biskit1 / teams-api

basic API used for BTI425 web apps and services

Teams API

Detailed Instructions:

Quick Note: Before you Start

This guide requires that you have Node.js and MongoDB correctly installed on your system. If you cannot execute the commands: npm --version or mongorestore --version, please Install NodeJS and/or MongoDB (See: the Official Install Guide or the WEB322 Notes for detailed instructions).

Once you have cloned the repository, move the teams-api folder out of the "Code Examples" folder and open it in Visual Studio Code and issue the command "npm install" from the integrated terminal. This will look at the package.json file and add the required dependant modules.

If you open the "server.js" file, you will notice that the top 2 lines define the constants "mongoDBConnectionString" and "HTTP_PORT". The HTTP_PORT is fine the way it is (unless you have a conflict on your local machine with port 8081), however the mongoDBConnectionString value will need to change...

MongoDB Database:

For this course we will be continuing to use MLab:

1. Log into your MLab Account here: https://mlab.com/login/

2. Create a new "MongoDB Deployment" by clicking on the "Create new" button on the top right of the table of existing deployments (you should see a few from your WEB322 assignments)

3. Be sure you select a "Sandbox" Plan Type and click the blue "Continue" button

4. Select "US East" and click the blue "Continue" button

5. On the next screen, name your database something that you will remember, i.e. "teams-api-db" and click the blue "Continue" button

6. Finally click the "Submit Order" button - your "Total Price" should read "FREE"

Adding a New User:

As you will recall from WEB322, we aren't done yet - we still need to add a user to the new deployment:

1. Click on your newly created deployment in the list. This will take you to a separate screen with the "Collections" tab selected.

2. Click on the "Users" tab and click the button "Add database user"

3. This will prompt you to enter a username and password - pick something you will remember, as you will need it for the connection string and mongorestore. (Leave the "Make read-only" checkbox unchecked)

4. Click "Create". This will close the modal and your new user will be listed at the bottom under "Database Users".

5. Next - make note of the string beneath the text "To connect using the mongo shell:" at the top of the screen... it should look something like:

% mongo ds######.mlab.com:#####/<dbname> -u <dbuser> -p <dbpassword>

where

• ds######.mlab.com:##### is the address of the newly created deployment
• <dbname> is the name of the database (should be something like "teams-api-db")
• <dbuser> will be the user name that you just created to access the new database
• <dbpassword> will be the password that you created for the above user

6. Once you have recorded all of that information, go back to the integrated terminal in Visual Studio code and Change the working directory ("cd") in the integrated terminal to "API-data-restore"

7. Once this is done and your working directory is "API-data-restore", execute the command:

mongorestore -h ds######.mlab.com:##### -d <dbname> -u <dbuser> -p <dbpassword>

using the information identified above - it should look something like:

mongorestore -h ds123456.mlab.com:23456 -d teams-api-db -u user -p pass

8. You should see a number of lines output to the terminal indicating the progress, and then finally a "done" message

UPDATING The mongoDBConnectionString:

Now that we have our back-end MongoDB all set up and populated with data, we just have to make that all-important update to the mongoDBConnectionString constant.

1. First, switch back to the previous directory using the integrated terminal (cd ..) so that our working directory has the "server.js" file in it.

2. Next, open the server.js file and using the credentials identified above, modify the mongoDBConnectionString value to use the following format:

mongodb://<dbuser>:<dbpassword>@ds######.mlab.com:#####/<dbname>

using the information identified above - it should look something like:

mongodb://user:[email protected]:23456/teams-api-db

3. Save the changes and run the server from the integrated terminal using the familiar command "node server.js"

4. If the server starts successfully (ie: you see the output: "API listening on: 8081", then the connection to your MLab Account has succeeded!

5. At this point, it will be easiest if you push this server to Heroku, so that you can easily use it in all of your projects, without having to start up a local copy of the API server every time we want access to the data.

Note: For a refresher on how initialize the folder with a .git repository, create an App with the Heroku CLI, and publish the App to Heroku, refer to the WEB322 notes on "Getting Started with Heroku".

USING THE API

The TeamsAPI project is a simple Web Api consisting of 4 collections:

• Employees
• Positions
• Projects
• Teams

These collections are related in the following way:

Essentially, this will allow us to manage a number of teams by making AJAX requests to the API server running in the background. Each team will work on 0 or more projects and will have 0 or more employees and one single team lead.

You can access Create, Read and Update (no Delete) operations on each of the collections (using JSON) with the following routes:

Employees

• GET /employees (returns all employees with all foreign keys populated)
• GET /employees-raw (returns all "raw" employees, ie: foreign keys not populated)
• GET /employee/:employeeId (returns a single employee with all foreign keys populated)
• GET /employee-raw/:employeeId (returns a single "raw" employee, ie: foreign keys not populated)
• PUT /employee/:employeeId (updates a single employee)
• POST /employees (adds an employee to the system)

Positions

• GET /positions (returns all positions)
• GET /position/:positionId (returns a single position)
• PUT /position/:positionId (updates a single position)
• POST /positions (adds a position to the system)

Projects

• GET /projects (returns all projects)
• GET /project/:projectId (returns a single project)
• PUT /project/:projectId (updates a single project)
• POST /projects (adds a project to the system)

Teams

• GET /teams (returns all teams with all foreign keys populated)
• GET /teams-raw (returns all "raw" teams, ie: foreign keys not populated)
• GET /team/:teamId (returns a single team with all foreign keys populated)
• GET /team-raw/:teamId (returns a single "raw" team, ie: foreign keys not populated)
• PUT /team/:teamId (updates a single team)
• POST /teams (adds a team to the system)