dffrnt.api

A project for easy-ish API creation and configuration.

Contents

1. Prequisites
   1. Structure
2. Setup
   1. Pre-Configuration
   2. Installing
   3. Post-Configuration
   4. Launching
3. Modules
   1. dffrnt.utils
   2. dffrnt.model
   3. dffrnt.route
4. License

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Prequisites

• NodeJS (Latest)
• NPM (Installed with NodeJS)
• REDIS (See Structure below)
  • Install this in the same parent folder as this project under REDIS/
• MySQL (v5.6+)
  • A user@% account is required for later configuration

Structure

Parent_Folder/ (Name NOT important)
   ├── dffrnt.api/ (Project-Root; any no-spaced Name will do)
   │   ├── config/ (Reference only; no need to create these!)
   │   └── ...
   └── REDIS/ (Name important! Don't change this name!!)

In this document, ./, refers to the project root; while, ../, refers to the parent folder

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Setup

Pre-Configuration

1. Ensure the folder structure is setup.

2. Ensure the prequisites are installed.

   • If the install method you chose for REDIS installs the files in a default location, be sure to symlink that location to the ../REDIS/ directory.

3. In the MySQL database, create a user@% for yourself.

   • Be sure to give yourself appropriate permissions.

4. Configure the redis.conf file in the ../REDIS/ folder:

   # ../REDIS/redis.conf
   
   ################################## SECURITY ###################################
   # Require clients to issue AUTH <PASSWORD> before processing any other
   # ...
   # use a very strong password otherwise it will be very easy to break.
   #
   requirepass p@ssw0rd_h3r3!

Installing

1. Download or git this project into the parent folder.

2. In your command line, cd into the project root location.

3. Install some packages at the global level:

   1. Run chmod +x ./.docs/npm_global.sh to make it excutable.

   2. Run sudo ./.docs/npm_global.sh to install some important, *global packages.

      These can be utilized across ANY or your projects:

      Package	Description
      babel-cli	A next-gen (ES6) JavaScript compiler.
      bower	A package-manager for Browser plugins.
      cors	A middleware for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing.
      depcheck	A tool for analyzing the dependencies in a project
      express	A fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for NodeJS.
      gulp	A toolkit that helps automate development workflow tasks.
      less	The dynamic stylesheet language.
      less-plugin-clean-css	A gulp plugin for LESS -> CSS using clean-css.
      nodemon	Will watch for files changes and restart your application.

4. Run npm link gulp && gulp setup to:

   • Install the npm packages.
   • Install the bower components.
   • Initialize the config files.
   • Link the framework modules.

Post-Configuration

1. In the ./config/ folder, configure the settings.js file:

   // ./config/settings.js 
   export default {
       Debug: true, // Debug‑Mode will display verbose Logs
       Port: 3001, // This is the Server's listening Port
       Public: {
           // Cache‑Age for Browser files
           Age: 365*86400, 
           // ...
       },
       Session: {
           // This should be something hard to guess, like a phrase
           Secret: '¿mYd0GiS!nmYeyE&shEs4yS@uE?',
           Age:    (((3600*1000)*4)*1),  // TTL for User Sessions
           REDIS:  {
               Host: 'localhost', // Or whereever you keep it
               Port: 6379, // Listening Port
               // The password you configured earlier
               Password: 'p@ssw0rd!',
           },
           Auth: { /* ... */ }
       }
   };

2. Still in the ./config/ folder, configure the database.js file:

   // ./config/database.js
   export default {
       Config: {
           user:     'user', // The one you created in MySQL
           database: 'mydatabase', // The DB
           // ...
       },
       Pool: {
           HeadEx1: {
               host: 'XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX', // The eVectr IP
               // The one you created in MySQL 
               password: 'p@ssw0rd_h3r3!' 
           },
       }
   };

Launching

1. Lastly, still in the project root, type gulp and hit ENTER to run, and watch the logs as the server starts up:

   Initial gulp tasks being completed.

   File monitoring, courtesy of nodemon.

   The node server starting up.

   • If there are no glaring errors, you're done!
   • Otherwise... Sh!t..? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2. In your browser, navigate to localhost:3001/api-explorer (or whatever port you chose) and you'll see the API Exploration UI. Use this to test your endpoints and/or signle sign-on functionality.

3. Hit CTRL+C to stop the server.

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Modules

dffrnt.confs

Initial default Configs used within the DFFRNT.API Framework.

dffrnt.model

A collection of SQL Utilities & MySQL connector.

dffrnt.route

An Express/Passport/MySQL-based API Router.

dffrnt.utils

A collection of useful API Utilities & PolyFills.

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License