Build a simple blog with Node.js, Express, MongoDB (Part 4)

At first, let's install MongoDB http://blog.alphaplus.vn/2017/08/how-to-install-mongodb-on-ubuntu.html, robomongo (optional) http://blog.alphaplus.vn/2017/08/robomongo-native-and-cross-platform-mongodb-manager.html and postman http://blog.alphaplus.vn/2017/08/postman-complete-api-development.html.

We will use RESTful (REpresentational State Transfer) web services to interact with the resources.

• GET: receive the resource representation
• POST: add some information to the resource
• PATCH: modify the resources
• DELETE: delete the resources

Why Web Services?

Interoperability - Other applications can also use the web services. For example, a VB, .NET, PHP, Ruby, Python or mobile application can talk to our web services.

We will create 5 different routes in our application:

HTTP Verb	Path	Used for
GET	/posts	display a list of all posts
POST	/posts	create a new post
GET	/posts/:id	display a specific post
PATCH	/posts/:id	update a specific post
DELETE	/posts/:id	delete a specific post

It's easy! Open server.js and add the following:
app.get('/posts', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Display a list of all posts.');
});
app.post('/posts', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Create a new post.');
});
app.get('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
  res.send(`Display a specific post (ID: ${req.params.id}).`);
});
app.patch('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
  res.send(`Update a specific post (ID: ${req.params.id}).`);
});
app.delete('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
  res.send(`Delete a specific post (ID: ${req.params.id}).`);
});

Run the following command:
$ nodemon server.js

Then use postman to check all routes above.

We will use body-parser package https://www.npmjs.com/package/body-parser
This module provides the following parsers:

• JSON body parser
• Raw body parser
• Text body parser
• URL-encoded form body parser

Run the following command to install:
$ npm install body-parser --save

Add these lines to server.js:
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
and
app.use(bodyParser.json());

It works as expected? Now we are going to interact with MongoDB, a NoSQL document database.

NoSQL vocabularies

Relational Database	NoSQL Database
Database	Database
Table	Collection
Row/ Record	Document
Column	Field

Interact with MongoDB

To interact with MongoDB, we use mongodb package https://www.npmjs.com/package/mongodb
$ npm install mongodb --save

Let's create a new post first, then we will display a list of all posts, display a specific post, update a specific post and delete a specific post.

Follow the instruction at https://www.npmjs.com/package/mongodb, we add the following lines to server.js:
const MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient;
var url = 'mongodb://localhost:27017/blogs';
(with blogs is the database name and 27017 is the port when set up MongoDB)

Create a new post

Replace
app.post('/posts', (req, res) => {
// ...
});
with the code to insert a document to "posts" collection:
app.post('/posts', (req, res) => {
  MongoClient.connect(url, (err, db) => {
    if (err) {
      res.send("Can't connect to MongoDB.");
    } else {
      db.collection('posts')
        .insertOne({
          title: req.body.title,
          content: req.body.content
        }, (err, result) => {
          if (err) {
            res.send('An error has been occurred while creating a new post.');
          } else {
            res.send(result.ops);
          }
        });
    }
  });
});

Open postman and test:

Use Robomongo to the check new post in the database

Display a list of all posts

Replace:
app.get('/posts', (req, res) => {
// ...
});
with:
app.get('/posts', (req, res) => {
  MongoClient.connect(url, (err, db) => {
    if (err) {
      res.send("Can't connect to MongoDB.");
    } else {
      db.collection('posts')
        .find()
        .toArray((err, docs) => {
          if (err) {
            res.send('An error has been occurred while displaying a list of all posts.');
          } else {
            res.send(docs);
          }
        });
    }
  });
});

Open postman and test:

Display a specific post

"_id" field isn't a string, it's an ObjectId type. So, we add to server.js:
const ObjectId = require('mongodb').ObjectId;

Or we change:
const MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient;
to
const {MongoClient, ObjectId} = require('mongodb');

Then change:
app.get('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
// ...
});
to
app.get('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
  MongoClient.connect(url, (err, db) => {
    if (err) {
      res.send("Can't connect to MongoDB.");
    } else {
      db.collection('posts')
        .findOne({_id: new ObjectId(req.params.id)}, (err, doc) => {
          if (err) {
            res.send('An error has been occurred while displaying a specific post.');
          } else {
            res.send(doc);
          }
        });
    }
  });
});

Update a specific post

Change:
app.patch('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
// ...
});

to:
app.patch('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
  MongoClient.connect(url, (err, db) => {
    if (err) {
      res.send("Can't connect to MongoDB.");
    } else {
      db.collection('posts')
        .updateOne(
          {_id: new ObjectId(req.params.id)},
          {
            $set: {
              title: req.body.title,
              content: req.body.content
            }
          },
          (err, result) => {
          if (err) {
            res.send('An error has been occurred while updating a specific post.');
          } else {
            res.send(result);
          }
        });
    }
  });
});

Open postman and test:

Open Robomongo to check:

Delete a specific post

Change:
app.delete('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
// ...
});

to:
app.delete('/posts/:id', (req, res) => {
  MongoClient.connect(url, (err, db) => {
    if (err) {
      res.send("Can't connect to MongoDB.");
    } else {
      db.collection('posts')
        .deleteOne({_id: new ObjectId(req.params.id)}, (err, result) => {
          if (err) {
            res.send('An error has been occurred while deleting a specific post.');
          } else {
            res.send(result);
          }
        });
    }
  });
});

Open postman and test:

Then open Robomongo to check:

OK, that's it.
In part 5, we are going to use https://www.npmjs.com/package/mongoose.

Part 5: http://blog.alphaplus.vn/2017/09/build-simple-blog-with-nodejs-express-mongodb-part-5.html
See you then.