Week 8 Assignment Overview

For Week 8's Assignment, we are to create a simple REST API Server using Express.js, Typescript, and Node.js, and then deployed through Railway or Render or any other back-end deployment platform.

Start the project by creating necessary folders: mkdir controllers src data assets
And or files with: touch app.ts .gitignore, etc.
Create a package.json file that will be used to describe your app: npm init -y
Install all the needed dependencies (general): npm i dotenv body-parser express
Install all the needed dependencies for development side (DevDependencies): npm i -D @types/dotenv @types/express @types/nodes concurrently nodemon typescript
Include necessary steps in your script, such as: "dev": "concurrently \"npx tsc --watch\" \"nodemon dist/app.js\" (this particular script will allows you to run 2 commands simultaneously.To run the command, use: npm run dev)

API Endpoints

roofinancetracker-prod.up.railway.app/

Name	HTTP Method	Endpoint
Homepage	`GET`	/
List All Transaction Data	`GET`	/transactions
Get Transaction Data by ID	`GET`	/transactions/:id
Create New Transaction Data	`POST`	/transactions
Update Whole Transaction Data by ID	`PUT`	/transactions/:id
Update Transaction Type by ID	`PATCH`	/transactions/ttype/:id
Update Transaction Name by ID	`PATCH`	/transactions/tname/:id
Update Transaction Detail by ID	`PATCH`	/transactions/tdetail/:id
Update Transaction Amount by ID	`PATCH`	/transactions/tamount/:id
Delete Transaction Data by ID	`DELETE`	/transactions/:id

Postman & Thunder Client

Through Postman or Thunder Client, we will be able to test our API's routing and codes to ensure functionalities.

Postman : an API platform for building and using APIs

To download postman, head to postman.com

Although we don't have to create an account for Postman, creating one will allow us to access workspace, a sidebar space where we can create and store our API requests for easier and faster testing.

An example of neat workspace

Thunder Client : a lightweight GUI based Rest API Client Extension for Visual Studio Code

An alternative to Postman, Thunder Client can be easily installed by going to `extensions` in VSCode.

Deployement through Railway

Railway : a Platform as a Service (PaaS) that offers a complete platform for building and delivering programs to the backend of the cloud. Which means Railway is one of the many options where we can deploy our back-end codes.

First, head to railway.app, and click login with github account.

Click New Project and the github repository that houses your backend sourcecode
Railway will proceed to start building and deploying your project, when completed, you may set the website name and or custom domain
Your project is ready for use.