alexbeletsky / sparkling

Building Reactive API's with Express.js and MongoDB

Sparkling API

RxJS based, DDP powered, Express.js extension for building reactive API's.

The idea

As web developers, we are building RESTful API's for years already. HTTP proved itself in hardest battles, but there is a new demand.

Real-time web applications require another type of API's that would bring reactivity to applications.

Sparkling aims to augment your existing RESTful API's with observable entities, reachable on a client so an application could react on server changes and access streams of data in Reactive Extensions way.

Reactive Extensions

RxJS is an API for asynchronous programming with observable streams. It's build upon idea that everything application handles is a stream, doesn't matter it's UI events or server data flow.

Sparkling focus is on server side, leaving client implementation framework agnostic.

Example

Integrate it into Express.js application, as

var express = require('express');
var sparkling = require('sparkling');

var app = express();
var reactive = sparkling(app);

app.use(reactive());

On client,

import sparkling from 'sparking/client';

// configure
sparkling.reactiveCollections([
    'accounts',
    'leads',
    'opportunities'
]);

// create observable (returns RxJS Observable)
let updates = sparking.accounts.observable()
    .filter((e) => return e.action === 'updated')
    .debounce(500)
    .flatMap((e) => return e.data);

// subcribe to observable
updates.subcribe((account) => {
    // update DOM here
});

Once update occures on server, observer will recieve an event and will be able to update UI.

Licence

MIT [e-mail]