🚀 URL Shortener

📌 Overview

This project implements a URL shortening service built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. It features both a clean web interface and API endpoints to create shortened URLs, redirect to original URLs, and view analytics for each shortened URL. Additionally, it includes user authentication for secure access.

🛠️ Technologies Used

• Node.js: JavaScript runtime for building server-side applications
• Express.js: Web framework for creating robust APIs
• MongoDB: NoSQL database for storing URL and user data
• Mongoose: ODM library for MongoDB and Node.js
• Nanoid: Library for generating unique short IDs
• UUID: Library for generating session IDs
• EJS: Templating engine for rendering dynamic HTML pages
• CSS: Custom styling with responsive design
• JWT (JSON Web Tokens): Stateless authentication mechanism
• MVC Architecture: Model-View-Controller design pattern
• Cookie-Parser: Middleware for parsing cookies in requests

🏗️ Project Structure

shorten-url/
├── controllers/
│   ├── urlController.js    # Controllers for handling URL shortening requests
│   └── userControllers.js  # Controllers for user authentication
├── middleware/
│   └── auth.js             # Middleware for user authentication and session restriction
├── models/
│   ├── url.js              # Mongoose schema and model for URLs
│   └── user.js             # Mongoose schema and model for users
├── public/
│   ├── styles.css          # CSS styling for the home page
│   ├── styles-login.css    # CSS styling for the login page
│   └── styles-signup.css   # CSS styling for the signup page
├── routes/
│   ├── urlRoute.js         # Express routes for URL endpoints
│   └── userRoutes.js       # Express routes for user authentication
├── service/
│   └── auth.js             # Service for managing user sessions
├── view/
│   ├── home.ejs            # EJS template for the home page
│   ├── login.ejs           # EJS template for the login page
│   └── sign-up.ejs         # EJS template for the signup page
├── connection.js           # MongoDB connection setup
├── index.js                # Main application entry point with middleware setup
└── README.md               # Project documentation

🌐 Web Interface

The application provides a user-friendly web interface where users can:

• Enter a URL to be shortened
• View and copy the shortened URL
• Access the original URL by clicking the shortened link
• Sign up and log in to manage their sessions

The interface is fully responsive and styled with a modern, clean design.

🔄 API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/url	Render the home page
POST	/url	Create a shortened URL
GET	/url/:shortId	Redirect to the original URL
GET	/url/analytics/:shortId	Get click analytics for a short URL
GET	/user/login	Render the login page
POST	/user/login	Log in a user and return a JWT token
GET	/user/signup	Render the signup page
POST	/user/signup	Register a new user

📋 Data Models

URL

• shortId (String, required): Unique short identifier
• redirectUrl (String, required): Original URL to redirect to
• visitHistory (Array): Collection of timestamp objects for each visit
• timestamps: Automatically track creation and update times

User

• username (String, required): Unique username
• email (String, required): User's email address
• password (String, required): User's password
• timestamps: Automatically track creation and update times

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd shorten-url

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Start MongoDB

   # Make sure MongoDB is running on your system

4. Start the server

   npm start

5. Access the application

   The web interface will be available at http://localhost:3000/url

💻 Features

Web Interface

• Clean, responsive design
• Form validation for URL input
• Visual feedback for successful URL shortening
• Animated UI elements for better user experience

User Authentication

• Stateless authentication using JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• Secure signup and login functionality
• Middleware to restrict access to logged-in users for URL-related routes
• Role-based access control for specific endpoints

URL Shortening

• Generate short 8-character unique IDs
• Prevent duplicate URLs by returning existing short URLs
• Validate URL input format

URL Redirection

• Fast redirection to original URLs
• Track each visit with timestamps

Analytics

• Count total clicks for each shortened URL
• View timestamp history for each visit

Middleware Enhancements

• Restrict Access: Added middleware to restrict access to logged-in users for URL-related routes.
• Cookie Parsing: Corrected cookie-parser usage to ensure proper session handling.
• JSON Middleware: Included JSON middleware for handling API requests.

🔧 Skills Demonstrated

• ✅ Stateless authentication with JWT
• ✅ Full-stack web development with Node.js
• ✅ Front-end design with EJS templating and CSS
• ✅ MVC architectural pattern implementation
• ✅ MongoDB database integration with Mongoose
• ✅ Express.js middleware usage
• ✅ Error handling in asynchronous Node.js code
• ✅ HTTP redirects and status codes
• ✅ Analytics tracking and reporting
• ✅ Modular code organization
• ✅ Responsive web design

📝 Future Enhancements

• Custom short URL support
• QR code generation for shortened URLs
• Link expiration options
• Comprehensive test coverage
• Advanced analytics with geographical data
• Dark mode support
• Copy-to-clipboard functionality