Backend Project Submission with Node.js

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Project Objective

In order to practice and demonstrate the knowledge acquired in virtual classes, this project consists of developing an SSR (EJS) application for a second-hand items marketplace called Nodepop. The service maintains products for sale and allows searching with filters by various criteria.

Knowledge Learned and Applied

• Node.js: event-driven model, V8 engine, version management with nvm/nvs, and package management with NPM/NPX.
• Advanced JavaScript: hoisting, scope (var/let/const), prototypes and classes, callbacks, asynchronicity with promises and async/await.
• Event Loop and EventEmitter in Node.js for event handling.
• Modularization with CommonJS (require/module.exports) and ES Modules (import/export).
• MVC Architecture with Express and EJS templates; usage of Express Generator.
• Express.js: REST routes (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), parameters (req.params, req.query, req.body), middlewares (cookie-parser, express-validator), error handling and responses (res.json, res.render, etc.).
• SQL Databases (MySQL/MariaDB) with mysql2/promise and Docker; basic CRUD queries.
• ORMs: usage and comparison of Sequelize, TypeORM, Prisma, and Mikro-ORM.
• MongoDB (official driver): advanced CRUD operations (operators, geospatial queries, transactions); Mongoose as an ODM to define schemas, validations, methods, pagination, and geospatial indexes.
• Authentication: Basic HTTP Auth and session/cookie-based authentication (cookie anatomy and session storage).
• Password Security: using bcrypt, scrypt, and argon2 (instead of PBKDF2).
• Development Tools: Docker for reproducible environments, nodemon and cross-env for automatic reload and environment variables in development.

Project Details

1. Post Listing

• Each post shows an image (or placeholder), name, description, price, and buy/sell indicator.
• Retrieved via
  GET /api/v1/adverts
  with optional filters: name=, sale=, price=, tags=, skip=, limit=, sort=.
• UI states: Empty (no posts), Loading, Error, Success (display list).
• Each post is clickable and leads to /posts/:id.
• If the user is logged in (token present), a “Create Post” button appears → /posts/new.

2. Post Detail

• Displays an image (or placeholder), name, description, price, buy/sell status, tags, and owner.
• Retrieved via
  GET /api/v1/adverts/:id
  Returns 404 if not found.
• UI states: Empty (404), Loading, Error, Success (display details).
• If the authenticated user is the owner, a “Delete” button appears →
  DELETE /api/v1/adverts/:id
  with confirmation.

3. Create a Post

• Accessible only if logged in; otherwise redirects to /posts with a notice.
• Form fields: Photo (optional), Name*, Description*, Price*, Buy/Sell*, Tags*.
• On submit:
  POST /api/v1/adverts
  (header Authorization: Bearer <token>), body as multipart/form-data or JSON.
• UI states: Loading, Error (validation or server), Success (redirect to /posts/:id).

4. Login

• Form fields: Email*, Password*, (Remember session).
• POST /api/auth/login
  payload { "email": "user@example.com", "password": "********" }.
• UI states: Loading, Error (invalid credentials), Success (save token and redirect to /posts).

5. Signup

• Similar to login, with Email*, Password*, Confirm Password*.
• POST /api/auth/signup
  payload { "email": "new@example.com", "password": "********" }.
• UI states: Loading, Error (email taken or validation), Success (save token and redirect or go to login).

6. Optional Objectives

• Pagination in listing: ?limit=10&skip=<offset>, “Previous”/“Next” buttons.
• Dynamic search: input with debounce querying
  GET /api/v1/adverts?name=.
• Post editing (owner only): prefilled form at /posts/:id/edit,
  PUT /api/v1/adverts/:id.
• Filtering by static tags: checkboxes or dropdown with tags (work, lifestyle, motor, mobile).
• Dynamic tags: get list from
  GET /api/v1/adverts/tags
  and build frontend filter.

Considerations

• The initDB.js script must include sample users and products for testing.
• For filters, build a filters object based on received parameters and pass it to
  Product.find(filters)
  along with pagination and sorting options.
• When sending arrays (for example, tags), ensure to use JSON in the request body.

Technologies Used

• Languages: EJS, CSS, JavaScript.
• Notable Dependencies (Node.js): express, eslint, nodemon, mongoose, morgan, and multer.

Installation and Usage Instructions

1. Software Requirements

• Node.js (tested on version v22.15.1)
• Git (tested on version 2.47.1.windows.1)
• Visual Studio Code (tested on version 1.99.0)
• MongoDB (tested on version 8.0.5)
• NoSQLBooster for MongoDB (tested on version 9.1.5)
• Live Server (VS Code extension, optional)

2. Repository Cloning

git clone https://github.com/pablo-sch/keepcoding-04-node-backend.git

> View Cloning Demo in VSCode: 🎥 Gif Demo

3. Commands

Note: Make sure MongoDB is running on your local machine.
Then, follow these steps:

# Install project dependencies.
npm install

# Initialize the database (only required on first deployment).
npm run initDB

# Run the project in development mode.
npm run dev
npx nodemon .\bin\www

Project Resources

> Project Preview: 👀 Preview

Contributions and Licensing

Project licensed under the MIT License. Free to use and distribute with attribution. External contributions are not accepted, but suggestions are welcome.