Courses Management API

A RESTful API built with Node.js and Express for managing courses. This API provides CRUD operations for courses with user authentication, role-based authorization, and image upload capabilities.

📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• Tech Stack
• Project Structure
• Installation
• Environment Variables
• API Endpoints
• Authentication & Authorization
• Error Handling
• Contributing
• License

✨ Features

• Course Management: Complete CRUD operations for courses
• User Authentication: Secure registration and login with JWT
• Role-Based Authorization: ADMIN, MANAGER, and USER roles
• Image Upload: Profile image upload support with Multer
• Input Validation: Request validation using Express Validator
• Error Handling: Centralized error handling middleware
• Password Security: Bcrypt password hashing
• CORS Enabled: Cross-origin resource sharing support
• Pagination: Support for paginated course listings

🛠 Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js
• Framework: Express.js v5.1.0
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• Authentication: JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• Password Hashing: Bcrypt
• Validation: Express Validator
• File Upload: Multer
• Development: Nodemon
• Others: CORS, Dotenv

📁 Project Structure

courses/
├── controllers/
│   ├── courses.controller.js
│   └── users.controller.js
├── middlewares/
│   ├── allowedTo.js
│   ├── asyncWrapper.js
│   └── verifyToken.js
├── models/
│   ├── course.model.js
│   └── user.model.js
├── routes/
│   ├── courses.route.js
│   └── users.route.js
├── uploads/
│   └── (uploaded images)
├── utils/
│   ├── appError.js
│   ├── httpStatusText.js
│   └── userRoles.js
├── .env
├── .gitignore
├── app.js
├── package.json
└── README.md

🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• MongoDB (local or MongoDB Atlas)
• npm or yarn

Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/courses-api.git
   cd courses-api

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Create environment file

   cp .env.example .env

4. Configure environment variables (see below)

5. Start the server

   # Development mode with auto-reload
   npm start
   
   # Production mode
   node app.js

The server will start on http://localhost:4000 (or your configured PORT).

⚙️ Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory:

# Server Configuration
PORT=4000

# Database
DB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/courses
# Or for MongoDB Atlas:
# DB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/courses

# JWT Secret
JWT_SECRET_KEY=your_super_secret_jwt_key_here_change_in_production

📡 API Endpoints

Courses

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required	Roles
GET	/api/courses	Get all courses (with pagination)	No	-
GET	/api/courses/:courseId	Get single course by ID	No	-
POST	/api/courses	Create a new course	No	-
PATCH	/api/courses/:courseId	Update a course	No	-
DELETE	/api/courses/:courseId	Delete a course	Yes	ADMIN, MANAGER

Users

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required	Roles
GET	/api/users	Get all users	Yes	-
POST	/api/users/register	Register new user	No	-
POST	/api/users/login	Login user	No	-

Query Parameters

Get All Courses supports pagination:

• page - Page number (default: 1)
• limit - Items per page (default: 10)

Example: /api/courses?page=2&limit=5

📝 Request & Response Examples

Create a Course

Request:

POST /api/courses
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Advanced Node.js Development",
  "price": 99.99
}

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "course": {
      "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439011",
      "name": "Advanced Node.js Development",
      "price": 99.99
    }
  }
}

Register a User

Request:

POST /api/users/register
Content-Type: multipart/form-data

{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Doe",
  "email": "john.doe@example.com",
  "password": "SecurePassword123",
  "role": "USER",
  "image": [file]
}

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439012",
    "firstName": "John",
    "lastName": "Doe",
    "email": "john.doe@example.com",
    "role": "USER",
    "image": "uploads/image-1234567890.jpg"
  }
}

Login

Request:

POST /api/users/login
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "email": "john.doe@example.com",
  "password": "SecurePassword123"
}

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."
  }
}

Get All Courses (Paginated)

Request:

GET /api/courses?page=1&limit=10

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "courses": [
      {
        "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439011",
        "name": "Advanced Node.js Development",
        "price": 99.99
      },
      {
        "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439013",
        "name": "React Fundamentals",
        "price": 79.99
      }
    ]
  }
}

Update a Course

Request:

PATCH /api/courses/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Advanced Node.js & Express Development",
  "price": 109.99
}

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "course": {
      "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439011",
      "name": "Advanced Node.js & Express Development",
      "price": 109.99
    }
  }
}

Delete a Course (Protected)

Request:

DELETE /api/courses/507f1f77bcf86cd799439011
Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "course": {
      "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439011",
      "name": "Advanced Node.js & Express Development",
      "price": 109.99
    }
  }
}

🔒 Authentication & Authorization

Using JWT Token

After logging in, include the JWT token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN_HERE

User Roles

• USER: Default role for registered users
• MANAGER: Can delete courses
• ADMIN: Full access to all operations

⚠️ Error Handling

The API uses consistent error responses:

{
  "status": "fail",
  "message": "Course not found",
  "code": 404,
  "data": null
}

Common Error Codes

• 400 - Bad Request (validation errors)
• 401 - Unauthorized (missing or invalid token)
• 404 - Not Found
• 500 - Internal Server Error

🔮 Future Improvements

• Add course categories and tags
• Implement course search and filtering
• Add course reviews and ratings
• Implement user enrollment system
• Add email verification for registration
• Implement password reset functionality
• Add API rate limiting
• Create comprehensive API documentation with Swagger
• Add unit and integration tests
• Implement caching with Redis
• Add course content management (videos, documents)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Please make sure to update tests as appropriate and adhere to the existing coding style.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the ISC License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Made with ❤️ using Node.js and Express

For questions or support, please open an issue in the GitHub repository.