Question

Is it possible to pass arguments when loading a module using require?

I have module, login.js which provides login functionality. It requires a database connection, and I want the same database connection to be used in all my modules. Now I export a function login.setDatabase(…) which lets me specify a database connection, and that works just fine. But I would rather pass the database and any other requirements when I load the module.

var db = ...
var login = require("./login.js")(db);

I am pretty new with NodeJS and usually develop using Java and the Spring Framework, so yes… this is a constructor injection 🙂 Is it possible to do something like the code I provided above?

Answer 1

Based on your comments in this answer, I do what you’re trying to do like this:

module.exports = function (app, db) {
    var module = {};

    module.auth = function (req, res) {
        // This will be available 'outside'.
        // Authy stuff that can be used outside...
    };

    // Other stuff...
    module.pickle = function(cucumber, herbs, vinegar) {
        // This will be available 'outside'.
        // Pickling stuff...
    };

    function jarThemPickles(pickle, jar) {
        // This will be NOT available 'outside'.
        // Pickling stuff...

        return pickleJar;
    };

    return module;
};

I structure pretty much all my modules like that. Seems to work well for me.