benatna/question-box-backend

API, JSON Database, and Notifications Server for Question Box Vue.JS SPA

Benatna Backend

This is the back-end server created to accompany the Front End of a Question Box Single Web Application designed to promote a peer-to-peer, culturally appropriate approach to Sex Education in Refugees and New Germans.

The back-end consist of a REST-like API that interfaces with the front-end for receiving questions, updating questions details, registering users for notifications, and submit those notifications via email and/or Web Push protocols.

Management of content is done through user profiles (Ambassadors, people who answer, and Administrators), which can login using JSON Web Tokens.

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• Getting Started
• Running tests
• Environment Variables
• API End-Points
  • Public Routes
  • Private Routes
• Multilanguage
• Technology
  • Database
  • Encryption
  • Push Notifications
  • Email Notifications
• Get in Touch
• Acknowledgements
• Team
• License
• Funding

Prerequisites

The back-end requires you to have node.js ^8.10 and npm ^3.5.2 installed in your server.

Getting Started

First, download or clone this repository.

git clone https://github.com/Benatna/question-box-backend.git

After downloaded, access the downloaded folder and install the required dependencies.

cd question-box-backend
npm install

You will also want to create a file with environment variables.

nano .env

You can see the list of required environment variables and their definition here.

With all dependencies installed and environment variables defined, the application can be started:

npm run start

This will start the application using the included nodemon.json configuration.

Running tests

You can run the tests by executing the following command:

npm run test

Tests are carried in every single end-point of the API.

IMPORTANT: No automatic testing is developed for Email notifications and Web Push. These behaviors must be tested manually, but they should work out-of-the-box.

Environment Variables

Variable	Example	Comments
NODE_ENV	NODE_ENV=production	responds to test or not test
PORT	PORT=3000	If not defined, runs in 3000
LOWDBFILE	LOWDBFILE=db.json	Location of JSON DB file
CRYPTRKEY	CRYPTRKEY=OwE49wsPcN	Key for encryption of emails in the database
JWT_KEY	JWT_KEY=FOOUE8Kyqo	Encryption key for the JSON Web Tokens
ADMIN_EMAIL	[email protected]	Used for the creation of default administrator account, push notifications, email transporter
ADMIN_PASSWORD	ADMIN_PASSWORD=jyLouM2Gci	Used for the creation of default administrator account
WEBSITE_URL	WEBSITE_URL=https://www.yourdomain.com	Used for the email and push notifications
EMAIL_PASSWORD	EMAIL_PASSWORD=YEDZ1yRfz12	Required for the email transporter. It pairs with ADMIN_EMAIL
EMAIL_PORT	EMAIL_PORT=465	Required for the email transporter
EMAIL_SECURE	EMAIL_PORT=true	true for 465, false for other ports
VAPIDKEY_PUBLIC	VAPIDKEY_PUBLIC=BCv-0bxPV_RQj(..)	For generating VAPID keys follow these instructions
VAPIDKEY_PRIVATE	VAPIDKEY_PRIVATE=JONfGPAp9i(..)	For generating VAPID keys follow these instructions

API End-Points

The API hosts two main routes: questions and users. Both are differentiated between Public and Private routes.

Public Routes

Method	End-Point	Request Body	Successful Response	Description
POST	/users/login	email, password	JSON Web Token	Checks if user/password combination is correct and returns a web token
GET	/users/ambassadors		ambassadors array	Returns public information of ambassadors
GET	/questions/		questions array	Returns all answered questions
POST	/questions/	question object	created question object	Send a new question to the server
PATCH	/questions/:id/	question object	updated question object	Update details of a specific question
PATCH	/questions/:id/update_views/		updated question object	Increments the number of views of the question in the database
POST	/questions/:id/subscribe/email/	question id, email	question id and email	Creates an email notification event in the database
POST	/questions/:id/subscribe/push/	question id, subscription event	message: "Subscription successful"	Registers a push notification subscription in the database

Private Routes

All private routes require a valid JSON Web Token in the header as authentication.

Method	End-Point	Request Body	Successful Response	Permission	Description
POST	/users/register/	email, role, password, age, name, picture, location, bio	message: "User created."	Administrators	Creates a new account
PATCH	/users/update/	email, new_email, new_password, role, age, name, picture, location, bio	message: "User updated."	Administrators, the user itself	Modifies an user account. It fails if no other administrator exists
DELETE	/users/delete/	email	message: "User deleted."	Administrators, the user itself	Deletes an user. It fails if no other administrator exists
GET	/questions/all/		questions array	Ambassadors, administrators	Lists all questions, even unanswered ones
GET	/questions/:id/		question object	Ambassadors, administrators	Get all details about the question submitted
PATCH	/questions/:id/modify	question object	question object	Ambassadors, administrators	Modify the question's details
DELETE	/questions/:id/		message: "Question Deleted."	Ambassadors, administrators	Delete specific question
PUT	/questions/:id/answer	answer object	question object	Ambassadors, administrators	Answer or update a previous answer
DELETE	/questions/:id/answer		question object	Ambassadors, administrators	Delete a previous answer

Static files

The application can serve static files uploaded to the /static/ folder, and accessed through the /static/ route.

Multi-language

The application comes bundled to work in German and English out-of-the-box. Additional language must be hard-coded for now.

Important Dependencies

Database

The application comes bundled with lowdb, ready to run out-of-the-box. However, if a more complex Database solution is required, only models need to be changed.

Encryption

Emails are encrypted using cryptr and passwords are hashed and then stored using bcrypt.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are implemented using the node.js package web-push. You can read more information about its usage in the project's github.

Email Notifications

Email notifications are implemented using the node.js package nodemailer. You can find more information about its usage and configuration in the project's homepage.

Get in Touch

If you need any help and/or want to get in touch with us, don't hesitate to Submit an Issue, and/or contact us at [email protected], or via Facebook and Twitter.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ahmad, Ahmed, Nickhil, Zain and Zeina for their support, hard work, and insights during the development and deployment of this solution.

Team

This project was created in six months for the beautiful team of:

• Cornelia Blum: Lead.
• Pedro Poblete Lasserre: Coder.
• Hector Pahaut: Designer.
• Pooja Veerappa: User Researcher.
• Juli Maier: Mentor.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Funding

Funding for the initial development of this project came from the Prototype Fund, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.