Operator Academy Project Template

Welcome to Week 6, the project week! During this week, we'll put together everything we've learned during Operator Academy to build a final project.

This repository contains a template to use for your final project. Keep reading to learn about how the project works, and what you should do to complete the project assignment.

• Operator Academy Project Template
  • Quick Summary:
  • The project template
  • Getting the project
  • Setting up the project
  • Working on the project
    • What should I build?
  • Completing the project

Quick Summary:

• Use this template to start your Operator Academy project.
• npm install and npm start to run the project.
• Push your changes to your own GitHub repository, and submit the assignment in the Operator Console by December 17th.

The project template

This project is a Node.js Express application.

• Express is a minimal web framework for Node.js that lets us define handlers (functions) for routes (URLs). If this is new to you, check out the recording for Class 5.
• The project includes twilio and axios:
  • You can use twilio to integrate Twilio into your project.
  • axios is a library for making HTTP requests. We can use it to make HTTP requests in our code, a bit like using curl but in Node.js.
• The application has three routes: two GET and one POST.
• The root / route simply responds with Hello World.
• The /github route is a dynamic route. It uses the next part of the URL in the handler to make a request to the GitHub API. This is an example of using other APIs from our own code, using Axios.
• The /sms route is similar to the POST route from the Twilio SMS mission you would have seen in Week 5 of TwilioQuest. It's provided as a starting point for using Twilio in your project.
• The project uses nodemon so you don't have to restart the application everytime you make a change: it will automatically restart.

Getting the project

This project is a GitHub Template Repository. You can make a copy of this template in your own repository by clicking the green "Use this template" button. You can read more here. When you make the repository, please make it Public: we will need to be able to see the repository when you submit it for your assignment later.

Once you have created the repository from the template, you can Clone the repository to your machine by running git clone in your terminal. If you need a reminder of how git clone works, check out the Week 3 recording.

Setting up the project

• Whenever we start using a new Node.js project, we start by running npm install.
• npm install checks the package.json for the project's dependencies: these are the libraries and other modules that the project uses. npm will download and install any dependencies so that they are available for the project.
• In this project, npm will download express, twilio, axios, and nodemon. You may see it downloading other modules, because it will also download the dependencies for our dependencies!
• Once npm install has finished, you should set the environment variables for Twilio.
  • These are TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID for your account SID, and TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN for your auth token.
  • You can find both of these in your Twilio Console.
  • If you don't know how to set environment variables on your system, check out this blog post
• Now you are ready to start the application, with npm start.
  • npm start is a custom install script specified in package.json. Rather than starting the app with node index.js, we start it with nodemon so that the app automatically restarts whenever we change any code!
• Your application will now be running on localhost:3000. You can verify that by opening localhost:3000 in your browser: you should see Hello World.
• Check out the src/routes file to see what other routes are available to test. Remember, we can only test the GET routes in our browser!
• You may want to use ngrok to generate a public URL for the application if you plan to use the POST route, or to receive requests from outside your network.

Working on the project

Now you've got the template working, it's time to add to it! Expand the project with new routes, change the existing ones, and add new functionality. Before you dive in, take a minute to think about "What do I want to build?". Using tools like Excalidraw can be really helpful to plan out your ideas.

Don't forget what you learned in Week 3! Remember to git commit as you build, to save your progress. When you're ready, you can git push your changes to GitHub.

What should I build?

The project week is all about using what you've learned to make your own application. We've provided this template as a starting point, but now it's up to you!

Here's some ideas to get you started:

• Use the Twilio API: what can you build with SMS and phone calls? What would be more convenient to do via the phone then via a website?
• Combine APIs: with axios, you can use other APIs in your code. Check out the src/routes file for an example. What could you do if you combined other APIs with Twilio?
• Share and discuss ideas in the Operator Academy Discord: each student should complete their own project, but coming up with ideas with other students is very encouraged!

Completing the project

To complete the project week:

• Use this template to build your own project.
• Submit the GitHub link to your project through the Operator Console using the Week 6 assignments.
• You have a little bit longer for the project assignment, but all submissions must be in by the 25th of August.