make the app mountable

[guybrush]

this is not meant to be merged yet, it is an approach to make the etherpad-lite-app mountable into other express-apps.

right now it feels SUPER-hacky - but works

with the current patch, one can mount the etherpad like that:

var app = require('express').createServer()
var pad = require('etherpad-lite/node/server.js')
app.use('/pad', pad.helpExpress(
  { basepath : '/pad'
  , settings : 
    { dbType: 'dirty'
    , dbSettings: { filename: '/home/patrick/pad.db' }
    , defaultPadText : 'blub'
    , minify : true
    , abiword : null
    , loglevel: 'INFO'
    }
  }
))
app.listen(5000)

• handling of settings is really bad right now :p
• the basepath passed to the helpExpress must match the route where you mount the etherpad (/pad in my example)
• i dont know what happens when the app which mounts the etherpad already uses socket.io

anyway - this is how i use etherpad-light right now, would love to hear what you are thinking about it

[guybrush]

actually, i would like to make it like that:

var app = require('express').createServer()
var padSettings = 
  { dbType: 'dirty'
  , dbSettings: { filename: '/home/patrick/pad.db' }
  , defaultPadText : 'blub'
  , minify : true
  , abiword : null
  , loglevel: 'INFO'
  }
var pad = require('etherpad-lite')(padSettings)
app.use('/pad', pad.app)
app.listen(5000)
// also possible:
// pad.app.get('/otherRoute',function(req,res){res.end('hello')})
// pad.app.listen(5000)

how do you think about that api?

we could make all the routes editable in the settings

[Pita]

please keep relative paths

[timeturner]

This is really interesting. I hope it gets done actually.

Basically for someone using express, and monogdb there has to be a system to replace etherpad-lite's database with redis or something and then periodically update a document in mongodb. That would be the most ideal and easiest way to integrate etherpad-lite. Otherwise it's very restrictive with little documentation on api to introduce it seamlessly into other apps.

[guybrush]

@cweider sorry there is lots of noise in this patches, they are not meant to be merged - its all about the idea/api :D

@ronquil yes it would be cool to have an option to mount ep-lite into another app

i will try to make a better patch next weekend

thanks for response

[timeturner]

@guybrush if you can make ep-lite mountable with redis (realtime database) and some other persistant database (mongodb, postgresql) in express that would be amazing. I would do almost anything to push this approach. However I feel that it might involve a major rewrite of how ep-lite works as a standalone now. Anyways keep us posted on your progress! :D

[booo]

• There should be a settings object which one passes to the padApp
  • It should be possible to have multipe instance of an settings object
• There should be a padApp which is an instance of an express server/app (express.createServer)
  • the app takes a settings instance as configuration parameter
  • (as second parameter one can add a database instance which the app should share with other apps)
  • the padApp should be mountable by express
  • think of it as a library
• There should be another module which creates a standalone ep-lite instance
  • the module/server should understand some commandline options e.g. tell the server the place of the config file
• don't keep states in modules
  • e.g the database instance shouldn't be part of the module.

We should do this step by step. One monster pull request is going to fail...

[timeturner]

@booo I like your approach. It keeps the implementation very distinct and clear especially when using it within an existing express app.

[Pita]

We're have a different aproach to solve the problem. The plugin system that gets created at the moment allows you to extend the express server. We should go down this road. Thx anyway