/mongo-I-mini

Mongo I Mini Project

Topics:

  • Databases
  • MongoDB
  • ODMs
  • Mongoose
  • Creating documents.
  • Performing basic queries.

Description

Use Node.js and Express to write an API that can create and read Bears stored in a MongoDB Database.

Instructions

Start MongoDB

For this project you need to have MongoDB Community Edition installed and running or an account with a Database As A Service provider like Mongo Atlas or mlab. Both DBAAS providers offer a free tier with 500MB size limit that can be used for development and testing.

Using a Local Server

If you don't have MongoDB installed, please click on this link for instructions on how to install and run the server and the mongo shell. Follow the instructions for your Operating System.

After MongoDB is installed, follow the instructions on the documentation to start the server. Then run the mongo shell from a separate terminal and execute the show dbs command. If all goes well you should see a list of available databases, similar to the sample below.

 > show dbs
 admin  0.000GB
 local  0.000GB

Create API Server

Create an Express application and add a route for / that returns HTTP status code 200 and the following JSON object:

{
  "message": "API running"
}

Use Postman to test your API.

Connect API Server to MongoDB

Add mongoose to the project and use it to connect your API to the bears database in MongoDB. The bears database will be created automatically by MongoDB if it doesn't exist. If there is an error connecting to the database, do NOT start the API and display the following message to the console: "Database connection failed".

If the connection to MongoDB succeeds, start the API and show the following message to the console: "All your databases are belong to us!".

Create Bear Schema and Model

Create a Schema and a Model for the Bears collection. Each Bear Model should conform to the following schema:

{
  species: "American Black Bear", // required string
  latinName: "Ursus americanus", // required string
  createdOn: Mon Aug 14 2017 12:50:16 GMT-0700 (PDT) // required Date, should default to current date and time
}

Create API Endpoints

Configure the API to respond to the following routes:

Method Endpoint Description
POST /api/bears Creates a bear using the information sent inside the request body.
GET /api/bears Returns an array of all the bear objects contained in the database.
GET /api/bears/:id Returns the bear object with the specified id.

Endpoint Specifications

When the client makes a POST request to /api/bears:

  • If the request body is missing the species or latinName property, cancel the request, respond with HTTP status code 400, and return the following JSON response: { errorMessage: "Please provide both species and latinName for the Bear." }.

  • If the information about the Bear is valid, save the new Bear the the database, return HTTP status code 201 and return the newly created Bear Document.

  • If there's an error while saving the Bear, cancel the request, respond with HTTP status code 500 and return the following JSON object: { error: "There was an error while saving the Bear to the Database" }.

When the client makes a GET request to /api/bears:

  • If there's an error in retrieving the Bears from the database, cancel the request, respond with HTTP status code 500 and return the following JSON object: { error: "The information could not be retrieved." }.

When the client makes a GET request to /api/bears/:id (remember, :id is a parameter embedded in the URL, not in the query-string):

  • If the Bear with the specified id is not found, return HTTP status code 404 and the following JSON object: { message: "The Bear with the specified ID does not exist." }.

  • If there's an error in retrieving the Bear from the database, cancel the request, respond with HTTP status code 500 and return the following JSON object: { error: "The information could not be retrieved." }.

Additional Notes

Remember to use body-parser to read information from the request body.

Stop the MongoDB database server when not in use to save computer resources.