This is a simple Express/Sequelize backend for demonstrating the following concepts:
- initializing and setting up a simple server with a database
- Express routing and middleware
- using Sequelize to define models and generate SQL queries
- using Promises in conjunction with server routing
The example uses a seed script with students and houses from Harry Potter to establish a starting point. From there, start the server, add some more students, assign them points, and determine a House Cup winner!
The code in this repository should be considered a rough goal for starting from scratch (empty directory) and working through creating a simple backend step-by-step. This can be accomplished with the following workflow:
-
npm init
- look at bare-bones package.json
- add start script: "nodemon app.js"
-
create app.js file
- require express, install and save, initialize app
- tell app to listen on 1337
- try pinging server from browser, Cannot GET, how do we know it's working?
- set up logging middleware, install/save/use volleyball
app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('Welcome to Hogwarts'));
-
create 'models' directory, w/ index and db files
-
in db.js, require/save/install sequelize/pg/pg-hstore, initialize db
- psql:
create database hogwarts; - export db
- psql:
-
create house.js and student.js files
- define and export House model
- define and export Student model
-
define associations in index.js
-
copy seed.js file and run, show db after
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define student birthdate virtual
-
define student instance method
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define student beforeCreate hook
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define house class method: getHouseCupLeader
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define GET /students and GET /houses in app.js
-
refactor to use separate route files
-
use query filtering with where and include
-
define error handling middleware in app.js:
- talk about function.length and invoking next(err)
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define GET /students/:studentId
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define POST /students
- body-parsing middleware
- show Postman or curl
-
define GET /houses/leader
- use class method