CRUD REST API using Node | Express | MongoDB

In today’s digital world, web applications are everywhere. From social media platforms to e-commerce websites, we rely on web applications for various tasks. Behind the scenes, these applications use APIs to communicate with servers and databases. One such API is the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) REST API, which allows us to perform basic operations on data stored in a database.

In this article, we will explore how to build a CRUD REST API using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. Node.js is a runtime environment that allows us to run JavaScript on the server-side. Express is a popular web framework for Node.js that makes it easy to build web applications. MongoDB is a NoSQL database that provides a flexible and scalable solution for storing and retrieving data.

Setting up the Project

Before diving into the code, we need to set up our project. Assuming you have Node.js and MongoDB installed, follow these steps:

1. Create a new directory for your project and navigate to it in the terminal.
2. Run the command npm init to create a package.json file for your project.
3. Install the required packages using the command npm install express mongoose body-parser.

Building the API

Now that we have our project set up, let’s start building the API. Create a new file called app.js and add the following code:

const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const mongoose = require('mongoose');

const app = express();

app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(bodyParser.json());

// Database Connection
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/mydatabase', {
  useNewUrlParser: true,
  useUnifiedTopology: true
}).then(() => {
  console.log('Connected to MongoDB');
}).catch((error) => {
  console.log('Error connecting to MongoDB: ', error);
});

// Define a Schema
const ProductSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  name: String,
  price: Number
});

// Define a Model
const Product = mongoose.model('Product', ProductSchema);

// Routes
app.post('/api/products', (req, res) => {
  const { name, price } = req.body;

  const product = new Product({ name, price });

  product.save((error, result) => {
    if (error) {
      res.status(500).json({ error });
    } else {
      res.status(201).json({ message: 'Product created successfully', result });
    }
  });
});

app.get('/api/products', (req, res) => {
  Product.find((error, products) => {
    if (error) {
      res.status(500).json({ error });
    } else {
      res.status(200).json({ products });
    }
  });
});

app.put('/api/products/:id', (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;
  const { name, price } = req.body;

  Product.findByIdAndUpdate(id, { name, price }, { new: true }, (error, result) => {
    if (error) {
      res.status(500).json({ error });
    } else {
      res.status(200).json({ message: 'Product updated successfully', result });
    }
  });
});

app.delete('/api/products/:id', (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;

  Product.findByIdAndDelete(id, (error, result) => {
    if (error) {
      res.status(500).json({ error });
    } else {
      res.status(200).json({ message: 'Product deleted successfully', result });
    }
  });
});

// Start the server
app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server started on port 3000');
});

In the above code, we have imported the required packages and set up the Express app. We have also established a connection with the MongoDB database using Mongoose. Next, we defined a schema for our product and created a model using the schema.

We then defined the routes for our API. Using the HTTP methods, we created routes for creating, reading, updating, and deleting products. Each route performs the necessary operations on the database and sends an appropriate response back to the client.

Finally, we started the server and listened on port 3000. Now, we are ready to test our API using a tool like Postman.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to build a CRUD REST API using Node, Express, and MongoDB. We set up our project, established a connection with the MongoDB database, defined the schema and model for our data, and created routes to perform CRUD operations on the data. This is just the beginning, and there is a lot more you can do with Node, Express, and MongoDB to build powerful web applications.

Remember to handle errors, implement authentication, and add validation as needed to make your REST API more secure and robust. Happy coding!