xavierchow/test-backend-vanilla

Sample backend project

test-backend-vanilla

Prerequisites

1. MySQL for storage
2. Mocha for testing

Configurations

The configurations to set up the server & database can be accessed or modified in ./config.js.

Server

1. port: Server port (optional; defaults to 80)
2. pkeyFile: Private key file to enable https (optional)
3. certFile: Certificate file to enable https (optional)

Database

1. host : MySQL host
2. user : MySQL user
3. password: MySQL password
4. database: MySQL database name (database have already been created via the create database [name] SQL command)

Getting started

Once the database has been created and the configurations (eg. the database name) have been set correctly, then

1. Run npm install from the local directory
2. Run npm start to fire up the server OR npm test to run the tests

Interacting with the User model

The user model is defined in ./api/user.js and can be interacted with via a simple REST API that supports basic CRUD operations:

• Create: POST /user
  • Accepts JSON that specifies the following properties:
    • name
    • dob
    • address
    • description
  • Returns the new user's id
• Read: GET /user/:id
  • Accepts the user id as a URL parameter
  • Returns JSON with the following properties populated from the database
    • id
    • name
    • dob
    • address
    • description
    • created_at
• Update: PUT /user/:id
  • Accepts the user id as a URL parameter
  • Accepts JSON that specifies any of the following properties:
    • name
    • dob
    • address
    • description
  • Does not return data
• Delete: DELETE /user/:id
  • Accepts the user id as a URL parameter
  • Does not return data

Extending models and routes

Any additional models along with routes & handlers to change data reflected on MySQL can be declared in the ./api directory, along the same lines that the ./api/user.js module has been specified. Once a new such module has been declared, it must be registered in ./main.js.

For example, the ./api/user.js module serves two actions:

1. Defines the user model as a MySQL table with appropriate fields
2. Registers the REST routes and handlers to create, access, and modify user data.

Then, ./main.js is where the ./api/user.js module is registered, by calling require('./api/user.js').

For each module declared in ./api, test cases may be written in ./tests.

Directory structure

• ./config.js: Server and database configurations
• ./main.js: App entrypoint
• ./lib: Server and Database routines
  • ./lib/io.js: Network I/O module, managing server lifecycle & routing
  • ./lib/db.js: MySQL database module, abstracting access to database
• ./api: Models & routing
  • ./api/user.js: Declares user model and appropriate REST routes to access it
• ./tests: Tests of modules in ./api
  • ./tests/user.js: Test cases on the user model declared in ./api/user.js