fixed small bug in cache initialization cycle, added documentation

README.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ contribute? See the [contribution guidelines](/CONTRIBUTING.md).
 ## Setup
 
 We use Node.js + Express in the application layer. The MySQL RDBMS is used as
-our primary datastore in the persistence layer.
+our primary datastore in the persistence layer. The Redis store is used as our primary cache.
 
 ####  Software Version Note
 
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ A list of configuration keys is provided below:
 | DB_PASSWORD | Any string | Overrides default MySQL password ('') |
 | DB_HOSTNAME | Any valid URI | Overrides default MySQL host ('127.0.0.1') |
 | DB_PORT | Any valid port number | Overrides default MySQL port (3306) |
+| REDIS_HOST | IP address | Overrides default redis host ('127.0.0.1') |
+| REDIS_PORT | Any valid port number | Overrides default redis port (6379) |
+
 
 Additionally, an [AWS shared credentials file](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSJavaScriptSDK/guide/node-configuring.html)
 can be made available with configuration options for those systems under the profile
@@ -110,6 +113,8 @@ If you see any errors, such as an inability to access the database, make sure yo
 set up the schema correctly and that you have set any necessary MySQL environment
 variables listed in the configuration section above.
 
+You should also have a local Redis instance which will be used as the cache.
+
 Note that if you're looking to contribute to this codebase, you should read the
 [database README](/database/README.md) as well. It contains important information that all
 contributors should be familiar with.

api.js

@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ database.instantiate()
 		return cache.instantiate();
 	})
 	.then(function () {
-		//api is initialized here which assures that all modules have access to an initialized datastore and cache instance
+		//api is initialized here which assures that all modules have access
+		//to an initialized datastore and cache instance
 		var api = require('./api/');
 		instance.use('/v1', api.v1);
 

api/cache.js

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ client.config.credentials = new client.SharedIniFileCredentials({ profile: confi
 client.isEnabled = !!client.config.credentials.accessKeyId;
 var _remote = new client.ElastiCache();
 
-function _buildConfiguration () {
+function _buildConfiguration() {
 	_REDIS_CONFIG = {};
 	if(!client.isEnabled) {
 		_REDIS_CONFIG.host = config.redis.host;
@@ -30,6 +30,21 @@ function _buildConfiguration () {
 		});
 }
 
+function _instantiate(cache) {
+	if(cache.connected) {
+		return _Promise.resolve(cache);
+	}
+
+	return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
+		cache.on("ready", function() {
+			resolve(cache);
+		});
+		cache.on("error", function(err) {
+			reject(err);
+		});
+	});
+}
+
 function CacheManager () {
 	this._cache = undefined;
 }
@@ -45,26 +60,13 @@ CacheManager.prototype.instance = function() {
 
 CacheManager.prototype.instantiate = function (){
 	if(!this._cache) {
-		_buildConfiguration().bind(this)
+		return _buildConfiguration().bind(this)
 			.then(function(config) {
 				this._cache = redis.createClient(config);
+				return _instantiate(this._cache);
 			});
 	}
-
-	var cache = this._cache;
-
-	if(cache.connected) {
-		return _Promise.resolve(cache);
-	}
-
-	return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
-		cache.on("ready", function() {
-			resolve(cache);
-		});
-		cache.on("error", function(err) {
-			reject(err);
-		});
-	});
+	return _instantiate(this._cache);
 };
 
 logger.info("connecting to redis");

api/v1/errors/RedisError.js

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ function RedisError(message, source) {
 	this.message = (message) ? message : DEFAULT_MESSAGE;
 }
 
-RedisError.prototype = Object.create(UnprocessableRequestError.prototype);
+RedisError.prototype = Object.create(ApiError.prototype);
 RedisError.prototype.constructor = RedisError;
 
 module.exports = RedisError;