MERN Sustainability Project Backend

This project is the backend for the MERN Sustainability Project, a Node.js application using Express, MongoDB, and Mongoose to manage and interact with business data. It provides RESTful API endpoints for creating, retrieving, and managing business information.

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Project Structure
• Environment Variables
• API Endpoints
  • GET /
  • GET /about
  • POST /api/become-a-creator
  • GET /api/businesses
  • GET /api/businesses/:id
• Models
• Error Handling
• Running the Server
• License

Setup

To get the project up and running locally, follow these steps:

1. Install Dependencies: Run the following command to install all necessary dependencies: npm install

2. Navigate to the src Directory: Move into the src directory where the main server code resides: cd src

3. Create a .env File: In the src directory, create a .env file with the following environment variables: PORT: The port number where your server will run. MONGO_URI: The connection string for your MongoDB database.

4. Start the Server: Run the following command to start the server:

   node server.js

   The server will be running on the port specified in the .env file, or 5000 if no port is specified.

Project Structure The project is organized as follows: .

├── src │ └── server.js # Main server file │ └── models │ │ └── Business.js # Mongoose model for the Business entity └── .env # Environment variables file (not included in the repository)

Environment Variables The project relies on the following environment variables:

PORT: The port number on which the server will listen.
MONGO_URI: The MongoDB connection string used by Mongoose to connect to the database.
These variables should be defined in a .env file located in the src directory.

API Endpoints

GET /

• Description: Returns a simple welcome message.
• Response:
  • Status: 200 OK
  • Body: "MERN Sustainability Project Backend"

GET /about

• Description: Placeholder endpoint. Currently returns an empty response.
• Response:
  • Status: 200 OK
  • Body: "" (empty string)

POST /api/become-a-creator

• Description: Creates a new business entry.
• Request Body:
  • JSON object with the following fields:
  • name (string, required)
  • description (string, required)
  • contactEmail (string, required)
  • contactPhone (string, required)
  • address (string, required)
  • website (string, optional)
  • category (string, required)
  • products (array of strings, optional)
  • Response:
  • Status: 201 Created if successful
  • Status: 500 Internal Server Error if an error occurs

GET /api/businesses

• Description: Retrieves a list of all businesses.
• Response:
  • Status: 200 OK
  • Body: JSON array of business objects

GET /api/businesses/

• Description: Retrieves a single business by its ID.
• Request Parameters:
  • id (string): The ID of the business to retrieve
• Response:
  • Status: 200 OK if the business is found
  • Status: 404 Not Found if the business is not found
  • Status: 400 Bad Request if the provided ID is invalid

Models

Business Model

The Business model is defined in models/Business.js using Mongoose. It represents the schema for a business entity with the following fields:

name (string, required): The name of the business.
description (string, required): A description of the business.
contactEmail (string, required): The contact email for the business.
contactPhone (string, required): The contact phone number for the business.
address (string, required): The address of the business.
website (string, optional): The website of the business.
category (string, required): The category of the business.
products (array of strings, optional): A list of products offered by the business.