Node-Restify-MongoDB Generated RESTful API

Introduction

This project was built using the generator-node-restify-mongodb Yeoman generator. The generator scaffolds a basic RESTful CRUD API, based on Node, Restify, and MongoDB. Restify, used most notably by Netflix, borrows heavily from Express, according to the Restify website. However, while Express is targeted at browser applications, with templating and rendering, Restify is keenly focused on building API services that are maintainable and observable.

Portions of this project's file structure and code are derived from what I consider the best parts of several different projects, including generator-express, generator-restify-mongo, and generator-restify.

Along with Node, Restify, and MongoDB, the project also implements the following packages: Bunyan (includes DTrace support), Jasmine (using jasmine-node), Mongoose, and Grunt.

Installation

First, install Yeoman and generator-node-restify-mongodb using npm (we assume you have pre-installed node.js).

npm install -g yo
npm install -g generator-node-restify-mongodb

Then generate your new project

yo node-restify-mongodb

Using the Generated Application

Import sample widget documents into MongoDB from the supplied 'data/widgets.json' file

# import to local development environment
grunt mongoimport --verbose
  
# import to production environment db instance
NODE_ENV=production grunt mongoimport --verbose

Start the application

npm run

To test the application using jshint and jasmine-node, the sample documents must be imported into MongoDB (see above), and the application must be running (see above)

npm test

Similarly, to review code coverage, using grunt, mocha, istanbul, and grunt-mocha-istanbul

grunt coverage

Test the running application by cURLing the '/widgets' endpoint

curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/json" "http://localhost:3000/widgets"

For a better output, try

npm install -g json
curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/json" "http://localhost:3000/widgets" --silent | json
curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/json" "http://localhost:3000/widgets/SVHXPAWEOD" --silent | json

API Endpoints

The current API endpoints, include the following

# widget resources
var PATH = '/widgets';
server.get({path: PATH, version: VERSION}, findDocuments);
server.get({path: PATH + '/:product_id', version: VERSION}, findOneDocument);
server.post({path: PATH, version: VERSION}, createDocument);
server.put({path: PATH, version: VERSION}, updateDocument);
server.del({path: PATH + '/:product_id', version: VERSION}, deleteDocument);
  
# utility resources
var PATH = '/utils';
server.get({path: PATH + '/ping', version: VERSION}, ping);
server.get({path: PATH + '/health', version: VERSION}, health);
server.get({path: PATH + '/info', version: VERSION}, information);
server.get({path: PATH + '/config', version: VERSION}, configuraton);
server.get({path: PATH + '/env', version: VERSION}, environment);

Widget

The basic 'widget' object is used throughout, to demonstrate Mongoose's Model and Schema

{
  "product_id": "4OZNPBMIDR",
  "name": "Fapster",
  "color": "Orange",
  "size": "Medium",
  "price": "29.99",
  "inventory": 5
}

MongoDB

To access the application's MongoDB database with sample documents

mongo
 > show dbs
 > use node-restify-mongodb-development
 > show tables
 > db.widgets.find()
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a87026"), "product_id" : "4OZNPBMIDR", "name" : "Fapster", "color" : "Orange", "size" : "Medium", "price" : "29.99", "inventory" : 5 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a87027"), "product_id" : "SVHXPAWEOD", "name" : "Voonex", "color" : "Green", "size" : "Medium", "price" : "$10.99", "inventory" : 50 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a87028"), "product_id" : "3YIRGZ6TDW", "name" : "Groopster", "color" : "Yellow", "size" : "Large", "price" : "$99.95", "inventory" : 100 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a87029"), "product_id" : "6T2HC5MIZ9", "name" : "Chaintwist", "color" : "Purple", "size" : "Tiny", "price" : "$99.95", "inventory" : 15 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a8702a"), "product_id" : "ERZ1RMJFR3", "name" : "Glozzom", "color" : "Red", "size" : "Huge", "price" : "$199.98", "inventory" : 35 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a8702b"), "product_id" : "N43WV5234S", "name" : "Zapster", "color" : "Green", "size" : "Tiny", "price" : "$17.49", "inventory" : 65 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a8702c"), "product_id" : "0BVCLPDZ42", "name" : "Chaintwist", "color" : "Blue", "size" : "Medium", "price" : "$89.95", "inventory" : 55 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a8702d"), "product_id" : "N212QZOD9B", "name" : "Pentwist", "color" : "Yellow", "size" : "Huge", "price" : "$159.98", "inventory" : 95 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a8702e"), "product_id" : "RTHGP1FCGN", "name" : "Reflupper", "color" : "Red", "size" : "Large", "price" : "$12.95", "inventory" : 25 }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("574cf9bb0f515d7c67a8702f"), "product_id" : "GKO1SFX04M", "name" : "Jukelox", "color" : "Blue", "size" : "Small", "price" : "$25.49", "inventory" : 75 }

Environmental Variables

The application uses the following environment variables and defaults, which are found in the 'config/config.js' file.

var NODE_ENV   = process.env.NODE_ENV   || 'development';
var NODE_HOST  = process.env.NODE_HOST  || '127.0.0.1';
var NODE_PORT  = process.env.NODE_PORT  || 3000;
var MONGO_HOST = process.env.MONGO_HOST || '127.0.0.1';
var MONGO_PORT = process.env.MONGO_PORT || 27017;
var LOG_LEVEL  = process.env.LOG_LEVEL  || 'info';
var APP_NAME   = 'node-restify-mongodb-';

TODO

• Add jasmine-node tests for new Utility endpoints
• Add jasmine-node tests for Widget endpoints
• Convert from out-dated jasmine-node to jasmine?
• Add ability to read query params
• Add filtering, sorting, field selection and paging
• Add HATEOAS features
• Add authentication and authorization to production MongoDB instance

References

http://blog.mwaysolutions.com/2014/06/05/10-best-practices-for-better-restful-api
https://blog.openshift.com/day-27-restify-build-correct-rest-web-services-in-nodejs
https://scotch.io/tutorials/using-mongoosejs-in-node-js-and-mongodb-applications
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15123182/mongoose-findoneandupdate-not-working
http://support.mashery.com/docs/read/mashery_api/30/Pagination
https://semaphoreci.com/community/tutorials/getting-started-with-node-js-and-jasmine
https://github.com/mhevery/jasmine-node/blob/master/package.json
http://stackoverflow.com/a/20730416/580268
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-4.3