Paste Library

Paste library is a web-based paste bin like service that allows users to paste and share text. I made this app to explore the MERN stack. During the development, I learned how to generate and map a short URL to a set of data with the least collision. The aim was to achieve maximum convenience and privacy. So, the metric used was to complete the entire process within just two clicks.

Table of content

• Paste Library
• Installation
• Usage
• Tech stack
  • Front end
  • Backend
  • Database
  • Server
• Deployment
• Screenshots
• License

Installation

1. Fork the repository, then clone from your repository.

2. Create MongoDB server with the username super (!Important) from MongoDB atlas.

3. Make sure you have node.js installed on your system. Download node.js if required.

   # to check if node.js exist
   node -v

4. Go to the cloned paste-library-mern folder in your local machine and open terminal.

5. Enter following command to install dependencies for both backend and frontend

   npm install
   cd client # paste-library-mern/client
   npm install
   cd .. # paste-library-mern/

6. Make a copy of .env.example and rename it .env in the same directory.

7. Replace .env file values except for DEFAULT_USER_ID.

8. Run following commands in the terminal to run the web-application.

   # first terminal
   # paste-library-mern/
   npm start

   # second terminal
   cd client # paste-library-mern/client
   npm start

   If successful you'll see this msg in the two terminals

   Server started on port 5000
   MongoDB connected

   Compiled successfully!
   
   You can now view client in the browser.
   
   Local:            http://localhost:3000
   On Your Network:  http://192.168.xxx.xxx:3000
   
   Note that the development build is not optimized.
   To create a production build, use npm run build.

9. Create new default anonymous user by going to url localhost:3000/register with any credentials you like. This will be used for all dump creation for logged out user.

10. Go to your Atlas dashboard and click on collections now find users database and copy _id. Now, paste this in .env > DEFAULT_USER_ID.

    Note: copy only the string inside ObjectId()

Usage

Go to localhost:3000/ to view the project running and use it like any other web-application.

Tech stack

Front end

• HTML
• CSS
• ReactJS

Backend

• NodeJS
• ExpressJS

Database

• MongoDB

Server

• Heroku

Deployment

This web-application is deployed using Heroku under the domain pastelibrary.tk

Screenshots

License

This web-application is licensed under MIT. For more info refer to LICENSE file in the root directory.