Blog Posts API

Welcome to Blog Posts API! This project is a simple API for managing blog posts, similar to a very basic Medium platform. It’s built using Node.js, Express, and includes tests with Jest and Supertest. If you're new to building APIs, this is a great place to start!

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Technologies Used
• Getting Started
• File Structure
• API Endpoints
• Testing
• License

Overview

This project provides a simple API for creating, reading, updating, and deleting (CRUD) blog posts. By running this code, you’ll set up an API server that lets you:

• View a list of all posts
• Add new posts
• Retrieve a single post by ID
• Update posts by ID
• Delete posts by ID

Features

• Basic CRUD operations for posts
• Stores data temporarily in memory (no database required)
• Uses JSON format for data handling
• Fully tested with Jest and Supertest

Technologies Used

• Node.js - JavaScript runtime environment
• Express - Web framework for building APIs
• CORS - Middleware to handle Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
• Body-Parser - Middleware to parse incoming JSON request bodies
• Jest - Testing framework
• Supertest - Tool for HTTP assertions in tests

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Have Node.js installed
• Basic familiarity with JavaScript

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/MariferVL/blog-post-api.git

2. Go to the project directory:

   cd blog-post-api

3. Install all required packages:

   npm install

Running the Server

To start the API server, open your terminal in the project directory and run:

node server.js

The server should start at http://localhost:3000, and you'll see a message confirming that it’s running.

File Structure

Here’s a quick look at the files included in this project:

├── posts/
│   └── posts.js            # Routes for handling blog posts
├── tests/
│   └── server.test.js      # Test cases for our API
├── server.js               # Main server file
└── package.json            # Project configuration and dependencies

Explanation of Key Files

• server.js: This file sets up the Express server, connects middleware (CORS, body-parser), and loads our routes for handling blog posts.
• posts/posts.js: This file contains all the routes for our blog posts. It includes routes to get, add, update, and delete posts.
• tests/server.test.js: This file contains tests to check that our API is working correctly. It uses Jest and Supertest to make sure each endpoint does what it’s supposed to.

API Endpoints

Each endpoint lets us interact with our blog posts in different ways.

1. Get All Posts

• URL: /api/posts
• Method: GET
• Description: Returns a list of all posts.

2. Get a Single Post

• URL: /api/posts/:id
• Method: GET
• Description: Returns a single post by its ID.

3. Create a New Post

• URL: /api/posts
• Method: POST
• Description: Creates a new post.
• Request Body:

  {
    "title": "Post Title",
    "content": "Post Content"
  }

4. Update a Post

• URL: /api/posts/:id
• Method: PUT
• Description: Updates an existing post.
• Request Body:

  {
    "title": "Updated Title",
    "content": "Updated Content"
  }

5. Delete a Post

• URL: /api/posts/:id
• Method: DELETE
• Description: Deletes a post by its ID.

Testing

Testing is an important step to make sure everything in your API works as expected. This project includes tests that cover the functionality of each endpoint.

1. Create the tests/server.test.js file with the following code:

   const request = require('supertest');
   const express = require('express');
   const postsRoutes = require('../posts/posts');
   
   const app = express();
   app.use(express.json());
   app.use('/api/posts', postsRoutes);
   
   describe('Posts API', () => {
       it('should get all posts', async () => {
           const res = await request(app).get('/api/posts');
           expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(200);
           expect(Array.isArray(res.body)).toBe(true);
       });
   
       it('should create a new post', async () => {
           const newPost = { title: 'Test Post', content: 'Test Content' };
           const res = await request(app).post('/api/posts').send(newPost);
           expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(201);
           expect(res.body.title).toBe('Test Post');
       });
   
       it('should get a post by ID', async () => {
           const res = await request(app).get('/api/posts/1');
           expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(200);
           expect(res.body).toHaveProperty('id', 1);
       });
   
       it('should update a post by ID', async () => {
           const updatedPost = { title: 'Updated Title', content: 'Updated Content' };
           const res = await request(app).put('/api/posts/1').send(updatedPost);
           expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(200);
           expect(res.body.title).toBe('Updated Title');
       });
   
       it('should delete a post by ID', async () => {
           const res = await request(app).delete('/api/posts/1');
           expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(204);
       });
   });

2. Run Tests: To execute the tests, open your terminal and run:

   npm test

   The test results will show whether each endpoint works as expected.

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.