my-mern-app

GOAL: Build a fullstack MERN App

Steps

1. Setup the server.js

• Create your server.js file.
• Run npm init -y
• Run npm install express mongoose dotenv if-env path
• Build out the basic server

require("dotenv").config();
const express = require("express");
const mongoose = require("mongoose");
const path = require("path");

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3001;

const app = express();

app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(express.json());

mongoose.connect(process.env.MONGODB_URI || "mongodb://localhost/my-mern", {
  useNewUrlParser: true,
  useUnifiedTopology: true,
  useCreateIndex: true,
  useFindAndModify: false,
});

const connection = mongoose.connection;

connection.on("connected", () => {
  console.log("Mongoose successfully connected.");
});

connection.on("error", (err) => {
  console.log("Mongoose connection error: ", err);
});

app.get("/api/config", (req, res) => {
  res.json({
    success: true,
  });
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`App is running on http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});

2. Add create-react-app client on top.

• In the root, run npx create-react-app client --use-npm
• Run npm install concurrently -D
• Add script: "client": "cd client && npm run start", to server package.json
• Add script "start-dev": "concurrently \"nodemon --ignore 'client/*'\" \"npm run client\"", to server package.json
• Add "proxy": "http://localhost:3001", to the client package.json

Testing and Validation

• Install axios in the client directory
• Make an API call to the /api/config route and log it to the console.

3. Set the app up for Production

• Update the scripts object in the server package.json:

  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "if-env NODE_ENV=production && npm run start:prod || npm run start:dev",
    "start:prod": "node server.js",
    "start:dev": "concurrently \"nodemon --ignore 'client/*'\" \"npm run client\"",
    "client": "cd client && npm run start",
    "install": "cd client && npm install",
    "build": "cd client && npm run build",
    "heroku-postbuild": "npm run build"
  },

• Add build folder static and route to server.js

app.use(express.static("client/build"));

app.get("*", (req, res) => {
  res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, "./client/build/index.html"));
});

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