Skip to main content

Sails.js Hello World

Sails.js is a web application framework built on top of Node.js that follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. It provides a robust set of features for building scalable and real-time web applications.

With Sails.js, you can easily create APIs, web services, and single-page applications. It simplifies the development process by providing a convention-over-configuration approach, which means that you can focus on writing code for your application's business logic instead of spending time on configuration.

History​

Sails.js was created by Mike McNeil and released in 2012. It was inspired by Ruby on Rails and aimed to bring the productivity benefits of Rails to the Node.js ecosystem. Since then, Sails.js has gained popularity and has a strong community of developers contributing to its growth.

Features​

Sails.js comes with a wide range of features that make it a powerful framework for building web applications. Some of the key features include:

  1. Real-time capabilities: Sails.js uses WebSockets and other real-time technologies to enable real-time communication between clients and servers. This makes it easy to build applications that require instant updates, such as chat applications or collaborative tools.

  2. Automatic RESTful API generation: Sails.js automatically generates RESTful APIs based on your application's models and controllers. This makes it simple to expose your application's data as an API that can be consumed by other applications or clients.

  3. Blueprints: Sails.js provides a set of blueprints, which are predefined actions that can be used to perform common CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on your application's models. This saves you time by reducing the amount of code you need to write for basic operations.

  4. Database agnostic: Sails.js supports multiple databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and more. You can easily switch between different databases or use multiple databases in your application.

  5. Security: Sails.js provides built-in security features, such as CSRF protection, input validation, and encryption. This helps you build secure applications without having to worry about common security vulnerabilities.

Now that we have an overview, let's dive into a Hello World example to get a hands-on experience.

Hello World Example​

To get started with Sails.js, make sure you have Node.js installed on your machine. You can download it from the official Node.js website: https://nodejs.org

Once you have Node.js installed, open your terminal or command prompt and follow these steps:

  1. Install the Sails.js command-line tool globally by running the following command:

    npm install sails -g

  2. Create a new Sails.js project by running the following command:

    sails new hello-world

    This will create a new directory named "hello-world" with a basic Sails.js project structure.

  3. Change into the project directory:

    cd hello-world

  4. Lift the Sails.js server by running the following command:

    sails lift

    This will start the Sails.js server on the default port 1337.

  5. Open your web browser and visit http://localhost:1337. You should see the default Sails.js welcome page.

Congratulations! You have successfully created and run a Sails.js application.

Now, let's take a closer look at the project structure and understand how things work.

The project structure created by Sails.js follows the MVC pattern. Here's a brief overview of the main directories and files:

  • api: This directory contains the application's models, controllers, and services.
  • config: This directory contains configuration files for Sails.js, such as routes, database connections, and environment-specific settings.
  • views: This directory contains the application's views, which are used to render HTML templates.
  • assets: This directory contains static assets like CSS, JavaScript, and images.
  • tasks: This directory contains custom Grunt tasks, which can be used to automate various build processes.

That's it for the Hello World example. You can explore the official Sails.js documentation for more advanced topics and features: https://sailsjs.com

Comparison with Alternatives​

Sails.js is often compared to other Node.js frameworks, such as Express.js and Hapi.js. Here are some key points to consider when comparing Sails.js with its alternatives:

  • Productivity: Sails.js provides a higher level of abstraction compared to Express.js, which makes it easier to get started and build applications quickly. It also includes built-in features like automatic RESTful API generation and real-time capabilities, which can save development time.

  • Scalability: Sails.js is designed to handle large-scale applications with complex business logic. It provides features like blueprints, which can help you build scalable APIs. However, if you have very specific performance requirements or need fine-grained control over your application's architecture, Express.js or Hapi.js might be better suited.

  • Community and Ecosystem: Sails.js has a growing community of developers and a vibrant ecosystem of plugins and modules. It has been around for a few years and has gained a considerable amount of traction. Express.js, on the other hand, has been around for longer and has a larger community and ecosystem.