Are you prepared to use Node.js to rapidly build websites? Learn how to create scalable web apps with cutting-edge new tools with the help of this in-depth guide to the best Node.js frameworks.

Developers often feel pressured by the question, “Which Node.js framework is best for my project?” How can I improve speed as I add more users without compromising scalability? A famous programmer by the name of “John Doe” once stated, “Choosing the right framework is like choosing the right tool for a job – it can make all the difference.”

Selecting the best Node.js framework is a difficult task for developers everywhere. There will be far-reaching effects on the speed and scalability of all web-based applications due to this decision. Recent research has explored the nuances of this choice, illuminating effective practices for deciding on a framework. 

You will finish this lesson with a solid knowledge of the most popular Node.js frameworks and an appreciation for the benefits each has to offer. Knowing what you’re doing allows you to create web apps that scale well and perform admirably even under heavy load.

What Is the Node.js Framework?

Use Node.js, an open-source JavaScript runtime environment, to create and release scalable server-side network applications. Its lightweight and effective error handling stems from its event-driven, non-blocking I/O design.

Quick and easy development of REST APIs, the Rails web framework, routing, logging, authentication, the command line interface, debugging, and much more is possible thanks to frameworks developed on top of Node.js.

Express, Koa, Sails, Meteor, and Hapi are just a few of the most popular Node.js frameworks. Each framework has its own set of benefits, but ultimately they all contribute to the same thing: a reduction in the time and energy required to create a web application.

In addition to providing database connection and template engines, several node.js frameworks also offer the top node.js libraries. Your remaining project APIs, personal preferences, and requirements will determine the best Node.js framework for you.

Node.js frameworks are powerful tools that improve the speed and effectiveness of web development and the rollout of applications that make use of RESTful APIs. Despite the possibilities available, there is probably just one tried-and-true, minimal rest API framework written in the language of your choice. 

When to use the Node.js framework?

Thanks to Node.js frameworks, developing apps is fast; sophisticated asynchronous code is unnecessary. It is possible that your model-view-controller application’s development expenses might be reduced and its performance improved by making use of the modules and utilities provided by a Node.js framework.

Node.js frameworks include capabilities such as scalability, support for middleware, optimization, code generators, caching, framework support, security, and interaction with other technologies like databases and web servers.

By providing pre-built components for server-side rendering, Node.js frameworks free up developers to focus on building out their applications’ unique business logic and whipping up REST APIs.

Today’s web-based economies need rapid iteration in many areas, including mobile apps, object-oriented programming, data validation, developer productivity, and app delivery deadlines.

Additional resources for creating high-quality applications and enhancing existing software are provided by some Node.js frameworks. Authentication, authorization, and automated workflow can all be implemented with little to no code thanks to the MVC framework. This facilitates the rapid rollout of applications with little overhead while meeting stringent safety requirements.

Top Node.js Frameworks

Nest.js Framework

It is one of the most popular Node.js frameworks, with over 55,000 votes on GitHub. Node.js excels at building highly scalable server-side applications. It takes the well-known Express framework as its foundation and updates it with modern features and tools for app development.

Because it is TypeScript-compatible, developers may more easily make use of TypeScript and its static typing, interface, and classes. Every aspect of JavaScript is improved upon with TypeScript.

Features:

• Assistance with TypeScript
• Checking for obvious errors and flaws 
• The ability to inject dependencies is standard.
• WebSockets provide real-time, two-way interaction between a browser and a server.
• API documentation is simplified using Swagger.js in Nest.
• TypeORM in nest.js makes establishing a connection to a database simple.

Advantages:

• Using MVC, you can cleanly organize your code.
• Permits the usage of TypeScript, which facilitates type checking and higher quality code.
• All the modern technologies you’ve come to expect—microservice architecture, GraphQL, Web Sockets, OpenAPI (swagger)—are already a part of it.
• Provides a cutting-edge environment in which to design software.

Express.js Framework

Express.js, or just Express, is one of the most popular back-end frameworks for building web, real-time, and microservice applications. There have been over 60,000 positive votes for it on GitHub.

Developers tend to like it since it doesn’t have any unnecessary bells and whistles. It’s suitable for programmers of all skill levels because of its large range of features and capabilities while being lightweight and user-friendly.

Features Most Noticeable:

• “MVC” Framework
• Unopinionated 
• Various Template Engines to Choose From 
• Minimal synchronization and low-weight
• Server-development software

Advantages:

• Streamlined for novice web designers and developers, without any extra fluff.
• As a result of its popularity and longevity, it has gathered a big, helpful community and a plethora of knowledge.
• Allows the framework to be tailored to the needs of certain developers, boosting efficiency.

Koa.js Framework

It was developed by the same people responsible for Express, with a focus this time on flexibility and user-friendliness. Over 33,000 people have given it a five-star rating on GitHub.  It’s one of the best node js frameworks, and it’s lightweight and easy on the system resources. 

Modern JavaScript features, such as async/await, form the foundation of Koa’s advanced middleware design. It’s a modern, streamlined alternative to Express for building websites.

Features Most Noticeable:

• Asynchronous and awaited execution 
• Managing Exceptions Caused by Software
• Fresh and the way of the future

Advantages:

• With just 550 lines of code, it takes up very little space.
• It is well-suited to the development of large-scale applications since it was built on top of JavaScript’s asynchronous capabilities and provides generators to handle asynchronous operations.
• Koa has better functionality than Express, so developers can make the conversion. 

Sails.js

On GitHub, almost 22,000 individuals have given their approval. With the help of its dedicated user base, Sail.js has quickly become one of the most widely used implementations of Node.js. 

Sails.js is built on the MVC framework, which facilitates easy code management. Web sockets, automated testing, and API-driven development are just a few of the other state-of-the-art features it offers. 

Features Most Noticeable:

• Real-Time Reporting of Quality
• RESTful APIs that are platform-agnostic
• The use of WebSockets

Advantages:

• It is highly flexible and can be easily modified as per the requirements.
• It makes the process of creating REST APIs easy.

Hapi

Hapi was created with the help of Express by Walmart Labs. It was designed to meet the demands of high-traffic events. Later, they added their spin, conceptual framework, and extension. 

Hapi offers several features that make Node.JS app development easier. It is also used in creating HTTP proxies, API servers, and other web-based applications. Hapi also helps in easy add which makes it one of the most favorable Node.JS frameworks. 

Features:

• Easily adaptable methods of authentication and authorization.
• Several tools for testing.
• With routing, creating web services and RESTful APIs is easy.

Advantages:

• App testing is easier with the preinstalled software.
• Modularity enables easy addon and removal of components.
• It is easy to include APIs, databases, and libraries.

Socket.io

Among the many JavaScript frameworks, Socket.io is well regarded. It has received 58K+ ratings on GitHub.  It is often used for the development of real-time applications. Multiple popular applications, such as chat rooms, games, and stock tickers, are built on the Socket.io platform.  

One of its primary characteristics is web sockets, a protocol allowing bidirectional communication between the server and the client. When developing real-time communication apps, Socket.IO offers a stable environment that reduces the complexity of working with web sockets.

Features Most Noticeable:

• Reconnection in an instant 
• Reliability (service continues in the face of a WebSocket connection failure through HTTP long-polling)
• Multiplexing and establishing numerous independent channels of communication across a common medium.
• Real-time user-server communication on the World Wide Web
• Better techniques for debugging and managing errors

Advantages:

• This framework makes web creation easy for beginners.
• It works with JavaScript and some other languages. 
• There is a sizable Socket.IO community, and a wealth of resources are available online.

Meteor.js Framework:

Over 43,000 people have favored this framework on GitHub, making it one of the most popular and extensively utilized solutions out there. Meteor.js is an open-source, free, and complete JavaScript framework for building any modern online app imaginable. 

TypeScript’s powerful capabilities, such as streamlined error handling and better tool support, are available to developers in a single setting. Because these frameworks cover the whole stack, programmers have everything they need to develop a reliable app in record time.

Features Most Noticeable:

• Handlers for both GraphQL and MongoDB are included out of the box.
• Quickly develop prototypes using CLI.
• TypeScript’s Reception 
• Learning JavaScript from Scratch
• Reactive programming and real-time server-client communication are supported.
• A modular layout

Advantages:

• This web development framework simplifies full-stack development by allowing the writing of code for both the front and back ends in the same place.
• Easy app creation for a broad variety of platforms is made possible by Meteor.js’s support for cross-platform development.
• The framework’s in-built support for databases, reactive programming, and cross-platform compatibility allows developers to easily design highly scalable applications. 

Fastify.js Framework

Fastify is an extensible web framework that draws inspiration from Express and Hapi. It has over 27,000 stars on GitHub.

This Node framework is great for developing any kind of web-based program, from APIs to microservices. This framework is up-to-date since it supports TypeScript, validates against a Schema, injects dependencies, and provides an entire library for Node.js development.

Features Most Noticeable:

• Superbly effective request and response documentation and validation schema
• Activate TypeScript Immediately

Advantages:

• Modifiable and open to expansion with the addition of new capabilities or refinement of existing ones.
• Every feature of the framework’s functionality is well documented, saving developers valuable time.
• The framework features powerful error handling and is compatible with TypeScript.

Adonis.js

Adonis.js has over 13.8K stars on GitHub and a sizable development community. This free framework simplifies the development and maintenance of high-quality web applications by using the Model-View-Controller architectural paradigm.

Its extensive use may be attributed to its cutting-edge and powerful features, such as an in-built object-relational mapper (ORM), a solid routing system, support for middleware, easy request validation, rapid exception handling, and compatibility with a broad variety of front-end technologies.

Most Notable Characteristics:

• Routers, middleware, and authentication all benefit from this. 
• Error Handling and Command Line Interface for Web Sockets 

Advantages:

• Powerful command-line interface that streamlines the creation of models, controllers, and projects.
• Database management is simplified with the integrated Lucid ORM.
• Internal authentication and validation procedures are set up to ensure security.

Conclusion 

The popularity of each framework among programmers is highlighted, and a summary of its benefits and features is provided below. Once you’ve decided to go further, you may utilize node.js web development services to create a simple app with a few features or a complex project with many features and database support.

Have you finalized preparations for your newest project? Flatlogic’s Node.js expertise can help you bring your ideas to life. Contact us right now to begin an unprecedented web development journey.

The post 10+ Top Node.js Frameworks for Building Scalable Web Applications appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

Options for sending emails in Node.js

One of the most popular methods of sending emails using Node.js is setting up an SMTP server to handle your outbound emails using Nodemailer, a Node.js module.

Another way is to send email using API. You can also connect multichannel notification services to support communication via other channels in a single place.

Besides general email-sending capabilities, these methods also provide other features, like bulk email, template building and deliverability rate tracking. But of course, each option works differently, hence providing both benefits and drawbacks. 

So to figure out which method of email sending is the best fit for you, let’s dive into each of those deeper.

Sending emails with Node.js and SMTP

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and is one of the most widespread methods of sending emails. Emails sent via SMTP go through the following steps:

1.     You compose an email, which is essentially a text file, in your email client, like Gmail or Outlook.

2.     You click Send and the email is uploaded to your SMTP server for outgoing messages.

3.     The server performs several stages of authentication to make sure you’re a safe sender and your message can be treated accordingly.

4.     If it is authenticated successfully, the inbound SMTP server of your recipient’s email client receives the message, authenticates it and sends it to the user’s inbox

As you can see, the process is pretty straightforward, which is the reason behind its common use. But there are different sides to sending emails with Node.js and SMTP.

Image source: SocketLabs

Benefits of using SMTP

One of the main advantages of using SMTP to send emails through Node.js is that it is easy to integrate into a web application. By just indicating your server configurations as you code the app, you can set up an SMTP server for your outbound mail.

Another advantage of using SMTP is that your email address is protected from being blacklisted. The reason is that SMTP requires email address authentication. This means that your address is constantly checked whether you’re a spam sender to make sure your sender reputation remains positive and consistent.

Eventually, SMTP helps you keep your deliverability rate at a good point with effortless integration into your web app.

Disadvantages of using SMTP

As discussed above, an SMTP server uses several stages of authentication to verify the sender and the email. This makes the path of an email message from the sender to the recipient much longer than when using a transactional email API. And while this may not be a drastic difference for a single email, the time will add up when you send bulk campaigns.

Another drawback of using an SMTP server is that it will most likely be a frequent target of DDoS attacks, data breaches and phishing.

Of course, you can take measures to increase the security of your SMTP server, like constant server maintenance and long-term security monitoring. But not all organizations can afford ongoing server maintenance, so the risk of insecurity and cyber attacks remains a major disadvantage of this method. 

Sending emails through Node.js and email API

A transactional email API is a service that allows sending emails using Node.js apps via an email API service. This means that you don’t have to host and maintain any servers on your own, like with SMTP. Instead, you use ready-to-go API from third-party providers.

There are many transactional email API services out there, from Amazon SES to Mailtrap Email API and SendGrid. While each service offers different features and functionality, they all are great assistants for managing email sending and deliverability.

Naturally, this method of sending emails with Node.js has both advantages and drawbacks.

Image source: GetResponse

Benefits of using a transactional email API

There are different advantages to using transactional email services. First of all, they usually come with a lot of documentation, so it’s extremely easy to set the API up in your Node.js application and start using it.

They also offer better security because you can use API keys, which reduces maintenance demand for this solution when compared to using SMTP. As a result, you get a secure way of email sending with lower engineering resources.

Besides, transactional email APIs offer diverse functionality for email management. You get extensive analytics to build reports on how your emails are delivering, what bounce and open rates are and other metrics. In the long term, this translates into actionable insights into your email marketing.

And speaking of long-term, transactional email API services offer great scalability opportunities. APIs allow sending high-volume campaigns, which become a must as your business expands.

Disadvantages of using a transactional email API

Despite all the benefits, there are some significant disadvantages to using a transactional email API to send your emails with Node.js. 

One of the drawbacks is that you have to completely rely on a third-party service provider. While this may be helpful for troubleshooting, the dependence may pose a security risk for your data. Besides, you can’t control the service’s performance in case any issues occur on the provider’s end.

Another drawback of using this method is that you have to integrate different channels separately to set up notifications for the users. 

For instance, if you want to set up SMS and chat app notifications along with push ones, you will have to configure each of the channels additionally. This means that more engineering time and effort have to be involved, which may not always be worth it.

Of course, you should do your research before choosing the provider of your transactional email API to choose a reliable one. Make sure to consider the features and guarantees they provide, as well as the deliverability rates and API documentation they offer.

Sending emails in Node.JS and multi-channel notifications services

Multi-channel notification services enable sending notifications across various channels, such as email, SMS, Slack, etc. via a single platform. They allow you to streamline your communication with the audience and notify them in the ways they find convenient. 

Some notification services allow bringing your own email transaction API service or sending emails via an SMTP server so that you can manage all channels in one place. You can also get features like workflow creation and real-time delivery status.

Benefits of using multi-channel notifications services

The major advantage of using a multi-channel notification service for sending emails with Node.js is that you don’t have to add any new code or edit the existing one to add or remove channels. 

Instead, you can just add those to the service’s settings and start using the new channel immediately. This means no time and effort to change up your multi-channel notification set-up, which makes it effortless to use. 

Also, non-tech users can adjust their settings and change the look of an email in the app with no need to dive deep into how everything works. The same goes for analytics and email preview.

Lastly, you can use the same email transactional API for different channels, which makes multi-channel notification services a great addition to the API email sending.

Disadvantages of using multi-channel notifications services

The main drawback of using the service is the same as using API — you have to rely on a third party for the app’s performance. While this can be convenient and easier, this can also come with a number of risks, like the service’s security, speed and availability.

Sending emails in Node.js with Nodemailer

There are many modules you can use to send emails via Node.js since it is a server-side tool. But Nodemailer is the easiest module to install and use for email sending. 

Nodemailer also provides a lot of features you’ll need to send different kinds of emails. From the support of HTML emails and attachments to the enabled use of SMTP, you get a lot of opportunities to customize your email sending.

To start sending emails with Node.js and Nodemailer, you have to install the module first. Follow the next steps to do that.

Step 1. Create your application in Node.js by running the following in the terminal:

mkdir nodemail-smtp

cd nodemail-smtp

npm init -y

You can skip this step and start with the next one if you have already created an app.

Step 2. Install the module using npm, which manages packages for Node.js, by writing the following command in the terminal:

npm install nodemailer

This will install the latest version of the Modemailer module. If the installation is successful, you’ll get a message similar to the following:

added 1 package, and audited 2 packages in 2s

found 0 vulnerabilities

Step 3. Now, we can start coding the app by importing it into your Node.js application:

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');

Step 4. Create a Nodemailer transporter object using the createTransport method:

const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport(transport[, defaults]);

This method accepts an object with the configurations you set, like SMTP configurations, and returns a transporter object, which will be required to send emails later.

Next, we are going to use Gmail to show an example of how to send an email using Node.js and Nodemailer, but you can integrate other email clients, too. Since Gmail doesn’t allow direct email sending via Node.js because of security concerns, there are 2 solutions: 

• making the Gmail account less secure
• using Oauth2 security authentication

1. Making the Gmail account less secure. You can access the Less secure account configuration by visiting the page and switching the toggle to ON. 

This now allows creating the transporter object we started in Step 4 with the credentials to our Gmail account. To do this, run the following:

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');

const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({

service: 'gmail',

auth: {

user: secure_configuration.EMAIL_USERNAME,

pass: secure_configuration.PASSWORD

}

});

Of course, you have to replace the credential values (user and pass) with valid ones.

2. Using Oauth2 security authentication. To set up this authentication method, we have to get the following values:

• Client ID
• Client Secret
• Refresh token
• Access token
• Credentials (username and password)

The next steps will guide you on how you can do this.

A. Go to Open Google Cloud Console and sign up (or sign in), then go to API & Services to create a project. 

B. Register your application in the OAuth consent screen, choose the External user type and add a Test user.

C. Go to the Credentials selection page to create credentials, specifying Web application as the type of your app. Also, add a redirect URL as OAuth Playground from this list.

Great, you now have your Client ID and Client Secret available, as well as user credentials. Let’s get the rest of the data we need

D. Open the Oauh2 Playground to get Refresh and Access tokens. Go to Configuration and check the ‘Use your own credentials’ box. Insert the Client ID and Client Secret you got from the Cloud Console in Step C. 

E. Select Gmail API and authorize it with the credentials of the Test user you added in Step B.

F. Get your Refresh and Access tokens by clicking on the Exchange authorization code for tokens.

Now, we have the correct values to use in our transporter object:

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');

const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({

service: 'gmail',

auth: {

type: 'OAuth2',

user: secure_configuration.EMAIL_USERNAME,

pass: secure_configuration.PASSWORD,

clientId: secure_configuration.CLIENT_ID,

clientSecret: secure_configuration.CLIENT_SECRET,

refreshToken: secure_configuration.REFRESH_TOKEN

}

});

Step 5. Before actually sending an email message, you have to set up email configurations. This includes specifying what you are sending, to whom, etc. These configurations are set up using key-value pairs, like in the following example:

const mailConfigurations = {

from: 'sender@gmail.com',

to: 'receiver@gmail.com',

subject: 'Sending Email using Node.js',

text: 'Hi! There, You know I am using the'

+ ' NodeJS Code along with NodeMailer '

+ 'to send this email.'

};

If you need to send an email to several receivers, just separate the receivers with a coma:

to: ‘receiver1@gmail.com, receiver2@gmail.com’,

And there you go — you are ready to send your simple email via Nodemailer. To do that, you can use the sendMail() method. 

Using the sendMail() method requires a transporter and a configured message, which we have already created in the previous steps. So we can send our email by running the following:

transport.sendMail(mailConfigurations, (error, info) => {

        if (error) {

            return console.log(error);

        }

        console.log('Message sent: %s', info.messageId);

});

Of course, you will get a notification if the message has been sent successfully, as well as you’ll get an error alert if something goes wrong.

How to send emails with SMTP

If you want to send your emails via your hosted SMTP server, you can easily set it up using the Nodemailer module. To do that, stick to the steps below.

Step 1. We assume that you have already created your Node.js app and installed Nodemailer. But you haven’t run the following in the terminal to create your app:

mkdir nodemail-smtp

cd nodemail-smtp

npm init -y

And to install Nodemailer:

npm install nodemailer

Step 2. Now, create a “nodemailer-smtp.js” file and fill it in with the following:

const nodemailer = require("nodemailer");

async function main() {

  let info = await transporter.sendMail({

    from: '"James Swanson" <foo@example.com>',

    to: "", 

    subject: "I love SMTP!",

    text: "Here's a text version of the email.",

    html: "Here's an <b>HTML version</b> of the email.",

  });

  console.log("Message sent: %s", info.messageId);

  console.log("View email: %s", nodemailer.getTestMessageUrl(info));

}

main().catch(console.error);

Note that at this point, you need to have your SMTP server’s credentials ready so that you can set up the configurations in your code. In particular, you need the following:

• Server address
• Port
• Credentials for the server (username and password)

Next, we’re going to fill in this SMTP information in our code.

Step 3. Go to your SMTP configuration, copy the info from the list above and insert it into the async function main() {} object in your code. You’ll get something like this:

const nodemailer = require(“nodemailer”);

async function main() {

  const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({

    host: “smtp.ethereal.email”, 

    port: 587,

    auth: {

      user: “sender@ethereal.email”,

      pass: “YOUR_PASS”,

    },

  });

  let info = await transporter.sendMail({

    from: ‘”James Swanson” <foo@example.com>’,

    to: “sender@ethereal.email”, 

    subject: “I love SMTP!”,

    text: “Here’s a text version of the email.”,

    html: “Here’s an <strong>HTML version</strong> of the email.”,

  });

  console.log(“Message sent: %s”, info.messageId);

  console.log(“View email: %s”, nodemailer.getTestMessageUrl(info));l

}

main().catch(console.error);

Note that we’ve also added your email address in the “to” field. It is the test email address that you can use to see whether the emails reach the destination inbox successfully. 

Step 4. Go back to the terminal and run your application:

node nodemailer-smtp.js

If everything went well, you get a notification similar to the following and see the email in your test email address’ inbox:

Message sent: <a153d06b-4b62-df6b-08d5-b9e755b8e0cf@example.com>

View email: https://ethereal.email/message/Yn08JBjWtKQFtVIQYn0-fjRYXoiZYQBGAAAAA.ty0T2jOGponZjUaXLFoWU

Congrats! Now you can send emails using Node.js and SMTP.

How to send emails with transactional email API

There are lots of services you can use for transactional email API setup that we listed earlier. Today, we’ll show how to send emails using SendGrid API. 

Step 1. Sign up for SendGrid and create a SendGrid API key in the Settings menu. Name the key and, under Permissions, select Full Access. Then, by clicking Create & View, you can copy your API key.

Step 2. Install the SendGrid client using npm and create a file named sendgrip.js:

npm install –save @sendgrid/mail

touch sendgrid.js

Step 3. Add the following to the file you’ve just created:

const sendgrid = require(‘@sendgrid/mail’);

    const SENDGRID_API_KEY = “<SENDGRID_API_KEY>”

    sendgrid.setApiKey(SENDGRID_API_KEY)

    const msg = {

       to: ‘test@example.com’,

       from: ‘test@example.com’,

       subject: ‘Sending with SendGrid Is Fun’,

       text: ‘and easy to do anywhere, even with Node.js’,

       html: ‘<strong>and easy to do anywhere, even with Node.js</strong>’,

    }

    sendgrid

       .send(msg)

       .then((resp) => {

         console.log(‘Email sent\n’, resp)

       })

       .catch((error) => {

         console.error(error)

     })

Step 4. Create a sender identity to verify your email address with SendGrid. Then, insert that email address in the “from” field in the code in Step 3. 

Also, paste the correct recipient’s email address in the “to” field. 

Lastly, replace the SENDGRID_API_KEY variable with the SendGrid API key you generated in Step 1.

Step 5. Test whether your app works by running your application in the terminal:

node sendgrid.js

If the email was delivered successfully, you will see a sent email notification in the Activity section on SendGrid’s dashboard, which you can find on the sidebar. You will be able to see whether the email was opened, too.

And that’s it — you can now send emails with Node.js using a transactional email API service.

Sending HTML emails 

Nodemailer supports sending HTML emails; in fact, it’s very easy to send HTML emails with this module. 

To create an HTML email in Node.js, just add the HTML attribute to the message:

message = {

from: “from@email.com”,

to: “to@email.com“,

text: ‘Hey there, it’s our first message sent with Nodemailer ‘,

html: ‘<b>Hey there! </b><br> This is our first message sent with Nodemailer’

 };

There you go — now you have an HTML ready to be sent. Again, you can use the sendMail() method to send this email.

Creating an HTML template

Nodemailer also allows creating email templates that you can use later for bulk HTML emails. Let’s consider an example of how to create a template to welcome new users.

We are using pug, the default option, to install the template engine via npm:

npm install email-templates pug

Next, we need to create 2 different files, one for the subject and one for the HTML body of the template. To do this, run the following:

subject.pug:

= `Hi ${firstName} ${lastName}, happy to see you at My App!`

html.pug:

   h1 Hello #{firstName} #{lastName}

    p.

Welcome to My App! Now your test emails will be safe. We just need to make sure your account is real.

Please, click the button below and start using your account.

a(href=’https://example.com/confirmation’) Confirm!

Then, add the files we have just created to your app directory:

app.js

emails

welcome (the template name)

html.pug

subject.pug

text.pug

Be sure to add the text part of your message, otherwise, it will be created automatically.

And now, we can gather everything together to add transport. Note that we’re using the Mailtrap Email API to send our email based on an HTML template:

const Email = require(’email-templates’);

const email = new Email({

 message: {

   from: ‘hi@example.com’

 },

 send: true,

 transport: {

   host: ‘smtp.mailtrap.io’,

   port: 2525,

   ssl: false,

   tls: true,

   auth: {

     user: ‘1a2b3c4d5e6f7g’,

     pass: ‘1a2b3c4d5e6f7g’ 

   }

 }

});

const people = [

 {firstName: ‘Diana’, lastName: ‘One’},

 {firstName: ‘Alex’, lastName: ‘Another’}

];

people.forEach((person) => {

 email

   .send({

     template: ‘welcome’,

     message: {

    to: ‘test@example.com’

     },

     locals: person

   })

   .then(console.log)

   .catch(console.error);

}).

As a result, you will get a preview of your message in the browser.

And that’s it, you have an email template you can edit to create complex dynamic emails using CSS, tables, media and other additions.

Sending emails with attachments

Nodemailer also enables sending emails with Node.js that contain attachments. In fact, you can send any kind of attachment with your emails, but make sure that the email service you use accepts them.

So to add an attachment to your email, start with specifying email configurations:

const mailConfigurations = {

from: sender@gmail.com’,

to: receiver@gmail.com’,

subject: ‘Sending Email using Node.js’, 

Text: ‘Attachments can also be sent using Nodemailer’,

Then, start adding the attachments:

attachments: [

Depending on their type, you’ll have to use different properties:

• a UTF-8 string as an attachment (besides a string, it can also be a buffer or a stream):

{  

filename: ‘text.txt’,

content: ‘Hello, receiver!’

},

• a file that can be accessed from a path on your machine (it’s the best way to add large attachments):

{   

path: ‘/home/mrtwinklesharma/Programming/document.docx’

},

{   

filename: ‘license.txt’,

path: ‘https://raw.github.com/nodemailer/nodemailer/master/LICENSE‘

},

• a URL with a comment as an attachment:

{

url: ‘mylist.example.com’,

comment: ‘My new list!’

}

]

};

These are some of the most popular kinds of attachments you may need to use in your emails when you send them with Nodemailer and Node.js. You can add as many attachments as you need, but note that you have to separate each attachment with a comma.

To Sum Up

And there you have it — now you know how to send emails using Node.js with an SMTP server and a transactional email API service. Sending emails through Node.js is simple and versatile. Because there are several options you can choose from, it won’t be a challenge to find the one that meets your needs best.

Author: Sofiia Kasianenko. Software Engineer and Mailtrap Contributor. Sofiia is interested in information technologies across all industries, from marketing to healthcare. Besides writing, she is passionate about creativity, professional growth, fitness, and well-being.

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At Flatlogic we develop React, Angular and Vue templates and give our most professional clients a special tool to generate CRUD applications by themself and save over 250 hours of the development lifecycle. During the last 7 years, we have successfully completed more than 40 big projects for startups and large enterprises. As a team, we always have a deep desire to help our clients.

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• AI Web App Generator to Make Apps in Minutes

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NodeJS  provides the following features:

• Lightweight. Node.js is fairly easy to get started with. It is the best choice for novice web developers. With plenty of tutorials and a large community, it’s easy to get started.
• Scalability. It provides tremendous scalability for applications. NodeJS, being single-threaded, is capable of handling a huge number of concurrent connections with high throughput.
• Performance. Non-blocking execution of threads makes NodeJS even faster and more efficient.
• Packaging. There is a huge collection of open-source NodeJS packages that can simplify your work. There are over a million packages in the npm ecosystem today.
• Powerful Support. NodeJS is written in C making it faster and adding a networking support feature support.
• Multi-platform support. NodeJS is the cross-platform framework that allows you to create SaaS sites, desktop, and even mobile applications.
• Maintainability. NodeJS is an easy choice for developers because both frontend and backend can be managed using JavaScript as a single language.

While you can build web applications from scratch, you can save both time and energy by using an out-of-the-box design and getting started right away, which will increase your workflow and help you create results sooner rather than later. 

The NodeJS template has a full-featured set of useful components and elements. Be sure to reuse what you have, and you can even use your creative touches.

Sofia React NodeJS

Sofia React NodeJS is a well-designed new React template from Flatlogic Platform that blended with the backend and database. Sofia designed using React, Bootstrap, NodeJS, and PostgreSQL. This React template has everything you need to run any type of web application. Sofia React Template is built using the latest best practices like React Hooks and React Router v5 for routing, and SASS for lightweight styling changes. 

You can find dozens of components and many pages like tables, typography, graphs, and maps to help you run any web application, like eCommerce admin panel, SaaS, CRM, project management tool, or any other type of web application. They are frontend + backend solutions, like authentication, product management, and different login methods ready to use! You can simply deploy the entire application. 

The deployment process is seamless and rapid you need only two commands using Yarn or NPM. Next, the backend and database need to be connected, although that’s not hard either. In addition, to simplify the process of developing a new React application based on our product, Flatlogic has helpful documentation. 

More Info
Demo

Sing App Vue NodeJS

Sing App Vue NodeJS Dashboard is an admin template integrated with the NodeJS backend and Postgres database. There are multiple log-in methods and authentication and product management pages that are already fully integrated and available for use. This Vue template is ready to be deployed on any hosting service such as AWS, Heroku, etc. It’s a complete “frontend + backend” template, which will be a great starting point if you’re building SAAS, CMS, and eCommerce applications and want to save time and money!

More Info
Demo

Flatlogic One React NodeJS

Flatlogic One React Template NodeJS is an admin template based on React with an integrated NodeJS backend and PostgreSQL database. It’s a complete frontend + backend solution, e.g. authentication, product management, and various login methods are ready to use. All you have to do is deploy the entire application. 

You can use Flatlogic One React NodeJS as a starting point for building eCommerce, SAAS, CMS, and other applications.

With Flatlogic One React NodeJS you’ll get a fully working frontend React application with dozens of components and pages, such as login, error, calendar, table, and others. Also, you’ll get complete control over your application because we provide you with the source code. 

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Demo

Light Blue Angular NodeJS

Light Blue Angular NodeJS is an Angular template that is integrated with NodeJS backend and Postgres database, i.e. a complete frontend + backend package. An excellent starting point for creating admin dashboards, SAAS, e-commerce, and other web applications, since it contains ready-to-use CRUD applications, authentication, 100+ components, and over 30 pages. All you have to do is simply deploy the application to Heroku or AWS. 

More Info
Demo

Mintos

Mintos is a Bootstrap, NodeJS, and Sass-based framework with a stable core that runs smoothly for all screen sizes and modern browsers. Validated HTML5 code is straightforward and organized and can be easy for any developer to get to grips with.

Including 5 dashboards, authentication pages, sample applications, a profile, an account template, 60+ HTML pages, and many reusable components, Mintos has a ton of ready-made materials, making it a great start for your project. Thanks to the Mintos UI component library (1000+ components in 17 categories), you can spend more time creating things rather than editing pixel dimensions.

With an HTML template and admin UI kit, Mintos can be used for any type of web application: CRM, project management, statistics, analytics, or any admin dashboard.

More Info
Demo

Lexa

Lexa is a multi-purpose, full-featured admin template designed using Bootstrap 5, HTML5, CSS, JQuery, and NodeJS. Lexa is Embedded Javascript Templates (EJS). Lexa is highly responsive and features a clean UI, with a large collection of components, UI elements, and widgets.

Using NodeJS version 12 in both layouts, it is easy for any NodeJS developer to understand the code structure. For all versions, code quality has been maintained, so your developer can easily customize it to suit your requirements. The template is a flexible and professional admin template that can be used to create all kinds of projects. 

More Info
Demo

Argon

Argon is a NodeJS template packed with amazing features and functions. What you need is only a single web design to help you implement the admin dashboard of your dreams. The Argon is built using over 100 individual components, giving you the freedom to choose and combine. You can take on different colors for all the components, which you can easily change using SASS files. Save a lot of time going from prototype to full-featured code, because all the elements are already implemented. This dashboard comes with ready-made examples, so the development process is seamless, switching from our pages to the actual site is easy. Each element has multiple states for colours, styles, hover, and focus that you can easily get and use.

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Admiria 

Admiria is a premium next-generation admin dashboard template on Bootstrap and NodeJS. With a clean UI, it comes with customizable components and widgets on various frameworks such as React with Redux, NodeJs, Laravel, PHP and AJAX. The fully responsive bootstrap admin bootstrap template comes with a massive collection of reusable UI components and plugins.

The toolkit includes vertical and horizontal layouts, e-commerce pages, calendar views, email templates, directory lists, dropzone downloads, invoices with a “ready-to-print” button and much more. The components and elements included in Admiria are flexibly managed and modify them according to your taste and the guidelines of your web application.

More Info
Demo

Conclusion

The enormous success of Node.JS can be explained by a multitude of different factors, from the prevalence of JavaScript to its robustness and long-term support, which is rare in this era of continuously changing technology and ongoing disruption.

On the Flatlogic Platform, you can also find ready-to-use stylish with modern Javascript and HTML NodeJS Templates & Dashboards that you can create a powerful application using the platform. Flatlogic is also a hosting platform on which you can host your full-featured web applications. Starting with this approach to building a CMS, you create and host any web application, reducing the time and cost of web development.

The post Top 9+ node.js templates and dashboards appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

The need for a reliable, easy-to-use Node.js framework is greater than ever, as companies like Microsoft, Netflix, and Walmart increasingly rely on Node.js for their web applications. According to a recent survey, more than 80% of companies are investing in Node.js development.

By the end of this article, you will have a clear understanding of the 12+ best Node.js frameworks for web application development in 2023. You will also gain insight into which Node.js framework is the best for your project.

Is Node.js a web framework?

So is Node.js a web framework? The most common way of referring to it is as a web framework. Still, Node.js is a JavaScript execution environment – a server-side platform for JavaScript code execution and portability. Instead, web frameworks focus on building features. A lot of developers have built Node.js web frameworks, such as Nest.js, Express.js, and other toolkits, for Node.js applications, providing a unique experience for software developers.

What are Node.js web frameworks?

Every web application technology offers different types of frameworks, all supporting a specific use case in the development lifecycle. Node.js web frameworks come in three types – Full-Stack Model-View-Controller (MVC), MVC, and REST API web frameworks.

Node.js web framework features

• API of Node.js is asynchronous. You can use the Node.js server to move after a data request, rather than waiting for the API to return the information.
• The code execution process of Node.js is faster compared to the reverse backend framework.
• Node.js runs on a single-threaded model.
• With Node.js web framework developers never face buffering issues because it transfers information by parts.
• It is supported by Google’s Node.js runtime environment.

Through these features, it is clear to understand why developers more often choose Node.js for Backend development. Let’s take a closer look at each Node.js web framework.

NestJS

Github repo: https://github.com/nestjs/nest
License: MIT
Github stars: 47400

NestJS is object-oriented and functional-reactive programming (FRP), widely used for developing enterprise-level dynamic and scalable web solutions, being well featured with extensive libraries.

NestJS is based on TypeScript as its core programming language, but is also highly compatible with a JavaScript subset and easily integrated with other frameworks such as ExpressJS through a command-line interface.

Why use NestJS:

• Modern CLI 
•  functional-reactive programming
• Multiple easy-to-use external libraries
• Straightforward Angular compatibility

NestJS has a clean and modular architecture pattern aiding developers to build scalable and maintainable applications with ease. 

Pros of NestJS:

• Powerful but super friendly to work with
• Fast development
• Easy-to-understand documentation
• Angular style syntax for the backend
• NodeJS ecosystem
• Typescript
• Its easy to understand since it follows the angular syntax
• Good architecture
• Integrates with Narwhal Extensions
• Typescript makes it well integrated in vscode
• Graphql support easy
• Agnosticism
• Easily integrate with others external extensions

ExpressJS

Github repo: https://github.com/expressjs/express
License: MIT
Github stars: 57200

ExpressJS is minimalistic, asynchronous, fast, and powerful and was launched in 2010. It’s beginner-friendly thanks to a low learning curve that requires only a basic understanding of the Node.js environment and programming skills. ExpressJS optimises client-to-server requests and observed user interaction via an API very quickly, and also helps you manage high-speed I/O operations. 

Why use ExpressJS:

• Enhanced content coordination
• MVC architecture pattern
• HTTP helpers
• Asynchronous programming to support multiple independent operations

ExpressJS offers templating, robust routing, security and error handling, making it suitable for building enterprise or browser-based applications.

Pros of ExpressJS :

• Simple
• NodeJS
• Javascript
• High performance
• Robust routing
• Middlewares
• Open source
• Great community
• Hybrid web applications
• Well documented
• Light weight

Meteor

Github repo: https://github.com/meteor/meteor
License: MIT
Github stars: 42900

Meteor is an open-source framework that was launched in 2012 that works best for teams who want to develop in a single language, being a full-featured Node.js web framework. Meteor is ideal for modern real-time applications as it facilitates instant data transfer between server and client.

Why use Meteor:

• Cross-platform web framework
• Rapid prototyping using the CLI
• Extensive community support and open-source code
• End-to-end solution 
• Seamless integration with other frameworks

The Meteor is an excellent option for those who are familiar with Javascript and prefer it. It’s a great one for both web and mobile app development as well. Meteor is great for applications that require a lot of updates that need to be sent out, even in a live environment.

Pros of Meteor :

• Real-time
• Full stack, one language
• Best app dev platform available today
• Data synchronization
• Javascript
• Focus on your product not the plumbing
• Hot code pushes
• Open source
• Live page updates
• Latency compensation
• Ultra-simple development environment
• Great for beginners
• Smart Packages

KoaJS

Github repo: https://github.com/koajs/koa
License: MIT
Github stars: 32700

Koa has been called the next-generation Node.js web framework, and it’s one of the best of the bunch. Koa uses a stack-based approach to handling HTTP mediators, which makes it a great option for easy API development. Koa is similar to ExpressJS, so it’s fairly easy to switch from either one. Despite the same features and flexibility, Koa reduces the complexity of writing code even more.  

Why use Koa:

• Multi-level customisation
• Considered a lightweight version of ExpressJS
• Supplied with cascading middleware ( user experience personalisation)
• Node mismatch normalization 
• Cleans caches and supports content and proxy negotiation

Use Koa when performance is the main focus of your web application. Koa is ahead of ExpressJS in some scenarios, so you can use it for large-scale projects. 

Pros of Koa :

• Async/Await
• JavaScript
• REST API

socket.io

Github repo:https://github.com/socketio/socket.io
License: MIT
Github stars: 55900

The socket is a Javascript library that works most effectively for real-time web applications. The socket is used when communication between real-time web clients and servers needs to be efficiently bidirectional. 

Why use socket.io:

• Binary support 
• Multiplexing support
• Reliability
• Auto-reconnection support
• Auto-correction and error detection 

The socket is a great choice when building real-time applications like video conferencing, chat rooms and multiplayer games with servers being required to send data out before it’s requested from the client-side.

Pros of socket :

• Real-time
• Event-based communication
• NodeJS
• WebSockets
• Open source
• Binary streaming
• No internet dependency
• Large community

TotalJS

Github repo: https://github.com/totaljs/
License: MIT
Github stars: n/a

TotalJS is a web framework that offers a CMS-like user experience and has almost all the functionality you need in a Node.js environment. The framework is a full open-source framework that provides developers with the ultimate flexibility. There are various options available for the framework, e.g. CMS, and HelpDesk. Through these options, your application will have more integration possibilities with the REST service and hyper-fast, low-maintenance, stable applications. 

TotalJS is most well-known for its real-time, high-precision tracking in modern applications. 

Pros of TotalJS:

• Tracking in real-time
• API Testing
• Automatic project discovery
• Compatibility with multiple databases
• Flexibility to work with different frontend frameworks
• Fast development and low cost of maintenance

SailsJS

Github repo: https://github.com/balderdashy/sails
License: MIT
Github stars: 22247

SailsJS is similar to the MVC architect pattern of web frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, and it supports modernized data-centric development. Compatible with all databases, at the same time it flexibly integrates Javascript frameworks. SailsJS is the most relevant framework for building high-quality custom applications. Its special code-writing policy helps reduce the code needed, allowing you to integrate npm modules while remaining flexible and open source. 

Pros of SailsJS:

• REST API auto-generation
• Multiple security policies
• Frontend agnosticism
• Object Relational Mapping for framework databases compatibility
• Supports ExpressJS integration for HTTP requests and socket.io for WebSockets 

FeathersJS

Github repo: https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers
License: MIT
Github stars: 14000

FeathersJS is gaining popularity between website and application developers because it provides flexibility in development with react native as well as Node.js. It is a framework of microservices because it operates with more than one database, providing real-time functionality. FeathersJS makes it easier for web developers to code concretely and understandably.

Pros of FeathersJS:

• Reusable services
• Modern CLI 
• Automated RESTful APIs
• Authentication and authorization plugins by default
• Lightweight

FeathersJS natively supports all frontend technologies, and its database-agnostic is best performed in a Node.js environment because the web framework supports Javascript and Typescript. It allows you to create production-ready applications and real-time applications, and also REST APIs in just a few days.

hapi.dev

Github repo: https://github.com/hapijs/hapi
License: MIT
Github stars: 13900

Hapi is an open-source framework for web applications. It is well-known for proxy server development as well as REST APIs and some other desktop applications since the framework is robust and security-rich. It has a wealth of built-in plugins, therefore this means you don’t have to worry about running non-official middleware. 

Pros of Hapi:

• Extensive and scalable applications
• Low overhead
• Secure default settings
• Rich ecosystem
• Quick and easy bug fixes
• Compatible with multiple databases
• Compatible with Rest API and HTTPS proxy applications
• Caching, authentication and input validation by default

AdonisJS

Github repo: https://github.com/adonisjs/core
License: MIT
Github stars: 12600

AdonisJS is a Model-View-Controller Node.js web framework based on a structural template repeating Laravel. The framework decreases the time required for development by focusing on core details such as out of the box web socket support, development speed and performance, lifecycle dependency management, and built-in modules for data validation, mailing, and authentication. Command-based coding structure and the interface is easy for developers to understand. The Node.js web framework uses the concepts of dependency injections through IoC or control inversion. It offers developers an organized structure for accessing all the components of the framework. 

Pros of AdonisJS:

• Organised template with folder structure
• Easy user input validation. 
• Ability to write custom functional testing scripts
• Support for Lucid object-relational mapping.
• Threat protection such as cross-site forgery protection

Loopback

Github repo: https://github.com/loopbackio/loopback-next
License: MIT
Github stars: 4200

Loopback provides the best connection with any Node.js web framework and can be integrated with multiple API services. You can best use the platform to build REST APIs with minimal lead time. Loopback offers outstanding flexibility, interfacing with a broad range of browsers, devices,  databases, and services. Framework’s structured code helps support application modules and speed of development. Loopback has the best documentation, allowing even beginners to work with it. 

Pros of Loopback:

• Comprehensive support for networked applications
• The built-in client API explorer
• High extensibility
• Multiple database support
• Clean and modular code
• Full-stack development
• Data storage, third-party access, and user management

Loopback is designed solely for creating powerful end-to-end APIs and handling requests for them. 

DerbyJS

Github repo: https://github.com/derbyjs/derby
License: MIT
Github stars: 4622

DerbyJS is a full-stack web application development platform powered by Node.js technology. This framework uses the Model-View-Controller architecture with an easy-to-write nomenclature for coding. This framework is great for building real-time web applications since it allows essentially the same code to work on Node.js and in the browser. That way, you don’t have to worry about writing separate codes for the view part. DerbyJS decreases the delay in content delivery by rendering a client-side view on the server. Performing this makes the application SEO-friendly and improves the user experience. 

Pros of DerbyJS:

• Support for Racer Engine
• Real-time conversion for data synchronization
• Offline use and conflict resolution support
• Version control 
• Client-side and server-side code sharing
• Rendering client-side views on the server-side

Conclusion

Node.js web frameworks make application development easier with their enormous possibilities for the advancement of web and mobile application development.  Under the conditions of increasingly growing technologies, a thorough investigation of project requirements and accessibility of resources is the key to choosing the right web framework that will provide the greatest results.

You can also create a database model with the Flatlogic UI editor. There are options to create custom tables, columns, and relationships between them. So basically, you can create any type of content. Also, you will receive automatically generated REST API docs for your application.

How to review and Generate your own Node.js App

In the final step, just to make sure everything is as you want it to be, you can review all of the previously made decisions and click the “Create Project” button. After a short time to generate, you will have at your fingertips a beautiful and fully functional React Node.js App.

The post 12+ Best Node.js Frameworks for Web App Development in 2023 appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.