typescript node.js express routes separated files best practices

Question

using Express in a Node project along with Typescript what would be the "best practices" for express.Router.

example directory structure

|directory_name
  ---server.js
  |--node_modules
  |--routes
     ---index.ts
     |--admin
        ---admin.ts
     |--products
        ---products.ts
     |--authentication
        ---authentication.ts

so inside index.ts it would encapsulate and manage all the sub-routers

    //admin.ts (nested inside of index.ts)
    import * as express from "express";

    export = (() => {
        
        let router = express.Router();
              
        router.get('/admin', (req, res) => {
            res.json({success: true});
        });
        
        return router;
    })();

Answer 1

In NodeJS each file is a module. Declaring variables does not pollute the global namespace. So you don't need to use the good old IIFE trick to properly scope variables (and prevent global pollution / collision).

You would write:

  import * as express from "express";

  // import sub-routers
  import * as adminRouter from "./admin/admin";
  import * as productRouter from "./products/products";

  let router = express.Router();

  // mount express paths, any addition middleware can be added as well.
  // ex. router.use('/pathway', middleware_function, sub-router);

  router.use('/products', productRouter);
  router.use('/admin', adminRouter);

  // Export the router
  export = router;

More on modules: https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/content/docs/project/modules.html