NC_NEWS API

An API built using Express which interfaces with a mongodb using mongoose to allow users access to a series of articles, comments and user info.

Getting Started

These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes. See deployment for notes on how to deploy the project on a live system.

Prerequisites

Database:

Ensure mongodb is installed using homebrew:

$ brew install mongodb

Dependencies:

    "body-parser": "^1.15.2",
    "express": "^4.16.3",
    "mongoose": "^5.3.10"

Dev-Dependencies:

    "chai": "^4.1.2",
    "mocha": "^5.0.5",
    "supertest": "^3.0.0",
    "nodemon": "^1.17.4"

Installing

1. Fork and clone the depository from: https://github.com/Lluran/BE2-northcoders-news.git

2. Install dependencies by using the command:

$ npm i

3. Create a config.js file in the root directory. It should contain:

process.env.NODE_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';

const config = {
  test: 'mongodb://localhost:27017/nc_news_test',
  development: 'mongodb://localhost:27017/nc_news_dev'
}

module.exports = config[process.env.NODE_ENV];

4. Ensure mongodb is running in the background by writing the following command in a separate terminal:

$ mongod

5. To seed the database in dev-mode. Use the command:

$ npm run seed

6. Then start the server by running:

$ npm run dev

7. Simple use case: In your browser type http://localhost:9090/api - This should return information on all the available endpoints.

8. A live version of this app can be found here: https://ncnewsexpressmongodbapp.herokuapp.com/api

Running the tests

The API comes with a test environment able to test all endpoints and their associated errors.

To run the entire testing package, use the command:

$npm t

To run individual sections of the test use the .only extension to the relevant describe block within the index.spec.js. E.g.

describe.only('/users/:username', () => {
      it('GET returns status 200 and an object of user info', () => {
        return request
        .get(`/api/users/${userDocs[0].username}`)
        .expect(200)
        .then(({body: {comment}}) => {
          expect(comment.username).to.equal(`${userDocs[0].username}`)
        })
      });
    })

Each endpoint has its own test. E.g.

      it('PATCH returns status 200 and comment with new vote count', () => {
        return request
        .patch(`/api/comments/${commentDocs[0]._id}?vote=down`)
        .expect(200)
        .then((res) => {
          expect(res.body.votes).to.equal(6)
        })
      });

Each endpoint also has associated error tests to handle fringe cases of API misuse. E.g.

it('PATCH for an invalid ID return status 400 and an error message', () => {
        return request
        .patch(`/api/comments/123`)
        .expect(400)
        .then((res) => {
          expect(res.status).to.equal(400)
          expect(res.body.msg).to.equal(`Cast to ObjectId failed for value "123" at path "_id" for model "comments"`)
        })
       });
       it('PATCH for a valid ID not in the collection returns status 404 and an error message', () => {
         return request
         .patch(`/api/comments/${wrongID}`)
         .expect(404)
         .then(res => {
          expect(res.status).to.equal(404)
          expect(res.body.msg).to.equal(`Comment not found for article ${wrongID}`)
         })
       });

Deployment

You will need to seed the development data to mLab, and host the API on Heroku.

The config file will need to be amended to include a production key with the value of the mlab database url.

Similarly the app.js file will then need modifying to accept the mlab DB_URL.

Built With

• Mongoose - The database modelling application
• Mongodb - the database storage
• Express - http API application
• Supertest - Testing suite for ASYNC applications

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.

Versioning

We use gitHub for versioning. For the versions available, see the tags on this repository.

Authors

• Aaron Boniface

See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details

Acknowledgments

• Northcoders - for their excellent teaching and guidance