include external .js file in node.js app

Question

I have an app.js node application. As this file is starting to grow, I would like to move some part of the code in some other files that I would "require" or "include" in the app.js file.

I'm trying things like:

// Declare application var app = require('express').createServer();  // Declare usefull stuff for DB purposes var mongoose = require('mongoose'); var Schema = mongoose.Schema; var ObjectId = Schema.ObjectId;  // THE FOLLOWING REQUIRE DOES NOT WORK require('./models/car.js'); 

in car.js:

// Define Car model CarSchema = new Schema({   brand        : String,   type : String }); mongoose.model('Car', CarSchema); 

I got the error:

ReferenceError: Schema is not defined 

I'm just looking to have the content of car.js loaded (instead of having everything in the same app.js file) Is there a particuliar way to do this in node.js ?

Answer 1

To place an emphasis on what everyone else has been saying var foo in top level does not create a global variable. If you want a global variable then write global.foo. but we all know globals are evil.

If you are someone who uses globals like that in a node.js project I was on I would refactor them away for as there are just so few use cases for this (There are a few exceptions but this isn't one).

// Declare application var app = require('express').createServer();  // Declare usefull stuff for DB purposes var mongoose = require('mongoose'); var Schema = mongoose.Schema; var ObjectId = Schema.ObjectId;  require('./models/car.js').make(Schema, mongoose); 

in car.js

function make(Schema, mongoose) {     // Define Car model     CarSchema = new Schema({       brand        : String,       type : String     });     mongoose.model('Car', CarSchema); }  module.exports.make = make;