Table of Contents generated with DocToc

• Customizing Library
  • The custom Directory
  • Styles
  • Text, Language, and Branding
  • Middleware
  • Cache Client
  • Layouts
  • Authentication

Customizing Library

The custom Directory

The custom directory mirrors the directory structure of server. For certain files, overrides can be created to allow for custom implementations. Custom middleware is also supported.

A custom directory using all overrides will have the following structure:

custom/
├── package.json       // for any npm modules required for custom code
├── cache
│   └── store.js
├── layouts
│   └── categories
│       ├── default.ejs // override for default content layout
|       └── outer-space.ejs // override for paths beginning with "outer-space", for example 🚀
├── middleware
│   ├── middleware1.js // pre/postload exports will be included as middleware
│   └── middleware2.js
├── strings.yaml
├── styles
│   ├── _theme.scss
│   └── _custom.scss
└── userAuth.js        // authentication middleware overrides

A custom directory demo is available on GitHub.

Styles

Sass variable overrides can be placed in custom/styles/_theme.scss. This allows for setting custom values for colors and fonts across the entire application. An example theme file could look like this:

// Font imports
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Alfa+Slab+One|Open+Sans:400,400i,700,700i&subset=latin-ext');

 // Example Light Theme
 $font-branding:                "Alpha Slab One", cursive;
 $font-headline:                "Open Sans", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
 $font-sans:                    "Open Sans", sans-serif;
 $masthead-background:          $gray-10;
 $main-homepage-background:     $white;
 $main-homepage-icon-color:     $black;
 $main-homepage-icon-border:    $black;
 $main-page-text-color:         $gray-35;
 $main-page-btn-color:          $gray-45;
 $search-container-background:  #e6e2e2;
 $search-container-hover:       $gray-70;
 $btn-homepage-background:      $white;
 $btn-homepage-border:          $black;
 $btn-default-background:       $white;
 $btn-default-background-hover: $accent;
 $btn-default-border:           $black;
 $btn-default-text-color:       $black;
 $btn-default-text-hover:       $black;
 $btn-user-initial:             $gray-50;
 $elem-link-color:              $gray-50;
 $elem-active-link-color:       $gray-50;
 $elem-link-accent:             $accent;
 $nav-text-color:               $gray-40;

If you would like to use the default theme but want to override some styling, you can add a _custom.scss file to the styles folder. There, you can place scss to override any styles you see fit.

Text, Language, and Branding

The site name, logo, and most of the text on the website can be modified from the strings.yaml file. Any value in config/strings.yaml can be overridden by placing a value for the same key in custom/strings.yaml, with a custom string, Javascript function, or image path.

Middleware

Middleware can be added to the beginning or end of the request cycle by placing files into custom/middleware. These files can export preload and postload functions. These functions must be valid middleware with params (res, req, next).

preload exports will be added to the beginning of the request cycle, while postload exports are added near the end.

Cache Client

By default, Library uses an in-memory cache. A custom cache client can be written to be used in its place.

A custom cache client can be used by placing a store.js file in the custom/cache directory. This file must export an object with the methods

• set(key, value, callback), where callback takes (err, success)
• get(key, callback), where callback takes (err, value)

Layouts

Default layouts and templates are included in the top level layouts directory, and are automatically superceded by the presence of a mirror file within the custom/layouts folder.

Using this folder, it's possible to both replace default templates that are invoked by your copy of Library to customize markup around your site, as well as to include dedicated template entrypoints for specific subsections of your site.

For example, to override the markup on your search page, you could include a custom/layouts/pages/search.ejs file to replace the output of this default template.

If you had a folder in your your Shared Drive/Folder that was called "Outer Space", creating a template at custom/layouts/categories/outer-space.ejs would serve as the entrypoint for all pages nested under that section of your site, replacing the this default template for matching paths.

When overriding default templates included with Library, it's usually a good idea to being by copying the base template to the custom location, then tweak until you achieve the desired effect. This helps ensure that important parts of the site furniture are not accidentally removed.

Authentication

By default, Library uses Google oAuth and passport to authenticate users. Different authentication systems can be used by overriding custom/userAuth.js, and can easily be implemented using a different passport strategy that fits needs of your organization.

This file must export an express router or middleware that contains all authentication logic. The logic placed in this file is run early in the middleware chain, allowing you to ensure a user is authenticated before they are able to access site content.