starter-tasks

Backend Task One

This task is to create a simple server in JavaScript that handles GET, POST, and DELETE request methods. These methods are the basics of any CRUD application. To see a working example of this task follow the setup below.

Table of Contents

Task

You will create a CRUD application in JavaScript using Express.js, an easy way to handle HTTP commands. You will interface and perform reads, deletes, and updates with a dummy database in the form of a database.json file. Below are the following requests and their expected responses. All requests will be to the / or “root” endpoint.

Getting Started

These steps should point you in the right direction to get your environment setup.

  1. Create a GitHub repository. Clone and cd into it. 
    $ git clone https://github.com/jonathanlo411/temp.git
Cloning into 'temp'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 3, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (3/3), done.
$ cd temp
  2. Install Node.js if you do not already have it. Create your express app following the steps here.
$ npx express-generator

  warning: the default view engine will not be jade in future releases
  warning: use `--view=jade' or `--help' for additional options

destination is not empty, continue? [y/N] y

   create : public\
   create : public\javascripts\
   create : public\images\
   create : public\stylesheets\
   create : public\stylesheets\style.css
   create : routes\
   create : routes\index.js
   create : routes\users.js
   create : views\
   create : views\error.jade
   create : views\index.jade
   create : views\layout.jade
   create : app.js
   create : package.json
   create : bin\
   create : bin\www

   install dependencies:
     $ npm install

   run the app:
     $ DEBUG=temp:* npm start

$ npm install
npm WARN deprecated transformers@2.1.0: Deprecated, use jstransformer
npm WARN deprecated constantinople@3.0.2: Please update to at least constantinople 3.1.1
npm WARN deprecated jade@1.11.0: Jade has been renamed to pug, please install the latest version of pug instead of jade

added 99 packages, and audited 100 packages in 3s

1 package is looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

8 vulnerabilities (1 low, 4 high, 3 critical)

To address all issues (including breaking changes), run:
  npm audit fix --force

Run `npm audit` for details.
  1. (Optional) If you would like to set up hot-reloading, use Nodemon and setup the script by adding nodemon before the node ./bin/www in the package.json. An example is shown below 
    npm install --save-dev nodemo

    // package.json
{
  "name": "temp",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
 "start": "nodemon node ./bin/www"
  },
  "dependencies": {
 "cookie-parser": "~1.4.4",
 "debug": "~2.6.9",
 "express": "~4.16.1",
 "http-errors": "~1.6.3",
 "jade": "~1.11.0",
 "morgan": "~1.9.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
 "nodemon": "^2.0.22"
  }
}
  2. Start a local environment using npm start. This will open a connection on port 3000. Access it under 127.0.0.1:3000 or localhost:3000.
  3. Install the “database” JSON file and move it to the root of the project directory. You can download if from here.
  4. Edit the router in /routes/index.js. Use the Express.js documentation.
  5. For testing use Postman to send requests and receive responses. An example is show below. postmanex

HTTP Methods

GET

The GET method will query the database and return all items. Authentication is not required.

POST

The POST method will add an additional item to the database. Authentication is required in the form of a query parameter of key. The value should be set to sample_key and if it is not, should return an error. The JSON data of the additional item to be added will be put into the body (see example below). In addition, the Content-Type in the headers should be set to application/json.

DELETE

The DELETE method will remove all entries of books with the provided title. Authentication is required in the form of a query parameter of key. The value should be set to sample_key and if it is not, should return an error. An additional query parameter of title should be present in the request. The value will be set to the target of deletion.

Failure

If any of the requests fail, there should be a JSON response as show below with the status code of 403.

// Response
{
    "success": 0,
    "message": "<method> Unsuccessful"
}

Setup of Example of Task

*Note: This is a completed version of the task and should only be used to make comparisons when confused on the task. You can also use it to test various responses against it. The example, however, is NOT something your should copy from.

  1. Clone the repository. 
    git clone https://github.com/ucsdds3/starter-tasks-backend-1
  2. Install Node.js.
  3. cd into the directory and install. 
    cd starter-tasks-backend-1
npm install
  4. Run the server. Nodemon is setup for hot reloading. 
    npm start
// or
nodeman node ./bin/www
  5. Use Postman or an API client of your choice to test the example methods.
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