Initialize a module when it's required

Question

I have a module with some initialization code inside. The init should be performed when the module is loaded. At the moment I'm doing it like this:

 // in the module   exports.init = function(config) { do it }   // in main   var mod = require('myModule');  mod.init(myConfig) 

That works, but I'd like to be more concise:

 var mod = require('myModule').init('myConfig') 

What should init return in order to keep mod reference working?

Answer 1

You can return this, which is a reference to exports in this case.

exports.init = function(init) {     console.log(init);     return this; };  exports.myMethod = function() {     console.log('Has access to this'); } 

var mod = require('./module.js').init('test'); //Prints 'test'  mod.myMethod(); //Will print 'Has access to this.' 

Or you could use a constructor:

module.exports = function(config) {     this.config = config;      this.myMethod = function() {         console.log('Has access to this');     };     return this; }; 

var myModule = require('./module.js')(config);  myModule.myMethod(); //Prints 'Has access to this'