Node.js Express MongoDB Backend API

A complete RESTful backend API built using Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB (Mongoose). This project demonstrates a full transition from file-based storage (JSON) to a MongoDB database, including CRUD operations, middleware, and logging.

Perfect for beginners learning backend development! 🚀

📌 Features

• ✅ Express.js REST API
• ✅ MongoDB integration using Mongoose
• ✅ User CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
• ✅ Request logging using middleware
• ✅ HTML rendering for users list
• ✅ JSON API endpoints
• ✅ Schema validation with Mongoose
• ✅ Timestamps enabled (createdAt, updatedAt)

🛠️ Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Node.js	JavaScript runtime environment
Express.js	Web application framework
MongoDB	NoSQL database
Mongoose	MongoDB object modeling tool
fs (File System)	Request logging

📂 Project Structure

node-web-server/
│
├── access.log              # Request logs
├── index.js                # Main application file
├── package.json            # Project dependencies
├── package-lock.json       # Locked dependencies
└── README.md              # Documentation

⚙️ Installation & Setup

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• MongoDB (local installation or MongoDB Atlas account)
• npm or yarn

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/mirbasit01/nodeWebServer.git
cd nodeWebServer

2️⃣ Install dependencies

npm install

3️⃣ Start MongoDB

Make sure MongoDB is running locally:

Windows:

• Check if MongoDB Service is running in Services

Mac/Linux:

mongod

Or use MongoDB Atlas:

• Update the connection string in index.js to your MongoDB Atlas URI

4️⃣ Start the server

node index.js

Server will run on: http://localhost:3000

You should see:

MongoDB Connected
Server running on http://localhost:3000

🔌 MongoDB Connection

mongoose.connect('mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/nodeWebServer')

Database Name: nodeWebServer

🧩 User Schema (Mongoose)

{
  firstName: String,      // Required
  lastName: String,
  email: String,         // Required, Unique
  jobTitle: String,
  gender: String,
  createdAt: Date,       // Auto-generated
  updatedAt: Date        // Auto-generated
}

📡 API Endpoints

🔹 Get All Users (HTML)

GET /users

Returns an HTML list of all users

🔹 Get All Users (JSON)

GET /api/users

Returns JSON array of all users

🔹 Get User by ID

GET /api/users/:id

Example:

GET /api/users/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011

🔹 Create User

POST /api/users
Content-Type: application/json

Request Body:

{
  "first_name": "John",
  "last_name": "Doe",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "gender": "Male",
  "job_title": "Developer"
}

Response (201 Created):

{
  "message": "Success",
  "user": {
    "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439011",
    "firstName": "John",
    "lastName": "Doe",
    "email": "john@example.com",
    "gender": "Male",
    "jobTitle": "Developer",
    "createdAt": "2025-01-02T10:30:00.000Z",
    "updatedAt": "2025-01-02T10:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

🔹 Update User

PATCH /api/users/:id
Content-Type: application/json

Request Body:

{
  "jobTitle": "Senior Developer"
}

🔹 Delete User

DELETE /api/users/:id

🧾 Middleware (Logging)

All requests are logged into access.log:

2025-01-02T12:00:00.000Z - ::1 GET - /api/users
2025-01-02T12:01:15.000Z - ::1 POST - /api/users
2025-01-02T12:02:30.000Z - ::1 PATCH - /api/users/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011

🧪 Testing

You can test APIs using:

Using cURL

# Get all users
curl http://localhost:3000/api/users

# Create a user
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/users \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"first_name":"Jane","last_name":"Smith","email":"jane@example.com","gender":"Female","job_title":"Designer"}'

# Get user by ID
curl http://localhost:3000/api/users/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011

# Update user
curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3000/api/users/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jobTitle":"Lead Designer"}'

# Delete user
curl -X DELETE http://localhost:3000/api/users/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011

Using Postman or Thunder Client

1. Import the API endpoints
2. Set the Content-Type header to application/json
3. Send requests with appropriate JSON bodies

🔍 Key Concepts Explained

Async/Await Pattern

We use async/await for handling asynchronous database operations, making code more readable:

app.get('/api/users', async (req, res) => {
  const users = await User.find({});
  res.json(users);
});

Mongoose Methods

• find({}) - Retrieves all documents
• findById(id) - Retrieves a single document by ID
• create(data) - Creates a new document
• findByIdAndUpdate(id, data) - Updates a document
• findByIdAndDelete(id) - Deletes a document

⚠️ Common Errors & Solutions

Error: Cannot connect to MongoDB

Solution: Ensure MongoDB service is running. Check the connection string.

Error: E11000 duplicate key error

Solution: You're trying to create a user with an email that already exists. Email must be unique.

Error: ValidationError

Solution: Check that you're providing all required fields (firstName and email) in your request.

✅ Best Practices

1. Error Handling: Always wrap async operations in try-catch blocks
2. Environment Variables: Use dotenv for sensitive data
3. Input Validation: Validate and sanitize user input
4. Status Codes: Use appropriate HTTP status codes
   • 200 OK
   • 201 Created
   • 400 Bad Request
   • 404 Not Found
   • 500 Internal Server Error

🚧 Future Improvements

• Authentication (JWT)
• Password hashing (bcrypt)
• Environment variables (dotenv)
• Pagination & filtering
• Role-based access control
• Error handling middleware
• API rate limiting
• Input validation with Joi/express-validator
• Unit and integration tests
• API documentation with Swagger

📚 Resources

• Express.js Documentation
• Mongoose Documentation
• MongoDB Documentation
• Node.js Documentation

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the project
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

👨‍💻 Author

Mir Basit

• GitHub: @mirbasit01

⭐ Show your support

Give a ⭐️ if this project helped you learn something new!

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Happy Coding! 🚀