Chapter 2. Adding Functionality by Routing Requests

In the last chapter, we saw what a sample route looks like in both vanilla Node and hapi, and how hapi is more configuration-oriented in its routing definition. In this chapter, I will expand on how hapi handles routing, making it easy to add routes in a scalable manner while being able to avoid making unnecessary mistakes. If you haven't got much experience with building web servers, this chapter will also be a good foundation in routing, covering the following topics:

• Adding and configuring routes in hapi
• The hapi routing algorithm
• The hapi request life cycle
• The hapi request object
• The reply interface
• Serving static files
• Using templating engines to serve view

By the end of this chapter, you will have the tools that you need to be able to create a JSON API, a static file server, and a fully functional website using a templating library. You will also be shown some patterns to simplify less trivial requests, so the control flow won't become a problem while using the hapi life cycle and route prerequisites. That may seem like a lot to cover in a single chapter, but you'll find it's actually not so complicated, especially with the tools hapi gives us. Let's begin now.