Northcoders News

Introducing my Northcoders News functioning API; a platform for users to post news articles, make comments and vote on posted content.

API created using Node.js v10.4.0, interacting with a MongoDB shell v3.0.15 database.

Getting Started

These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine, for development and testing purposes.

Setup Instructions

1. Fork this repository to your own GitHub account.

2. Clone your fork of this repository to your local machine and cd into it:

$ git clone <your fork's URL>
$ cd BE-FT-northcoders-news

3. Open the cloned repository in your preferred program, such as Visual Studio Code.

4. Using the integrated terminal in your chosen program, install all dependencies by entering npm install. A list of all requirements can be found in the package.json file; separated by development and non-development dependencies.

5. In order to utilise the enclosed MongoDB database, ensure mongod is running on your local machine (NB: Run $ mongod in a separate command line and leave it running in the background, ensuring you are using the correct repository folder in your terminal first).

Seed Setup Instructions

Seeding your database for testing and development requires a config file dedicated to each environment.

Make sure you're still using the correct repository folder in your terminal and create your config files:

$ mkdir config
$ touch config/test.js
$ touch config/dev.js
$ touch config/index.js

In the test.js and dev.js files, export your database url and elected port:

module.exports = {
  DB_URL: "mongodb://localhost:27017/<db-filename>",
  PORT: 9090
};

Make sure you create two different database filenames for each environment, example:

test.js:  northcoders_news_test
dev.js:   northcoders_news

Export both files together using your config/index.js file:

const path = process.env.NODE_ENV || "dev";

module.exports = require(`./${path}`);

Note that our environment is set to development by default.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure to add your config and node_modules folders to your .gitignore file.

Seed Database Instructions

A command line script for seeding your development database has been completed for you (see package.json: scripts):

$ npm run seed:dev

Your test database will be seeded before each it test, to ensure accuracy is upheld throughout each individual test (see spec/index.spec.js, line 14).

Test Instructions

Note that our environment is set to test on line 1 of our test file (spec/index.spec.js).

A command line script for running your test file has been completed for you (see package.json: scripts):

$ npm test

Each test describe block is designed to test a unique API endpoint, with each internal it statement designed to test each request type ('GET', 'POST', etc) and ensure that all potential user errors are handled appropriately.

To run a separate describe block or an individual it test, append only to the required test:

describe.only("...");

it.only("...");

To skip a certain describe block or an individual it test, prepend an x to the required test:

xdescribe("...");

xit("...");

Development Instructions

A command line script for running your repo in development mode has been completed for you (see package.json: scripts):

$ npm run dev

Once your repo is listening on the elected port, you can access all API endpoints on your browser:

http://localhost:<PORT>/api

To mimic POST/PUT/DELETE requests in development mode, use a program such as Postman.

Updates

If you make changes to your repo, don't forget to add, commit and push your edits to your forked repo:

$ git add .
$ git commit -m "<commit message>"
$ git push origin master

Production

Northcoders News has been deployed to a production environment, using mLab and Heroku.

Please check out my Northcoders News functioning API at:

https://hb-northcoders-news-api.herokuapp.com/api

Authors

Hannah Bennett

GitHub

Twitter

Acknowledgments

Northcoders!