Bookswap

Full-stack web application for students to trade and sell their used books and textbooks. Built using React.js for front-end, Python and Flask for RESTful API, and MongoDB for database. Uses self-built JSON Web Token user authentication, Open Library API for retrieving book information, and AWS S3 buckets for uploading and storing user-taken images in the cloud.

Production version live at bookswap.herokuapp.com.

Start Flask backend:

1. Create venv:

cd flask-server
python3 -m venv venv

2. Activate venv:

Mac:

source venv/bin/activate

Windows:

venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Python modules:

pip3 install Flask pymongo flask_jwt_extended flask_cors

4. Start server:

Mac:

python3 server.py

Windows:

python server.py

Try http://localhost:5000/members or http://127.0.0.1:5000/members in your browser to test API call.

Start React frontend (do in a new terminal):

cd client
npm install
npm run dev

Try http://localhost:3000 or http://127.0.0.1:3000 to test frontend.

Connect to database with GUI

Download MongoDB Compass

Use mongodb+srv://gameswap:SO3v6uVCwfQqpzPS@cluster0.tupmdgp.mongodb.net/test to connect (your external IP must be approved for Network Access before you can connect).

FAQ

Proxy error: Could not proxy request [API endpoint] from localhost:3000 to http://localhost:5000/ (ECONNREFUSED).

Change "proxy" in package.json from "http://localhost:5000" to "http://127.0.0.1:5000".