jrw972 / node-rest-demo

Demonstrates implementing REST services in Node.js using Express

node-rest-demo

This demonstrates implementing REST services using Node.js.

Runtime Dependencies

• bcrypt - for creating an encrypted hash from a password and comparing a password to a hash
• body-parser - for parsing HTTP request bodies (ex. parsing to JavaScript objects when the Content-Type header is application/json)
• connect-roles - for user authorization to perform specific actions
• cors - for cross-origin resource sharing with web UI servers
• express - for implementing server for REST services
• express-healthcheck - for reporting Express server uptime
• express-session - for maintaining session data (such as user logins)
• morgan - for Express server request logging
• nodemailer - for sending email
• passport - for user authenication
• passport-local - for custom authentication strategy
• pm2 - for running multiple server instances on the same machine and providing load balancing
• postgresql-easy - for querying and updating PostgreSQL databases

Developer Dependencies

• babel-* - for transpiling newer JavaScript to supported JavaScript
• eslint - for linting JavaScript code
• eslint-plugin-* - for additional ESLint rules
• flow-bin - for JavaScript type checking
• got - for making REST calls from tests
• jest - for implementing unit tests
• npm-run-all - for running multiple npm scripts from a single npm script
• prettier - for formatting JavaScript code

Database

This uses the PostgreSQL database. The DDL for creating tables and providing initial data is in server/ddl.sql. There are two tables. The people table stores data about people. The app_user table stores data about users of this application. It is not named user because that is a reserved keyword in PostgreSQL.

To perform database operations, begin by cd'ing to the server directory.

To start the database server, enter npm dbstart.

To stop the database server, enter npm dbstop.

To create or recreate the tables with their initial data, enter npm dbsetup. The initial data consists of six people, but not users. Users can be created by calling a REST service.

To inspect the database using PostgreSQL interactive mode, enter npm run dbi.

Server

This uses Express to implement a server for REST services.

To perform server operations, begin by cd'ing to the server directory.

To start the server, enter npm run start.

To start the server using load balancing across multiple instances on the same machine, enter npm run lb.

To start the server in a way that causes it to restart automatically when code changes are detected, enter npm run start-dev.

Developer Tasks

To perform developer tasks, begin by cd'ing to the server directory.

To lint all the JavaScript code, enter npm run lint.

To perform type checking on all the JavaScript code, enter npm run flow.

To format all the JavaScript code, enter npm run format.

To run all the tests, enter npm test.

Code Summary

index.js

This does many things including:

• creates an Express server instance
• configures logging
• configures the use of CORS
• requests setup of authentication (delegating to authentication.js)
• requests setup of authorization (delegating to authorization.js)
• configures all REST service routes (delegating to people-router.js and user-router.js)
• configures a REST service to get the server process id which is useful for verifying the use of load balancing
• configures a "healthcheck" REST service that outputs the server "uptime"
• starts listening for requests on port 3001

secrets.json

This defines constants with sensitive values. emailPassword is used to send emails. sessionSecret is used sign the session ID cookie. This file is not checked into version control.

auth.json

This maps actions to the roles required to perform them. Actions with no associated roles can be performed by any user.

types.json

This defines several Flow types needed for type checking.

people-router.js

This defines the Express routes for REST services related to people. It delegates all database interactions to people-service.js.

people-service.js

This defines functions for performing operations on people that involve database interactions.

people.js

This defines a function for validating objects that describe a person.

user-router.js

This defines the Express routes for REST services related to users. It delegates all database interactions to user-service.js.

user-service.js

This defines functions for performing operations on users that involve database interactions.

authentication.js

This configures the use of the npm package passport to perform user authentication. It uses the app_user database table.

authorization.js

This configures the use of the npm package connect-roles to perform user authorization required by some actions. It uses the action to roles mappings defined in actions.json.

Example REST Calls

To create a user

POST http://localhost:3001/user with header Content-Type: application/json and body

{
  "username": "some-user",
  "password": "some-password",
  "roles": ["role1", "role2"]
}

The supported roles are "normal" and "admin".

To delete a user

DELETE http://localhost:3001/user/{username}

To login

POST http://localhost:3001/login with header Content-Type: application/json and body

{
  "username": "some-user",
  "password": "some-password"
}

To logout

POST http://localhost:3001/logout

To get the server process id

GET http://localhost:3001/pid

To get the server uptime

GET http://localhost:3001

To get all people

GET http://localhost:3001/people

To get a specific person

GET http://localhost:3001/people/{id}

To create a new person

POST http://localhost:3001/people with header Content-Type: application/json and body

{
  "age": some-age,
  "firstname": "some-first-name",
  "lastname": "some-last-name"
}

To get all enabled people

GET http://localhost:3001/people/enabled

To get all disabled people

GET http://localhost:3001/people/disabled

To enable a specific person

PUT http://localhost:3001/people/{id}/enable

To disable a specific person

PUT http://localhost:3001/people/{id}/disable