Food Trucks API

Overview

Anyone who loves finding unique, delicious food at non-traditional, fleeting spots will attest that food trucks are an experience unmatched by restaurants. The Food Trucks API was built to provide all the backend functionality a frontend developer might need to build a food truck tracker app. The RESTful API includes functionality for registering users and logging in along with various endpoints to facilitate a user's ability to find and explore food trucks, their menus and their ratings.

Getting Started

The API is built using Node.js, Express and PostgreSQL.

API Documentation

Below is an endpoint example showcasing the GET /trucks functionality. The full documentation is available here through Postman.

Error Handling

If a request fails, the response will include a status code and a JSON object with a message:

status: 400
{
  'message': 'bad request'
}

Other errors handled by the API include:

• 401: Unauthorized
• 404: Resource Not Found
• 422: Not Processable
• 500: Internal Server Error

GET /trucks

Returns a list of trucks after confirming the request came from an authenticated user.
Example Request:

curl --location --request GET 'https://foodtrucks-app-backend.herokuapp.com/api/trucks' \
--header 'Authorization: INSERT TOKEN HERE'

Example Response:

[
  {
    "truck_id": 1,
    "truck_name": "Salty",
    "truck_description": "Best BBQ!",
    "image_url": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1570642916889-e95abeda9813?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&auto=format&fit=crop&w=634&q=80",
    "truck_lat": 43.4783,
    "truck_long": -110.7697,
    "open_time": "10:30:00",
    "close_time": "21:00:00",
    "cuisine": "BBQ",
    "number_of_ratings": 3,
    "truck_avg_rating": 4.35
  },
  {
    "truck_id": 2,
    "truck_name": "Brisk It",
    "truck_description": "Just another BBQ joint!",
    "image_url": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1505826759037-406b40feb4cd?ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1052&q=80",
    "truck_lat": 43.4729,
    "truck_long": -110.761,
    "open_time": "10:00:00",
    "close_time": "20:00:00",
    "cuisine": "BBQ",
    "number_of_ratings": 2,
    "truck_avg_rating": 4.5
  }
]

Design Document

I like to start projects by getting organized with a simple but comprehensive design document. If you want to check out the design document for this project, you can do so here.

Developer Instructions

You might be interested in using this backend to create your own. If so, feel free to follow these instructions and post what you build!

1. Create a forked copy of this project
2. Clone a version to your local repository
3. From the root directory in your terminal:
4. Create a an environment file (.env) and declare variables for the following:
   1. PORT=INSERT YOUR PREFERRED PORT HERE
   2. NODE_ENV=development
   3. DEV_DATABASE_URL=INSERT DATABASE URL HERE
   4. TESTING_DATABASE_URL=INSERT TESTING DATABASE URL HERE
   5. JWT_SECRET=INSERT SECRET HERE
   6. BCRYPT_ROUNDS=INSERT YOUR PREFERRED NUMBER OF ROUNDS HERE
5. Run npm install from the root directory
6. Check out the other scripts in package.json for running the server and the tests

Feedback

If you've made it this far, I bet you have an opinion about the Food Trucks API. If you're willing to share it, I would welcome it! Anything at all. Seriously, I'll be grateful.

Thanks for checking out the project.