side coffee
    support
    Automatic asset bundling (LESS
    and coffeescript les are
    compiled, merged with css and js,
    and injected into the DOM,
    mini ed in production mode)
    

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28. BTTPDJBUJPOT
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31. DSPTTDPOOFDUJPO
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    •
    

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32. IPXJUXPSLT
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34. let’s code things now
    OK
    

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35. CURRENT STATUS (V0..)
    Community is growing (almost 5000 stars,
    over 400 forks on github, active IRC channel
    and Google group)
    

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36. Community is growing (almost 5000 stars,
    over 400 forks on github, active IRC channel
    and Google group)
    My company and most of our customers are
    using Sails in production
    CURRENT STATUS (V0.9.)
    

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37. My company and most of our customers are
    using Sails in production
    Oldest running production Sails app has
    been up for nearly 2 years
    CURRENT STATUS (V0..)
    Community is growing (almost 5000 stars,
    over 400 forks on github, active IRC channel
    and Google group)
    

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38. FYUFOEJOHTBJMT
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    •
    

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39. BEBQUFST
    • TBJMTNZTRM
    ſpm$install$sails*mysql)
    • TBJMTSFEJT
    ſpm$install$sails*redis)
    • TBJMTNPOHP
    ſpm$install$sails*mongo)
    • TBJMTQPTUHSFTRM
    ſpm$install$sails*postgresql)
    • TBJMTSFTU
    ſpm$install$sails*rest)
    • TBJMTNBOESJMM
    ſpm$install$sails*mandrill)
    • FUD
    

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40. CMVFQSJOUT
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    npm$install$sails*generate*blueprints*ember
    

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41. HFOFSBUPST
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    npm$install$sails*generate*new
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    • FUD
    

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42. IPPLT
    r IUUQ
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43. Want to get involved?
    Contribute to an adapter
    

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44. Want to get involved?
    Contribute to an adapter
    improve the documentation
    

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45. Want to get involved?
    Contribute to an adapter
    improve the documentation
    Write tutorials
    

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46. Want to get involved?
    Contribute to an adapter
    improve the documentation
    Write tutorials
    Blog about Sails
    

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47. Contribute to an adapter
    improve the documentation
    Write tutorials
    Blog about Sails
    Play with Sails and come up with
    more cool shit
    Want to get involved?
    

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48. Questions?
    

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49. Thanks!
    @mikermcneil
    mike@balderdash.co
    

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