Pen Feed Backend

This is a capstone project built at General Assembly's Web Development Immersive.

This repository is the backend or API side of the project. The frontend or client of the project is here.

Components of this Project

The frontend client repository is here.

The backend API repository is here.

The deployed frontend client is here.

The deployed backend API is here.

What this app does and how it works

This app allows users to record information about fountain pens, and then retrieve that information later. It automatically calculates how soon pens should be cleaned based on when they were filled with ink and what kind of ink it was, and lists pens that need cleaning more badly ahead of pens that don't need to be cleaned yet.

I hope to eventually have this tool track ink use and overall pen activity history. Ultimately, I would like to use it as a replacement for a Google Drive spreadsheet I'm currently using for this hobby.

Structure of this Repository

Dependencies are stored in package.json.

The most important file for understanding the structure of the template is server.js. This is where the actual Express app object is created, where the middlewares and routes are registered, and more.

The app directory contains models and route files. Models are simply Mongoose models. Route files are somewhat similar to controllers in Rails, but they cover more functionality, including serialization and deciding which HTTP verbs to accept and what to do with them.

The config directory holds just db.js, which is where we specify the name and URL of our database.

The lib directory is for code that will be used in other places in the application. The token authentication code is stored in lib/auth.js. The other files in lib deal with error handling. custom_errors.js is where all the different custom classes of errors are created. There are also some functions defined here that are used elsewhere to check for errors. lib/error_handler.js is a function that is used in all the client's .catches. It catches errors, and sets the response status code based on what type of error got thrown.

Setting Up and Installing This Project

1. Install a local copy of this repository on your computer.
2. Install dependencies with npm install.
3. Ensure that you have nodemon installed by running npm install -g nodemon.
4. From the root of your repository, run the following commands. They will set a SECRET_KEY for development and testing.

echo SECRET_KEY_BASE_TEST=$(openssl rand -base64 66 | tr -d '\n') >>.env
echo SECRET_KEY_BASE_DEVELOPMENT=$(openssl rand -base64 66 | tr -d '\n') >> .env

1. To deploy this API locally on your computer, run npm run server. To interact with the backend without using curl scripts, you will also need to set up the frontend client.
2. To deploy a version of this API to Heroku, follow the steps in express-api-deployment-guide

Planning, Process, and Problem-Solving

I tracked my progress using handwritten notes and Google Drive documents.I started by taking notes on the way I have been using the spreadsheet I'd like to eventually replace with this project. Then I created the ERD, wireframes, and user stories.

Since I knew I'd need date math for this project, I looked into how dates work in Rails and in Express, and decided to use Express (in part because this means only dealing with date math in one language).

I set up authentication, deployed the frontend and backend, and made sure the authentication was working before working on anything specific to this project.

On this project, I built the pens resource on the backend, used curl scripts to make sure it ran properly, then deployed it. Since I began working on the frontend, I've only made minor changes to the backend.

On the frontend, I started by setting up the Create action for the pens resource, then Read, then Update and finally Destroy. Create, Read, and Update were all moderately complex, but Destroy was very simple.

Unsolved Problems and Possible Future Tasks

1. Authentication is currently done through code hand-rolled by General Assembly instructors. Among other problems, this code never checks if the content in the "password" and "confirm password" boxes on the signup page are the same.
2. There's no history/logging, so it's not possible to see past events or trends.
3. There's no way to share pen information with other users.
4. Users cannot store information about ink use anywhere in this app.
5. The "Inked" and "Cleaned" check-boxes are somewhat small and could be improved.
6. There is no CSS/styling at all.

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

The Entity Relationship Diagram for this project is on Google Drive here.

API Specifications and Routes

Authentication

Verb	URI Pattern	Controller#Action
POST	/sign-up	users#signup
POST	/sign-in	users#signin
PATCH	/change-password/	users#changepw
DELETE	/sign-out/	users#signout

POST /sign-up

Request:

curl --include --request POST http://localhost:4741/sign-up \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "credentials": {
      "email": "an@example.email",
      "password": "an example password",
      "password_confirmation": "an example password"
    }
  }'

scripts/auth/sign-up.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{
  "user": {
    "id": 1,
    "email": "an@example.email"
  }
}

POST /sign-in

Request:

curl --include --request POST http://localhost:4741/sign-in \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "credentials": {
      "email": "an@example.email",
      "password": "an example password"
    }
  }'

scripts/auth/sign-in.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{
  "user": {
    "id": 1,
    "email": "an@example.email",
    "token": "33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa"
  }
}

PATCH /change-password/

Request:

curl --include --request PATCH http://localhost:4741/change-password/ \
  --header "Authorization: Token token=$TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "passwords": {
      "old": "an example password",
      "new": "super sekrit"
    }
  }'

TOKEN=33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa scripts/auth/change-password.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content

DELETE /sign-out/

Request:

curl --include --request DELETE http://localhost:4741/sign-out/ \
  --header "Authorization: Token token=$TOKEN"

TOKEN=33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa scripts/auth/sign-out.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content

Pens

Verb	URI Pattern	Controller#Action
POST	/pens	pens#create
GET	/pens	pens#find
PATCH	/pens/:id	pens#update
DELETE	/pens/:id	pens#remove

POST /pens

Request:

curl --include --request POST http://localhost:4741/create \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" \
  --data '{
    "pen": {
      "name": "'"${NAME}"'",
      "isInked": true,
      "isClean": false,
      "changedYear": 2018,
      "changedMonth": 3,
      "changedDay": 11,
      "inkName": "curl test ink",
      "inkType": "Water-Soluble"
    }
  }'

TOKEN=33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa NAME=TestPen sh scripts/pens/create.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
X-Powered-By: Express
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://localhost:7165
Vary: Origin
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 310
ETag: W/"136-qIoAs9GWTp6mPe7FrSrPx2s34jQ"
Date: Wed, 30 May 2018 22:44:07 GMT
Connection: keep-alive

{"pen":
  {"__v":0,
  "updatedAt":"2018-05-30T22:44:07.646Z",
  "createdAt":"2018-05-30T22:44:07.646Z",
  "name":"TestPen",
  "isInked":true,
  "isClean":false,
  "changedYear":2018,
  "changedMonth":3,
  "changedDay":11,
  "inkName":"curl test ink",
  "inkType":"Water-Soluble",
  "owner":"5b0dba9c6bb1d84c2ea2e47a",
  "_id":"5b0f2937c069e51d3640b0db"}
}

GET /pens

Request:

curl --include --request GET http://localhost:4741/pens \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}"

TOKEN=33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa sh scripts/pens/index.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
X-Powered-By: Express
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://localhost:7165
Vary: Origin
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 2402
ETag: W/"962-KPZ99qwoPJ0mmrvKiKHzFWIkSF4"
Date: Wed, 30 May 2018 22:46:13 GMT
Connection: keep-alive

{"pens":
  [{"_id":"5b0e031c37e23e12c3b94c7b",
    "updatedAt":"2018-05-30T21:15:07.288Z",
    "createdAt":"2018-05-30T01:49:16.813Z",
    "name":"TestPen","isInked":false,
    "isClean":true,
    "inkedYear":2018,
    "inkedMonth":3,
    "inkedDay":11,
    "inkName":"curl test ink",
    "inkType":"Water-Soluble",
    "owner":"5b0dba9c6bb1d84c2ea2e47a",
    "__v":0
  },{"_id":"5b0f0900c069e51d3640b0d4",
    "updatedAt":"2018-05-30T20:26:40.753Z",
    "createdAt":"2018-05-30T20:26:40.753Z",
    "name":"another pen",
    "isInked":true,
    "inkName":"Noodler's Operation Overlord",
    "inkType":"Bulletproof",
    "isClean":false,
    "changedYear":2018,
    "changedMonth":5,
    "changedDay":23,
    "owner":"5b0dba9c6bb1d84c2ea2e47a",
    "__v":0
  }
}

PATCH /pens/:id

Request:

curl --include --request PATCH "http://localhost:4741/pens/${ID}" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}"
  --data '{
      "pen": {
        "isInked": false,
        "isClean": true
      }
  }'

TOKEN=33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa ID=5b0f2937c069e51d3640b0db sh scripts/pens/update.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
X-Powered-By: Express
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://localhost:7165
Vary: Origin
ETag: W/"a-bAsFyilMr4Ra1hIU5PyoyFRunpI"
Date: Wed, 30 May 2018 22:53:10 GMT
Connection: keep-alive

DELETE /pens/:id

Request:

curl --include --request PATCH "http://localhost:4741/pens/${ID}" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}"

TOKEN=33ad6372f795694b333ec5f329ebeaaa ID=5b0f2937c069e51d3640b0db sh scripts/pen/destroy.sh

Response:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
X-Powered-By: Express
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://localhost:7165
Vary: Origin
ETag: W/"a-bAsFyilMr4Ra1hIU5PyoyFRunpI"
Date: Wed, 30 May 2018 22:54:14 GMT
Connection: keep-alive

Credits and Technologies Used

• This was derived from the GA template
• It was designed based on this list of requirements
• This project uses JavaScript, and the JavaScript tools Bootstrap 3, Express, Handlebars, NPM, and JQuery.
• Express uses Mongoose in order to store documents in MongoDB.
• Some pen cleaning recommendations came from Jetpens

License

1. All content is licensed under a CC­BY­NC­SA 4.0 license.
2. All software code is licensed under GNU GPLv3. For commercial use or alternative licensing, please contact legal@ga.co.