Corkboard Server¶ ↑

Description¶ ↑

Corkboard Server is a simple Sinatra app using Datamapper and SQLite that allows the saving, updating and retrieval of simple ‘notes’. It’s intended as an example for learning how to use Sinatra as a fast-to-make web app approach for iOS developers. Corkboard Server goes with Corkboard client to make a small, functional mobile application.

Features¶ ↑

Illustrates creation of an API with Sinatra
Shows how to create a data model using Datamapper and SQLite
Shows how to write tests for the web application

Install¶ ↑

bundle rackup open localhost:9292

Running the tests¶ ↑

bundle ruby tests/corkboard_test.rb

API¶ ↑

This example code has a simple API for creating, updating and deleting ‘notes’.

curl -vX GET http://localhost:9292/note/1

returns JSON representation of note with id ‘1’

{
   subject =>  "Wibble wibble",
   content =>  "Must dismantle wardrobe in spare room",
   date    =>  3653736548393
}

The date is an integer, not a string. It’s the epoch time. The marshalling code for the Note is embedded in the Note model class, it’s cunningly stored in a to_json method. If the note isn’t in the database, you’ll get a 404. A 200 means go unmarshal the JSON.

curl -vX PUT -d '{"subject": "wibble", "content": "chunky"}' http://localhost:9292/note

Adds a note to the database. You should send over a bit of JSON that looks like this

{
   subject =>  "Wibble wibble",
   content =>  "Must dismantle wardrobe in spare room",
}

if you get a 400 back, it means that you missed out on sending the right JSON. If you get a 200, then look for a single string in the response body - it will be the id of the note that was just created. You can use the id in the GET to retrieve what you just created.

curl -vX POST -d "subject=wibble&content=chunky" http://localhost:9292/note/1

will update the content of note 1. If you get a 404, there isn’t a note 1. If you get a 400, then you haven’t given any arguments in the body of the request, i.e. changes to be made to the note. It should be along the lines of

{
   subject =>  "Wibble wibble",
   content =>  "Must dismantle wardrobe in spare room",
}

or even

{
   subject =>  "Wibble wibble",
}

{
   content =>  "Must dismantle wardrobe in spare room",
}

i.e., you can change the subject or the content. Any other stuff in the request will be ignored if it is not understood (server must be gracious in receipt is a must-do always).

If you get a 500, then the database hasn’t managed to save the update. Doh. You are looking for a 200 here to say everything is fine.

curl -vX DELETE http://localhost:9292/note/1

Remove note 1 from the database. If you are running this little example thru a webserver, and there is no reason why you should, so don’t, then you might have an issue because many webservers aren’t configured by default to DELETEs and even PUTs. You can workaround this by using a POST with an _method parameter on Rails and some other platforms, but for this trivial example, don’t bother. Just run it natively as instructed, right?

If you get a 200 back, the note is gone. If you get a 404 back, then that note has been gone already. If you get a 500, then the database destroy operation failed, ho hum.

Authors¶ ↑

Maintained by Oisin Hurley
Updated for Portland Code School by Chuck Lauer Vose

lavapj/corkboard_server_example