Useful tips for Node.js

1. Windows Users- remember to use “Node.js command prompt” and NOT  “Node.js” : When you download and install Node.js for windows version, along with Node.js environment the installation also adds icons for quick launch of Node.js console. If you use quick launcher “Node.js”, it does open a console which appears to be Node.js console, however when you try to run any command, it ends up in a weird error.

Complete list of installers is available here.

2. Install packages, Node.js does not contain everything in it:  Depending on the logic, your Node.js code may use various libraries. Don’t be under impression that the initial setup makes everything available to you. You may need to add those packages explicitly to your environment. NPM (Node.js package manager) is a Node.js console based command which allows you to install different packages.

Packages like express, JQuery, bower, underscore, debug, request etc. needs to be installed explicitly. The complete list of NPM packages is available here

The syntax is like below

npm install <packagename>

OR

npm i  <packagename>  (incase you feel lazy to type complete spelling of install 😆 )

3. Want to test Node.js online? Try Windows Azure: Windows Azure provides one month of free trial to host web applications online. Azure comes with many useful features to manage web contents. It also supports integration with Github which is used for versioning of source code.

Important : If you want to deploy Node.js web application on Azure, you will have to use ports supported by Azure, in other words -hardcoded port number may not work on Azure.