Create an Express.js Web App From Scratch

How to Create an Express.js Web App

Creating an Express.js application from scratch is a crucial skill for web developers, especially given Express’s popularity as a minimal, flexible, and robust Node.js framework for building server-side applications.

According to various developer surveys, Express.js consistently ranks among the top choices for building backend services, with many modern web applications relying on Express due to its simplicity, performance, and vast ecosystem of middleware.

But here’s the truth: creating an Express.js application doesn’t have to be complicated. In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to build an Express.js app from scratch using modern tools.

What Is an Express.js Web App?

An Express.js web app is a server-side application built using Express.js, a popular Node.js framework for creating APIs and managing back-end logic. Express.js handles HTTP requests, routing, and middleware management, making it an essential tool for building scalable, efficient web applications.

Express.js web apps are commonly used in conjunction with front-end frameworks like React, Vue.js, or Angular to create full-stack applications.

Express.js manages the backend, including APIs, database connections, and user authentication, while the front-end handles the user interface and client-side interactions.

Express.js Web Apps: Required Tools and Frameworks

Express.js is known for its minimalistic and unopinionated nature, which gives developers the freedom to choose additional tools based on the project’s requirements.

For routing, Express Router is built-in, making it easy to handle requests and direct traffic in a modular way. To interact with databases, libraries like Mongoose (for MongoDB) or Sequelize (for SQL databases) are often used.

Middleware plays a crucial role in Express apps, with popular options like body-parser for parsing incoming request bodies, cors for enabling cross-origin resource sharing, and jsonwebtoken for handling authentication.

For development speed, tools like Nodemon automatically reload the server during development, while testing frameworks such as Mocha and Chai help ensure reliability.

Five: The Fastest Way to Build a Web App for Express.js Developers

Five offers Express.js developers an incredibly efficient way to build web applications, providing an alternative for those looking to speed up development without sacrificing control or flexibility.

As a rapid application development environment, Five eliminates much of the repetitive work involved in web app creation, particularly when it comes to integrating with back-end data sources and managing complex functionalities.

One of the most compelling features of Five is its ability to auto-generate fully responsive interfaces connected to almost any data source.

Whether you’re working with databases or APIs, Five simplifies back-end integration, allowing developers to stay focused on the front-end user experience.

Five also includes a built-in MySQL database modeler, enabling you to design and manage your database schema directly within the platform.

For developers needing to connect external services, Five’s connection wizard makes it easy to integrate REST APIs or external databases, saving time and effort. This is particularly useful for full-stack projects requiring robust data management and fast, reliable integration capabilities.

On the front end, Five provides form, chart, and report wizards that allow you to quickly create intuitive components for data collection and visualization.

One of the most valuable features of Five is its single-click deployment capability, allowing you to go from development to launch in a few clicks. Everything is done within your browser, with no need for additional external tools or installations.

Rapidly Develop a Web App
Create Feature-Rich Responsive Web Apps with Five

Web App Tutorial: Build and Deploy a Express.js Web App

In this web app tutorial, you will learn step-by-step how to create a fully functional web app using Five. Whether you are starting from scratch or integrating with an existing project, this guide will walk you through everything you need to build a web app in no time.

Here’s what you’ll achieve by the end of this tutorial:

Database Creation:
We’ll start by creating a database from scratch using Five’s built-in MySQL modeler, so you can manage and structure your data with ease.

Auto-Generated Admin Panel:
With your database ready, you’ll instantly generate an admin panel with features like forms for data collection, interactive charts for visualization, and a PDF report generator.

User Management & Authentication:
Learn how to add user management and authentication features to control access to your admin panel.

Third-Party Integration:
Finally, you will integrate your admin panel with external services like Slack, giving your application the ability to send real-time notifications and alerts.

If you prefer written, step-by-step instructions for this web app tutorial, visit our code-along article here.

What Developers Say About Five

Here is what developers say about Five:

“Five is a great product for building admin panels or CRUD applications. It is easy to use, scalable and has great customer support. I highly recommend Five to anyone who needs to build a web application without much effort.” – Shweta Kale, Software Developer

“Five took away a lot of headaches of frontend development by providing a highly customizable UI and navbar alongside a MySQL database.” – Nebiyu Elias, Software Engineer

“Five is an excellent approach to that disconnect between relational database development and the web.” – Crag Jones

“With Five, we were able to very quickly develop a prototype of the solution we had in mind. We liked the fact that inside Five, we can work in no code, low code, or even full code, which gives us full flexibility to design software applications.” – Kurt Bornhutter, Group Manager, Revenue & Optimisation, Canstar

“Five is a rapid, robust way to take spreadsheet-based business processes, and replace them with better validated forms for data collection, and approval workflows. Five makes it easy to write custom functions, and perform traditional integrations, using JavaScript.” – Philip Antrobus, Data & AI Capability Lead, NCS Australia

Create a Express.js Web App Tutorial

In this tutorial, the video covers the basics of Express.js, a popular Node.js web application framework, and teaches viewers how to build a server using it. The main points include:

Setting up Express.js: The video starts by installing Node.js and creating a basic package.json using npm init. It also introduces npm i express to install Express and nodemon to automatically restart the server during development.

Creating a Server: The server setup involves creating a simple Express server in a server.js file and setting it to listen on port 3000. The video walks through how to send responses to HTTP requests, both as text and JSON.

Routing in Express: Different HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, and PATCH are explained. Routes are configured to handle different endpoints and return various responses based on user requests.

Response Methods: Several response methods such as res.send(), res.json(), and res.status() are explained. The tutorial also shows how to serve static files and how to use res.render() to render views with EJS templates.

Middleware: The importance of middleware in Express is discussed, and examples of custom logging middleware and built-in middleware for serving static files and parsing JSON are shown. The tutorial emphasizes the need to place middleware at the right point in the request-response cycle.

Routers and Route Handling: To keep the codebase organized, the tutorial demonstrates creating routers for specific functionalities, such as user management, and linking them to the main Express application.

Query Parameters and Dynamic Routes: The video covers how to handle query parameters and dynamic route parameters using req.query and req.params.

Conclusion: Build an Express.js Web App

This tutorial demonstrates that building a web app with Express.js can be relatively straightforward. Express allows developers to quickly set up servers, handle requests, and manage APIs with minimal effort, making it ideal for both small and large-scale applications.

But for developers looking to improve both the front-end and back-end development process, Five offers an excellent solution for rapidly building and deploying applications, complete with robust database management, authentication, and other essential features.