URL Shortener Backend

This project provides a URL shortening service backend using Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Prerequisites
• Getting Started
  • Installation
  • Setting Up
  • Starting the Server
• API Endpoints
• Error Handling
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Shorten a long URL to a unique short URL.
• Redirect to the original long URL using the short URL.
• Handle errors gracefully.
• RESTful API endpoints for URL shortening.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (v14.x or higher)
• MongoDB
• npm or yarn

Getting Started

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mdrianislam0or1/generates-short-urls-backend.git
   cd generates-short-urls-backend
   
    Install dependencies:
   
    bash
   
    npm install
    ## or
    yarn install

Setting Up

Set up environment variables:

Create a .env file in the root directory based on .env.example and configure your MongoDB connection URL.

Setting Up

Set up environment variables:

Create a .env file in the root directory based on .env.example and configure your MongoDB connection URL:

plaintext

```PORT=5000
DATABASE_URL=mongodb+srv://your-username:your-password@your-cluster.mongodb.net/your-database?retryWrites=true&w=majority
NODE_ENV=development
```

Starting the Server

Start the server:

bash

npm start
## or
yarn start

This will start the server at http://localhost:5000.

API Endpoints

POST /api/url

Endpoint to shorten a long URL.

Request body:

json

{ "longUrl": "https://example.com/very-long-url" }

Response:

json

{ "success": true, "message": "Short URL generated successfully", "data": "short-url-code" }

GET /api/url/

Redirect to the original long URL using the short URL.

Example:

vbnet

GET /api/url/short-url-code

Response:

vbnet

302 Found
Location: https://example.com/very-long-url

Error Handling

The API handles various errors such as:

Invalid or missing request parameters.
Duplicate URL entries.
Not found errors for unknown short URLs.

Contributing

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