Config Sets

This Node.js module manages configuration settings by reading from and writing to a config-sets.json file.
It handles command-line arguments and watches for changes to the configuration file.
It allows you to create applications that can be configured in real time.

This manual is also available in HTML5.

Please note, this version is not backward compatible with version 2.x
Please note that JSON string is not 100% compatible.
It has been extended to allow for incremental updates of JSON files.
Added the ability to include metadata and comments.
Parsing of JSON files is enabled.

Installation

To install the module, use npm:

npm install config-sets

Usage

Basic Usage

To use the module, require it in your script and call the configSets function:

const configSets = require('config-sets');

const config = configSets({ 
    '-metadata-key1': ' key1 comment ',
    key1: 'value1', 
    '-metadata-key2': ' key2 comment ',
    key2: 'value2' 
});

const moduleConfig = configSets('moduleName', { key1: 'value1', key2: 'value2' });

console.log(config);

config.on('key1', function (ev) { console.log(ev); return true; });

file: config-sets.json

{
  "isProduction": true,
  "production": {
    /* key1 comment */
    "key1": "value1",
    /* key2 comment */
    "key2": "value2",
    "moduleName": {
        "key1": "value1",
        "key2": "value2"
    }
  },
  "development": {}
}

Command-Line Arguments

You can pass configuration settings via command-line arguments:

node index.js --key1=value1 --key2=value2

node index.js --help

Watching for Changes

The module watches the config-sets.json file for changes and updates the configuration settings accordingly.
This uses the 'data-context' module. Read more about how to use it.

config.on('key1', function (ev) { console.log(ev); return true; });

Testing

You can test config-sets on your system using this command:

node ./node_modules/config-sets/index.test

or in the config-sets project directory:

npm test

API

Main Function

configSets(configModuleName, defaultConfigSettings)

• configModuleName (optional): The name of the module to set or update configuration settings for.
• defaultConfigSettings: The default configuration settings.

Returns the current configuration settings.

Static Properties

• configSets.isProduction: Indicates if the environment is production.
• configSets.production: Contains production-specific configuration settings.
• configSets.development: Contains development-specific configuration settings.
• configSets.isSaveChanges (default: true): Determines if changes to the configuration should be saved automatically.

Helper Functions

assign(target, source, overwriteChanges)

• target: The target object to merge properties into.
• source: The source object containing properties to merge.
• overwriteChanges (optional): A boolean indicating whether to overwrite existing properties in the target object.

Merges source objects into a target object.

arg_options()

Parses command-line arguments into an object.

Returns an object containing the parsed command-line arguments.

print_help()

Prints the help message.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Copyright © 2025 Manuel Lõhmus

Donations are welcome and will go towards further development of this project.