Blipboard Server README

NOTE: these are probably a bit out of date

Requirements

Install

git clone --recursive git@github.com:jfischl/blipboard-server.git
cd blipboard
npm install

Then, add the Blipboard API keys to your environment:

FACEBOOK_BLIPBOARD_ID = {admin will give you this value}
FACEBOOK_BLIPBOARD_SECRET = {admin will give you this value}

WEB = server.js

Run

node server.js

Directory Structure

config.js              - pure JSON config file (no fns!)
server.js              - main entry point   
Makefile               - run tests ( !am! is this working? )
Procfile               - heroku processes
package.json           - npm packages
docs/        
    backend.md         - backend data structures & algorithms
    api.md             - REST API 
    error.md           - errors used throughout
controllers/           - REST API functions grouped by resource
    blipController.js
    channelController.js
    developerController.js
    resource.js        - converts a backend object to resource format
managers/              - backend functions grouped by document type 
    validate.js        - common validation for args to managers 
    channelEvents.js   - exports.channelEvents is an EventEmitter 
    channelManager.js  - common functionality to all channels
    userManager.js
    placeManager.js
    topicManager.js
    blipManager.js
lib/                   - common functionality
    error.js           - Error object
    middleware.js      - Express middleware
    password.js        - hash-salt password fns
    mongo.js           - mongo initialization
    javascript.js      - language-level utilities
support/               - external libraries not available by npm
    GlobalMapTiles.js  - external lib for quadtree tileCodes

Debug

Get detailed debugging information in the API responses by setting these environment variables:

BLIPBOARD_API_RESPONSE_SHOW_STACK=1
BLIPBOARD_API_RESPONSE_SHOW_INTERNAL_ERRORS=1

Deploy

To deploy into heroku onto our staging environment:

edit package.json and update the version to a new number and
commit. At a minimum increment the build number. e.g. from 1.0.1-1
to 1.0.1-2. If you do not do this, nothing will happen when you push

% git push staging master

To monitor the logs on heroku:

% git logs -d

Style

We use Felix's node style guide. http://nodeguide.com/style.html
Callbacks versus Events:
- We use callbacks to calculate results which must be delivered as a response to a client request (e.g., client requests a new user object, and returning the id to the client)
- We use events to respond to events that require further background processing, but do not need to return a response to the client's HTTP request. (e.g., client reports its location)