Inventory Management API

A comprehensive CRUD API for inventory management using MongoDB, Express, and Node.js.

Features

• RESTful API for managing products and suppliers
• MVC architecture with model, controller, and route separation
• Two MongoDB collections with rich data models
• Comprehensive validation using both:
  • Express-validator for request data validation
  • Custom model-level validation methods
• Error handling for all routes
• API documentation with Swagger

Project Structure

├── server.js           # Main application entry point
├── db.js               # Database connection module
├── swagger.js          # Swagger definition and generation script
├── generate-swagger.js # Script to generate swagger.json
├── controllers/        # Controller functions
│   ├── productController.js
│   └── supplierController.js
├── models/             # Data models with validation
│   ├── Product.js
│   └── Supplier.js
├── middleware/         # Middleware functions
│   └── validation.js   # Request validation rules
├── routes/             # API route definitions
│   ├── products.js
│   └── suppliers.js
└── swagger.json        # Generated API documentation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• MongoDB (local or Atlas)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd crud-api-project

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Create a .env file in the root directory with the following variables:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/product-api
PORT=3000

Running the Application

Start the server:

npm start

For development with auto-restart on file changes:

npm run dev

API Documentation

Generating Swagger Documentation

After making changes to the API, you should update the Swagger documentation:

npm run swagger

This will generate an updated swagger.json file based on the definitions in swagger.js.

Viewing API Documentation

Once the server is running, you can access the Swagger documentation at:

http://localhost:3000/api-docs

API Endpoints

Products

• GET /api/products - Get all products
• GET /api/products/:id - Get a specific product
• POST /api/products - Create a new product
• PUT /api/products/:id - Update a product
• DELETE /api/products/:id - Delete a product
• GET /api/products/supplier/:supplierId - Get products from a specific supplier

Suppliers

• GET /api/suppliers - Get all suppliers
• GET /api/suppliers/:id - Get a specific supplier
• POST /api/suppliers - Create a new supplier
• PUT /api/suppliers/:id - Update a supplier
• DELETE /api/suppliers/:id - Delete a supplier

Data Models

Product Schema

{
  "name": "String (required)",
  "description": "String (required)",
  "price": "Number (required)",
  "discountPercentage": "Number (optional)",
  "stock": "Integer (required)",
  "category": "String (required)",
  "tags": ["String"],
  "dimensions": {
    "height": "Number",
    "width": "Number",
    "depth": "Number",
    "unit": "String"
  },
  "weight": "Number",
  "supplierId": "MongoDB ObjectId (reference to Supplier)",
  "isAvailable": "Boolean (required)",
  "imageUrl": "String (URL)",
  "createdAt": "Date"
}

Supplier Schema

{
  "name": "String (required)",
  "contactName": "String (required)",
  "email": "String (required)",
  "phone": "String (required)",
  "address": {
    "street": "String (required)",
    "city": "String (required)",
    "state": "String (required)",
    "zipCode": "String (required)"
  },
  "country": "String (required)",
  "supplierType": "String enum [manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, retailer] (required)",
  "paymentTerms": "String (required)",
  "isActive": "Boolean (required)",
  "createdAt": "Date"
}

Validation

The API implements two levels of validation:

1. Request Validation: Using express-validator in middleware/validation.js

   • Ensures incoming requests have correct data types and required fields
   • Provides detailed error messages for bad requests

2. Model Validation: Using custom validate methods in models

   • Performs deeper validation logic specific to each model
   • Handles business rules and constraints

Error Handling

All routes implement consistent error handling with appropriate HTTP status codes:

• 400: Bad Request (validation errors, invalid IDs)
• 404: Not Found (item doesn't exist)
• 500: Server Error (database errors, unexpected issues)

Deployment

This application can be deployed to various cloud platforms:

Deploying to Heroku

1. Create a Heroku account and install the Heroku CLI
2. Login to Heroku:

   heroku login

3. Create a new Heroku app:

   heroku create your-app-name

4. Set environment variables:

   heroku config:set MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_atlas_connection_string

5. Push your code to Heroku:

   git push heroku main

Deploying to Render

Manual Deployment

1. Create a Render account
2. From the Render dashboard, click "New" and select "Web Service"
3. Connect your GitHub repository or deploy from a public repository URL
4. Configure the web service:
   • Name: Choose a name for your service (e.g., "inventory-management-api")
   • Environment: Node
   • Region: Choose the closest region to your users
   • Branch: main (or your preferred branch)
   • Build Command: npm install && npm run swagger
   • Start Command: node server.js
   • Plan: Free (or select a paid plan for production use)
5. Add the following environment variables:
   • MONGODB_URI: Your MongoDB Atlas connection string
   • NODE_ENV: production
   • PORT: 10000 (Render internally uses this)
   • APP_URL: Your Render app URL once deployed (e.g., https://inventory-management-api.onrender.com)
6. Click "Create Web Service"

Using render.yaml (Alternative)

This repository includes a render.yaml file for easier deployment:

1. Fork this repository on GitHub
2. Go to the Render Dashboard
3. Click on the "New" button and select "Blueprint" from the dropdown
4. Connect your forked GitHub repository
5. Render will detect the render.yaml file and set up the service
6. You'll still need to manually configure the MONGODB_URI environment variable in the Render dashboard

Important Notes for Render Deployment

• The free tier of Render will spin down your web service after 15 minutes of inactivity
• The first request after inactivity will take a bit longer as the service spins back up
• For production use, consider upgrading to a paid plan
• If you need to seed your database, run npm run seed locally before deploying, or set up a one-time service in Render to run the seed script

Deploying to Railway

1. Create a Railway account
2. Create a new project and link your GitHub repository
3. Add your environment variables in the Railway dashboard
4. Deploy your application

Environment Variables

The following environment variables are required:

• MONGODB_URI: Your MongoDB Atlas connection string
• PORT: The port number (optional, defaults to 3000)

Make sure to keep these environment variables secure and never commit them to your repository.

License

ISC