Contacts REST API

This project implements a REST API for managing contacts. It provides endpoints for listing contacts, retrieving a contact by ID, adding a new contact, updating an existing contact, and deleting a contact.

Features

• Authentication and Authorization: Secure routes with JWT-based authentication to protect sensitive data and ensure that only authorized users can access certain endpoints.
• REST API Routes: Implements routes for handling contacts using Express.js.
• Data Handling Functions: Includes functions for managing contact data, such as listing contacts, adding, updating, and deleting contacts.
• Middleware Configuration: Configures Express.js middleware for logging, CORS, and JSON parsing.
• Data Validation: Enhances data validation using Joi to ensure incoming data meets specified requirements.
• Avatar Handling: Allows users to upload and update their avatars using Multer for file uploads and Jimp for image manipulation.
• Email Verification: Implements email verification using Postmark to ensure that users verify their email addresses upon registration.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start the server:

   npm start

API Reference

• Authentication:

  • POST /api/auth/register: Register a new user.
  • POST /api/auth/login: Authenticate a user and return a JWT.
  • POST /api/users/logout: Logout by invalidating the user's token.
  • GET /api/auth/current: Retrieves the current authenticated user's details.
  • PATCH /api/auth/subscription: Updates the subscription type of the authenticated user. Accepts one of the following values: 'starter', 'pro', 'business'.
  • PATCH /api/auth/avatars: Updates the avatar of the authenticated user.
  • POST /api/users/verify: Resends the verification email to the user.

• Contact Operations:

  • GET /api/contacts: Retrieves a list of all contacts. Supports pagination and filtering by favorite status.
  • GET /api/contacts/:id: Retrieves a specific contact by ID.
  • POST /api/contacts: Adds a new contact.
  • PUT /api/contacts/:id: Updates an existing contact.
  • DELETE /api/contacts/:id: Deletes a contact by ID.

For detailed API documentation, please refer to API Reference.

Technologies Used

• Node.js: A JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js allows for efficient server-side scripting and is well-suited for building scalable network applications.
• Nodemon: Utility that monitors for any changes in your source and automatically restarts your server, providing a seamless development experience.
• Express.js: Web application framework for Node.js, designed for building web applications and APIs. Express.js simplifies the process of handling HTTP requests and responses.
• Joi: A powerful schema description language and data validator for JavaScript. Joi provides a convenient way to validate and sanitize input data, ensuring data integrity and security.
• MongoDB: A NoSQL database designed to handle large amounts of data and dynamic schemas. MongoDB's flexible document-based model is well-suited for storing unstructured data like contacts. Its scalability and performance make it a popular choice for modern applications.
• Mongoose: A MongoDB object modeling tool designed to work in an asynchronous environment. Mongoose provides a straightforward way to define schemas, perform CRUD operations, and perform data validation.
• JWT (JSON Web Tokens): A compact, URL-safe means of representing claims to be transferred between two parties. JWTs are widely used for authentication and authorization in stateless applications, providing a secure and efficient way to manage user sessions.
• bcrypt: A library to help you hash passwords securely. bcrypt is a popular choice for password hashing due to its resistance to brute-force attacks and its adjustable computational cost, making it suitable for varying security requirements.
• Multer: A middleware for handling multipart/form-data, used for uploading files in Node.js applications.
• Jimp: An image processing library for Node.js, used for resizing and manipulating images.

Why MongoDB?

MongoDB was chosen for this project due to its suitability for storing contact data. Here are some reasons why MongoDB was preferred over traditional SQL databases:

• Flexible Schema: MongoDB's document-oriented data model allows for flexible and dynamic schemas, making it easy to store and retrieve complex data structures like contacts without the need for predefined schemas.
• Scalability: MongoDB is designed to scale horizontally, allowing for seamless scalability as your data grows. It can handle large volumes of data and high throughput workloads with ease.
• Query Performance: MongoDB's query language and indexing capabilities provide efficient querying and retrieval of data, ensuring fast response times even with large datasets.
• Developer Productivity: MongoDB's JSON-like document format and intuitive query language make it easy for developers to work with, reducing development time and complexity.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and create a pull request with your changes.