Node.Js: Building REST APIs with Sails.js(v1.0)

The complete guide to build Resful APIS with Sails.js(v1.0), Mysql, and MongoDB

Sails.js is a JavaScript back-end framework that makes it easy to build custom, enterprise-grade Node.js apps. It is designed to emulate the familiar MVC pattern of frameworks like Ruby on Rails, but with support for the requirements of modern apps: data-driven APIs with a scalable, service-oriented architecture. It's especially good for building chat, real-time dashboards, or multiplayer games; but you can use it for any web application project - top to bottom.

Whether you’re a front-end developer seeking to expand your back-end knowledge, or a server-side developer unfamiliar with using Node and JavaScript on the back-end, the common denominator we all share is a desire to create web applications. Sails is designed to be compatible with whatever strategy you have for building your front-end, whether it be Angular, Backbone, iOS/ObjC, Android/Java, or even a “headless” app that just offers up a raw API to be used by another web service or your developer community. Sails is great for building everyday back-end apps that handle HTTP requests and WebSockets.

What can you build with Sails.js?

Hybrid Web Applications - applications that combine a JSON API with server-rendered views, that is, in addition to an API, this type of application can serve dynamic (i.e. personalized) HTML pages, making it suitable for use cases which demand SEO (search engine optimization). These applications often use a client-side JavaScript framework (e.g. Angular, Ember, React, etc.), but they don’t necessarily have to. Examples of hybrid web applications you might be familiar with are Twitter, GitHub, and Basecamp.

Pure APIs – applications that fulfill requests from one or more independent front-end user interfaces. We say independent” because the front-end doesn’t have to be delivered by the same server that is providing the JSON API, or even by a server at all. This umbrella category includes SPAs (single-page apps), native mobile applications (e.g. iOS and Android), native desktop applications (e.g. OSX, Windows, Linux), and the venerated IoT (Internet of Things). Many mobile-first products (think Uber, Instagram, Snapchat) start off as pure APIs.

So why Sails.js?

100% JavaScript
Rock solid foundation
Front-end Agnostic
Auto generated REST APIs
Use any popular database
Powerful associations
Standardization
Realtime with WebSockets
Sails generators
Reusable security Policies