This web server can be used to fetch and store data from the mobile application. It is built in JavaScript and uses an embedded datastore.
This project requires Node.js. If you don't have it, you can simply visit https://nodejs.org/, download the latest version, and follow the setup instructions.
Once installed, you can validate its presence by running these commands:
node --version
npm --version
If one of them doesn't work, you may simply download the binaries from the Node.js downloads page and put them in this directory.
The server has been built to be very easy to use. First, install the dependencies:
npm install
And that's it, you're done.
You can start the server by running:
npm start
The server should be accessible at http://localhost:3000/.
The server works as a simple REST API. It should be fairly straightforward, but if you want to know more about it, you can read on.
Two types of objects are currently supported, with their own route:
/messages: Exchanges between users/users: User basic information
They both support basic HTTP operations (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), but you can send any data in there – the request body is simply saved to the database as it is received.
There is no authentication or any data validation whatsoever, but this is enough to support the sample mobile applications.
Depending on your solution, you may want to expand it and add new features, but you may also keep it as is and focus on the mobile application.
To simplify development and deployment, the project uses NeDB, an embedded datastore that works automatically, without a binary. It is built using a subset of the MongoDB API, so it's very easy to use.
Each collection of documents is represented in its own instance of NeDB, and is persisted using a simple file that contains JSON objects.
The web front-end on http://localhost:3000/ simply shows the currently persisted data, to help you explore the project at the beginning. You don't need to edit anything in there, unless it can help you debug your project.
So, what's the room for improvement?
Here are some features you could add to this server:
- User registration and authentication
- Associated users and messages
- Request data security
- Request data validation
- Persisted data encryption
- Persisted data compression
- Socket communication for real-time messaging
- Video stream support
The list is non-exhaustive, feel free to do anything you can think of!
This competition is © 2016 Mirego and may be freely
distributed under the New BSD license.
See the LICENSE.md file.
Mirego is a team of passionate people who believe that work is a place where you can innovate and have fun. We're a team of talented people who imagine and build beautiful Web and mobile applications. We come together to share ideas and change the world.
We also love open-source software and we try to give back to the community as much as we can.