Blog Platform Backend

This project provides the backend for a blog application, built with Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB. It includes features for user authentication, CRUD operations for blog posts, and a comment system, with role-based permissions.

Tech Stack

• Node.js: JavaScript runtime environment.
• Express.js: Web application framework for Node.js.
• MongoDB: NoSQL database for data storage.
• Mongoose: ODM (Object Data Modeling) library for MongoDB and Node.js.
• bcryptjs: Library for hashing passwords.
• jsonwebtoken: Library for implementing JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authentication.

Features

• User registration and login with secure password hashing (bcrypt) and JWT authentication.
• CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations for blog posts.
• Comment system for blog posts.
• Role-based permissions (Admin and Regular User roles).

Installation and Running Locally

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mokwathedeveloper/Blog-Platform-handles_the_backend_flow_for_blog_application-.git
   cd Blog-Platform-handles_the_backend_flow_for_blog_application-

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env file: Create a file named .env in the root directory and add your MongoDB URI and JWT Secret:

   MONGO_URI="mongodb+srv://mokwastudies:[email protected]/?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=Cluster0"
   JWT_SECRET="your_jwt_secret"
   

   Replace your_jwt_secret with a strong, random string.

4. Run the application:

   node server.js

   The server will start on http://localhost:3000 (or the port specified in your environment variables).

API Documentation

Authentication

• POST /api/auth/register

  • Description: Register a new user.
  • Body: { "username": "string", "email": "string", "password": "string", "role": "user" | "admin" }
  • Response: { "message": "User registered successfully" }

• POST /api/auth/login

  • Description: Log in a user and get a JWT token.
  • Body: { "email": "string", "password": "string" }
  • Response: { "token": "string" }

Blog Posts

• POST /api/blogposts

  • Description: Create a new blog post. (Requires authentication)
  • Headers: Authorization: Bearer <token>
  • Body: { "title": "string", "content": "string" }
  • Response: { "message": "Blog post created successfully", "blogPost": { ... } }

• GET /api/blogposts

  • Description: Get all blog posts.
  • Response: [ { ...blogPost, author: { username, email } } ]

• GET /api/blogposts/:id

  • Description: Get a single blog post by ID.
  • Response: { ...blogPost, author: { username, email } }

• PUT /api/blogposts/:id

  • Description: Update a blog post by ID. (Requires authentication, only author or admin can update)
  • Headers: Authorization: Bearer <token>
  • Body: { "title": "string", "content": "string" }
  • Response: { "message": "Blog post updated successfully", "blogPost": { ... } }

• DELETE /api/blogposts/:id

  • Description: Delete a blog post by ID. (Requires authentication, only author or admin can delete)
  • Headers: Authorization: Bearer <token>
  • Response: { "message": "Blog post deleted successfully" }

Comments

• POST /api/blogposts/:blogPostId/comments

  • Description: Add a comment to a blog post. (Requires authentication)
  • Headers: Authorization: Bearer <token>
  • Body: { "content": "string" }
  • Response: { "message": "Comment added successfully", "comment": { ... } }

• GET /api/blogposts/:blogPostId/comments

  • Description: Get all comments for a specific blog post.
  • Response: [ { ...comment, author: { username, email } } ]

• DELETE /api/blogposts/comments/:id

  • Description: Delete a comment by ID. (Requires authentication, only author or admin can delete)
  • Headers: Authorization: Bearer <token>
  • Response: { "message": "Comment deleted successfully" }