Toys REST API: A Full-Stack Toy Management Platform
Toys REST API is a full-stack web project that delivers a robust and user-friendly platform for managing toys and user data. Developed over two weeks, this application combines a powerful backend with a visually appealing frontend to provide a seamless experience for users.
🚀 Introduction
The Toys REST API and Frontend is a full-stack web project that aims to provide a robust and user-friendly platform for managing toys and user data. The backend, developed using Node.js, Express, bcrypt, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), and MongoDB, serves as the server-side component, handling requests to the MongoDB database and managing various operations on the users and toys routes. The frontend, built with React, complements the backend by providing a visually appealing and intuitive user interface. It allows users to interact with the Toys REST API, enabling features such as user authentication, CRUD operations on toys, and user profile management.
✨ Key Features
- 🔒 User Authentication: Secure user authentication using JSON Web Tokens (JWT). Users can register, login, and authenticate themselves to access restricted functionalities.
- 🧸 Toys Management: The frontend and backend enable users to perform CRUD operations on toys. Users can create new toys, view existing toys, update toy information, and delete toys they have created.
- 👤 User Profile Management: The frontend allows users to view and edit their profile information, including name, email, and password.
- 🛡️ Role-Based Access: The backend implements two user roles - regular users and admins. Regular users can manage their own toys, while admins have full control over the users and toys routes.
🎨 User Interface
The frontend offers an intuitive and visually appealing user interface, leveraging React's capabilities. Users can effortlessly navigate through the various functionalities of the Toys REST API. The frontend is accessible directly through web browsers or through API platforms like Postman to interact with the backend.
Pro Tip: The UI is optimized with Bootstrap for a responsive and mobile-friendly experience!
🛠️ Architecture
The backend follows a modern approach, using Node.js and Express. It adopts the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern for organizing code and separating concerns. Mongoose is utilized to connect to MongoDB, providing schema-based data modeling and validation. User passwords are securely hashed using bcrypt for enhanced security.
On the frontend, React components are structured following best practices and modular design patterns. Axios handles asynchronous API requests to the backend, ensuring responsiveness and smooth user experience. Bootstrap is utilized for a responsive and mobile-friendly design. The backend is deployed on Cyclic and the frontend on Netlify, with services connecting using environment variables.
🧠 Technical Solutions
As a solo developer, integrating frontend and backend components seamlessly might have presented challenges. To address this, token-based authentication using JWT was implemented, and API requests were securely handled using Axios.
Fun Fact: The modular architecture allows for easy feature additions, making Toys REST API scalable and maintainable!
🛠️ Tech Stack
| Category | Tools |
|---|---|
| Backend | Node.js: Runtime for server-side development. Express: Fast and minimalist web framework for Node.js. Mongoose: Schema-based solution for MongoDB interaction. bcrypt: Password-hashing function for secure storage of user passwords. JSON Web Tokens (JWT): Used for user authentication. CORS: Enabled for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. dotenv: Environment variable management. |
| Frontend | React: Frontend library for building user interfaces. Axios: Used for making HTTP requests to the backend API. Bootstrap: Framework for responsive and mobile-first web development. |
| API Documentation | Swagger: For API documentation and testing. |
📷 Gallery
🔗 Links
- GitHub Repository: Toys REST API
- Live Preview (Frontend): Toys REST API
- Live Preview (Backend): Toys REST API Backend
🎉 Conclusion
The Toys REST API and Frontend project, developed individually, is a cool showcase of modern web development. The combination of a user-friendly frontend and a powerful backend provides an efficient solution for managing toys and user data. The project showcases a full-stack web application with Node.js, Express, React, and MongoDB, offering scalability and maintainability. With token-based authentication and role-based access control, the application ensures data security and user privacy. Overall, the project delivers a seamless experience for users, making it a reliable platform for toy management.
Dive in, explore the platform, and share your feedback to help shape its future!
Built with ❤️ by Brandon