How to properly set up Coffeescript with Node.js

Question

I'm trying to define some Node routes using Coffeescript in the following way:

My app.js file:

/**
 * Module dependencies.
 */

require('coffee-script');

var express = require('express');


var http = require('http');

var path = require('path');

var app = express();

// all environments

app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);

app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));

app.set('view engine', 'jade');

app.use(express.favicon());

app.use(express.logger('dev'));

app.use(express.json());

app.use(express.urlencoded());

app.use(express.methodOverride());

app.use(app.router);

app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));

// development only

if ('development' == app.get('env')) {
  app.use(express.errorHandler());
}

require('./routes')(app);

http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
  console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});

My routes.coffee file (located at the same level as app.'s):

routes = (app) ->


app.get '/login', (req,res) ->

    res.render "views/login",

        title: 'Login'

        stylesheet: 'login'

module.exports = routes

My issue are:

1 when I try to run node app - I get:

module.js:340
    throw err;
      ^
Error: Cannot find module './routes'

If I explicitly specify the .coffee suffix: require('./routes.coffee')(app); - I get:

routes = (app) ->
                ^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token >

What is the proper way of doing this, please?

Do you want to mix Coffee and Javascript on the same project or is Coffee your main language? — Aurélien Thieriot, Feb 05 '14 at 17:40
What version of CoffeeScript are you using? Specifically, things changed in 1.7 with regard to the way you're trying to use it. — Aaron Dufour, Feb 05 '14 at 18:12
The version os node is: v0.10.25 And the version of Coffee is: CoffeeScript version 1.7.1 — Eugene Goldberg, Feb 05 '14 at 18:16
No, the version of CoffeeScript. In a node REPL, you can do `require('coffee-script').VERSION`. — Aaron Dufour, Feb 05 '14 at 18:18
I would prefer to just use Coffeescript throughout the entire back-end of the application, if possible — Eugene Goldberg, Feb 05 '14 at 18:19

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 05 '14 at 18:24

15

In CoffeeScript 1.7, the line require('coffee-script') no longer allows you to require CoffeeScript files. Instead, you need to either:

require('coffee-script/register')

or

require('coffee-script').register()

See the documentation.

answered Feb 05 '14 at 18:24

Aaron Dufour

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Thanks! using /register did the trick. I will now open a different question, since my newly recognized routes.coffee now triggers ˚ ReferenceError: app is not defined – Eugene Goldberg Feb 05 '14 at 18:31

How to properly set up Coffeescript with Node.js

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