Requizzle

Swizzle a little something into your Node.js modules.

What's Requizzle?

Requizzle provides a drop-in replacement for Node.js's require() function. This replacement allows you to change a module's source code at runtime.

You can use Requizzle in your test cases, or in production code if you like to live dangerously. Requizzle has been tested with Node.js 0.10 and 0.11.

Here's what Requizzle can do:

Look for modules in new places

With Requizzle, you can add directories to the module lookup path, which forces Node.js to search those directories for modules. This can be useful if:

• You're tired of writing code like require('../../../../../lib/foo').
• You want to expose your app's modules to external plugins. (Without Requizzle, it can be tough to do this if the plugin is located outside of your app directory.)

Add code before or after the module's source code

Tamper with modules to your heart's delight by adding arbitrary code before or after the module's own source code.

Mess with child modules

When you use Requizzle to require a module, you can force each child module's require method to inherit your changes to the parent module. (By default, only the parent module is changed.)

Preserve strict-mode declarations

If a module starts with a strict-mode declaration, Requizzle keeps it in place. Your changes will appear after the strict-mode declaration.

Leave native modules alone

If you use one of Node.js's built-in modules, such as fs or path, Requizzle won't mess with it.

Installation

With npm:

npm install requizzle

With git:

git clone git://github.com/hegemonic/requizzle.git
cd requizzle
npm install

Usage

The Requizzle module exports a single function, which returns a drop-in replacement for require().

When you call the function, you must pass in an options object, which can include any of these properties:

• extras: A pair of functions that return text to insert before or after the module's source code. Each function accepts two parameters: targetPath, the path to the required module, and parentModule, the Module object for the module's parent. Each function must return a string.
  • extras.before: A function that returns text to insert before the module's source code.
  • extras.after: A function that returns text to insert after the module's source code.
• infect: Determines whether child modules are infected with the same changes as the parent module. Set to true to force child modules to inherit your changes. Defaults to false.
• requirePaths: An array of additional paths to search for required modules. For example, if requirePaths is set to ['/usr/lib/junk/modules'], and you save a JavaScript module at /usr/lib/junk/modules/mymodule.js, you can require the module as mymodule. By default, the require path is not changed.

Examples

var requizzle = require('requizzle');

// Say hello and goodbye to each module.
var logRequire = requizzle({
    extras: {
        before: function(targetPath, parentModule) {
            return 'console.log("Hello %s!", ' + targetPath + ');\n';
        },
        after: function(targetPath, parentModule) {
            return 'console.log("Goodbye %s!", ' + targetPath + ');\n';
        }
    }
});
// Prints "Hello /path/to/mymodule.js!" and "Goodbye /path/to/mymodule.js!"
var myModule = logRequire('mymodule');

// Look for modules in the current module's `lib` directory, and force child
// modules to do the same.
var path = require('path');
var extraPathRequire = requizzle({
    infect: true,
    requirePaths: [path.join(__dirname, 'lib')]
});
// If `foo` needs to require a module in `./lib`, it can use `require('bar')`
// instead of `require('./lib/bar')`.
var foo = extraPathRequire('./foo');

Troubleshooting

Here are some problems you may run into when you use Requizzle, along with solutions to each problem. If you run into any problems that aren't addressed here, please file a new issue!

Requizzle slowed down my code! A lot!

Requizzle adds minimal overhead to the module-loading process. In some cases, it may even be faster than Node.js's built-in require() function.

However, your code will run much slower than usual if you do both of the following:

• Use Requizzle's infect option.
• Require modules that have a lot of require() calls within the scope of individual functions.

To fix this issue, find the module calls that are within function scope, and move them to each module's top-level scope. You can find the biggest offenders by using Node.js's built-in --prof option to profile your app, then running node-tick to create a report that shows the number of ticks per function.

Requizzle made my module do something weird!

Do you have any circular dependencies in the modules that aren't working? Circular dependencies can cause unusual behavior with Requizzle, just as they can without Requizzle. Try breaking the circular dependency.

Requizzle violates the sacred Law of Demeter! It's an unnatural abomination!

Fair enough.

Acknowledgements

Requizzle is very loosely adapted from Johannes Ewald's rewire module, which is designed to modify a module's behavior for unit testing. If Requizzle doesn't meet your needs, please take a look at rewire!

License

MIT license.