/Discussion-Board-API

Primary LanguagePython

Introduction

This is an API for a Discussion Board which works quite similar to Stackoverflow or Github Issues, on a smaller scale. It allows user authentication, updating user records, making posts (opening discussion topics), close said topics and implements authorization to prevent user data from being manipulated or modified by other users. Posts can also be paginated avoiding longer loading times. The highlight of this API is the comments/responsding feature. This feature allows users to make replies in deep threads, similar to Reddit's comment system.

Tools and Technologies used

The API was built using Python's Flask module. Flask is a lightweight module which is highly recommened when building web applications or APIs. For the frontend, ReactJS was used. ReactJS is a popular JavaScript framework developed by Facebook. React is a stateful framework, which made data fetching and storing very efficient.

Getting Setup

  1. Create an environment using python -m venv ./{env_name} in the root directory.
  2. Activate the environment by executing source ./bin/activate. For Windows, source ./Scrpits/activate. Now you should see your environment name prefixed in brackets on your shell.
  3. Install the required libraries: pip install -r requirements.txt.
  4. When running the application, you will need to create a .env file (a sample file is available) with your credentials and secrets. Make sure to change the mode from development to production in app.py and run.py.

Routes

Auth

Description Method Route Param Return
Login to account POST /login email, password JWT Token
Create an account POST /register fname, lname, handle, email, password Registered Email
Logout POST /logout None Message
Verify user's password POST /verify User password 200 if valid, 403 if invalid

Posts

Description Method Route Param Return
Get a single post GET /post/<int:id> Post ID A single Post Object
All posts created by the logged in user GET /posts/me None Post Object
Get a list of posts GET /posts None A list of paginated posts
Create a post POST /post A Text and Title Message
Close a post PUT /post/<int:id>/close Post ID Message
Delete a post DELETE /post/<int:id>/ Post ID Message
Upvote/Downvote a post POST /post/<int:post_id>/upvote Post ID Message
Make a comment on a post POST /post/<int:post_id>/comment Post ID Message
Delete a comment DELETE /comment/remove/<int:comment_id> Comment ID Message
Make a reply on a comment POST /reply/<int:comment_id> Comment ID Message
Upvote/Downvote a comment POST /comment/<int:comment_id>/upvote Comment ID Message

User

Description Method Route Param Return
Get all user records GET /users None An Object of Users
Get user by ID GET /user/<int:id> None A User Object
Query for a user by any field POST /users/find Any User attribute User Object
Update user records PUT /user/update Any user attribute Updated User Object
Delete a user account DELETE /user/<int:id> User ID Message
Update account password PUT /user/update/password Old and new password Message