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Re:Books Back-End Repository

Welcome to the back-end repository for Re:Books — an innovative platform connecting individuals who wish to sell books from their personal libraries with those eager to purchase them. This application fosters a community-driven marketplace where users can list books for sale, browse available collections, and communicate seamlessly with each other.

Visit Website

This repository hosts the Back-End codebase responsible for handling API requests and connecting to the React.js application.

Back-End Repository Deployment

The back-end of the project is deployed here: Deployment Link

Table of Contents

  1. Technologies Used
  2. Key Features
  3. Quick Start
  4. API Documentation
  5. Authors

Technologies Used

Our back-end is powered by a robust set of tools and libraries, ensuring a scalable, secure, and efficient architecture:

  • Core Frameworks:

    • Node.js - A JavaScript runtime for building fast and scalable server-side applications.
    • Express.js - A lightweight and flexible web framework for building APIs and handling HTTP requests and routing.

  • Database Management:

    • MongoDB - A NoSQL database for storing data.
    • Mongoose - An Object Data Modeling (ODM) library for MongoDB, simplifying database interactions and schema validation.

  • Security and Authentication:

    • jsonwebtoken - For generating JWT tokens.
    • bcryptjs - For hashing passwords.
    • cors - Middleware for handling Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) in Express.js applications.

  • File Handling and Uploads:

    • Multer - Middleware for handling multipart/form-data for file uploads.
    • Cloudinary - A cloud-based image and video management service, enabling easy uploads and optimized delivery.

  • Real-Time Communication:

    • Socket.io - Enables real-time, bi-directional communication between clients and servers..

  • API Documentation and Testing:

    • Swagger JSDoc - A library for generating OpenAPI documentation from JSDoc comments in the codebase.
    • Swagger UI Express - A tool to serve interactive API documentation.
    • Postman - A popular API testing tool used for developing, testing, and debugging API endpoints, ensuring they work as expected.

  • Email Functionality:

    • Nodemailer - A library for sending emails, commonly used for transactional emails like password resets and notifications.

  • Utility Libraries:

    • HTTP Status Codes - Provides descriptive HTTP response status codes.

  • Security and Authentication:

    • Nodemon - Automatically restarts the server during development when file changes are detected.
    • ESLint - A tool for identifying and fixing JavaScript code issues.
    • Prettier - A code formatter to enforce consistent code styling.

Key Features

User Registration and Account Management

  • Sign Up: Users can register an account to buy and sell books.
  • Account Management: Users can provide detailed profile information and manage their listed and purchased books.
  • Dashboard: Displays sections for managing books in user's account.
  • Password Management: Allows users to reset or update their password.

Search, Filtering, and Sorting

  • Search Functionality: Search for books by title, author, or ISBN.
  • Filter Options: Narrow results by age category, genre, format, and condition.
  • Sorting and Pagination: Organize search results for easier browsing.

Book Viewing and Purchasing

  • List View: View all books that are available in stock.
  • Detailed Views: View book details, including cover, author, genre, price, and condition.
  • Purchase Books: Users can purchase books after logging in.

Communication System

  • Messaging: Real-time messaging for user-to-user communication regarding books with Socket.io.
  • Notifications (Stretch Goal): Alerts for messages and book-related updates.

Stretch Goal: Online Payment for Books

  • Payment Integration: Securely process payments with Stripe or PayPal.
  • Payment Records: Store payment history and provide transaction details in user profiles.

Quick Start

Setup

  1. Clone the Repository: Create a folder to contain both the front-end and back-end repos. Clone this back-end and our frontend repositories to your local machine.
  2. Install Dependencies: Run npm install to install all required dependencies for each repository separately.
  3. Start the Development Server: Run npm run dev to start the development server on localhost:5173 for the frontend or localhost:8000 for the backend.
  4. Explore the Application: Navigate through the application to explore its features.

Environment Variables

To properly run this application, you need to set up environment variables. This is done by creating a .env file in the root directory of the backend folder with the following variables:

  • MONGO_URI:
    This is the connection string for your MongoDB database.

    MONGODB_URI=mongodb://username:password@localhost:27017/database_name

  • JWT_SECRET:
    This is the secret key used for signing JSON Web Tokens (JWT).

    JWT_SECRET=your_SECRET_key

  • JWT_LIFETIME:
    This defines the lifetime of the JSON Web Token (JWT).

    JWT_LIFETIME=2h

  • CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME:
    This is the name of your cloud account used for image storage.

    CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name

  • CLOUDINARY_API_KEY:
    This is your API key for accessing the cloud service.

    CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_API_key

  • CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET:
    This is your secret API key for accessing the cloud service.

    CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_secret_API

  • DEFAULT_IMAGE_URL:
    This is the default URL for the cover image used when no cover image is provided.

    DEFAULT_IMAGE_URL=https://example.com/default_cover_image.jpg

  • DEFAULT_IMAGE_PUBLIC_ID:
    This is the default public ID for the image stored in your cloud storage (e.g., Cloudinary). It is used to identify the default image when no other image is provided.

    DEFAULT_IMAGE_PUBLIC_ID=default_image_id

  • GMAIL_USER:
    The Gmail account used for sending emails from the application. Typically, this is the email address of the sender.

    [email protected]

  • GMAIL_PASS:
    The password or app-specific password for the Gmail account specified in GMAIL_USER. It is used for authentication when sending emails.

    GMAIL_PASS=your_email_password

  • FRONTEND_URL:
    The URL of the front-end application that connects to this back-end service. It is often used for redirects or CORS configuration.

    FRONTEND_URL=https://example-frontend.com

API Documentation

This project includes comprehensive API documentation generated with Swagger. You can explore and test the API endpoints using the Swagger UI available at: http://localhost:8000/api-docs. Ensure that you have the server running before accessing the documentation.

Authors