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Express.js Backend with User Authentication and Poem Management API + VueJs frontend

Things to note: Use the branch called "final". The auth is implemented using a token generated in the backend, which is then transformed into a cookie in the frontend to retrieve it. This app is not ready for real life deployment, as some security best practices still need to be implemented. The files apiConfig.js and authConfig.js in the frontend folder are not being used. I need to leave them there for future reference...

  • BACKEND
  1. User auth with JWT
  2. CRUD backend API to create, edit and delete poems
  3. Users can only view their own poems. Not the ones by other people.
  4. Guide on how to test this using the thunderclient vs code extension. Always remember the bearer token or your API calls won't work!
  5. CRUD backend API to change a user's password, delete the user or change their email
  6. Connection to mongodb using mongoose to store users emails and passwords, poems titles, content and written date.
  7. Dummy SMTP server to send the user a welcome email (using Mailslurp and Nodemailer). Note that it's not included in the backend code. You can read below if you wish to implement this feature.
  8. Check the end of the readme file for links to the tech stack used
  • FRONTEND
  1. VueJs components for login/register, write edit and delete poems, change account settings
  2. VueJs component showing inspirational quotes and being able to copy them to clipboard using the Quotable API
  3. Users can ORDER poems by written date or SEARCH them
  4. Users can share poems via email or social media
  5. Pinia for state management
  6. VueJs Composition API (different from the Options API)
  7. Check the end of the readme file for links to the tech stack used

Setup

  1. Clone the repository.
  2. Install dependencies using npm installin the root folder
  3. Create a .env file in the root folder and insert JWT_SECRET=yewfwefwef . Remember to include the .env in gitignore so you don't commit it with the changes.
  4. nodemon index.js to start the server. Your backend will run on http://localhost:3000/
  5. Go to the frontend folder (cd frontend). Run npm install. Then type npm run serve to start the Vue JS app which will run on http://localhost:8081/ . Both servers need to be running at the same time for the app to work (have one terminal window with localhost:3000 and another one with localhost:8081).
  • Requires dependencies (backend)
"dependencies": {
    "bcrypt": "^5.1.1",
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "dotenv": "^16.4.5",
    "express": "^4.19.2",
    "isomorphic-fetch": "^3.0.0",
    "js-cookie": "^3.0.5",
    "jsonwebtoken": "^9.0.2",
    "mailslurp-client": "^15.20.0",
    "mongoose": "^8.2.4",
    "nodemailer": "^6.9.13"
  }
  • Requires dependencies (frontend)
  "dependencies": {
    "@fortawesome/fontawesome-free": "^6.5.2",
    "axios": "^1.6.8",
    "bootstrap": "^5.3.3",
    "bootstrap-vue": "^2.23.1",
    "core-js": "^3.8.3",
    "file-saver": "^2.0.5",
    "pinia": "^2.1.7",
    "vue": "^3.4.23",
    "vue-router": "^4.3.0",
    "vuex": "^4.0.2"
  },
  1. Set up MongoDB following these instructions. I also recommend to download MongoDbcompass.

API Endpoints

Register a User

Remember the password needs to be at least 6 characters long, contain a number and a special character.

  • Endpoint: POST http:localhost:3000/auth/register
  • Sample Request Body:
{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "password": "your_new_password2!"
}

Login a User

  • Endpoint: POST http:localhost:3000/auth/login
  • Sample Request Body (use same details you used to register):
{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "password": "your_new_password2!"
}

As a response, you will get a token. Remember to include this bearer token to make other requests.

Post a poem

  • Endpoint: POST http:localhost:3000/api/poems
  • Sample Request Body:
{
  "title": "your title",
  "content": "your content"
}

Remember to include the bearer token

Edit a poem

  • Endpoint: PUT http:localhost:3000/api/poems/poemid
  • Sample Request Body:
{
  "title": "your title updated",
  "content": "your content updated"
}

You will find the poem ID in your mongo db Remember to include the bearer token

Delete a poem

  • Endpoint: DELETE http:localhost:3000/api/poems/poemid

You will find the poem ID in your mongo db Remember to include the bearer token

Get poems by user ID

  • Endpoint: GET http:localhost:3000/poems/user/userId

You will find the user ID in the mongo db database. Also, I implemented a functionality whereby users can view only their own poems. Not other people's. Remember to include the bearer token

Get the poem's written date

Endpoint: GET http:localhost:3000/api/poems/poemid/writtenDate

Remember the bearer token

Get a poem by its ID

  • Endpoint: GET http:localhost:3000/poems/poemid

Remember the bearer token

Change user email

  • Endpoint: PUT http:localhost:3000/api/update-details
  • Sample Request Body:
{
  "email": "[email protected]"
}

Remember the bearer token

Change user password

  • Endpoint: PUT http:localhost:3000/api/change-password

  • Sample Request Body:

{
  "oldPassword": "current_password",
  "newPassword": "new_password"
}

Remember the bearer token

Delete a user

Endpoint: DELETE http:localhost:3000/api/delete

Remember the bearer token

With email

Configure nodemailer for email functionality and Mailslurp's SMTP server for testing. Follow these instructions. Remember to include Mailslurp's API key in the .env of your root folder. I have now removed the code below because I have exceeded the API limit. But it's a valid template, regardless of the SMTP server you are using. Should you wish to include a welcome email after the user registers, place the code below in the register function of the auth controller.

  • authcontroller.js

      inboxType: 'SMTP_INBOX',
});

const server = await mailslurp.inboxController.getImapSmtpAccess({
  inboxId: inbox.id,
});

const transport = nodemailer.createTransport({
  host: server.smtpServerHost,
  port: server.smtpServerPort,
  secure: false,
  auth: {
    user: server.smtpUsername,
    pass: server.smtpPassword,
    type: 'PLAIN',
  },
});

const sent = await transport.sendMail({
  from: inbox.emailAddress,
  to: email,
  subject: 'Welcome to Our App',
  text: 'Thank you for registering with us!',
});

Tech stack

  1. VUEjs
  2. Express
  3. JWT
  4. Mongoose
  5. Nodemailer
  6. Mailslurp
  7. Pinia
  8. VueCompositionAPI
  9. Quotable API

Security best practices implemented

  1. Password hashing
  2. Strict mode for SameSite cookies
  3. Password strength meter with zxcvbn

To do (general)

  1. Deploy to railway
  2. SEO and accessibility like image alt-text

To do (security specific)

  1. Validation: express-validator to validate incoming request parameters, query strings, and request bodies.
  2. Logout actions: revoke the JWT token associated with the user. This can be done by maintaining a blacklist of revoked tokens on the server side. When a user logs out, add the JWT token to the blacklist or mark it as invalid. When validating JWT tokens in the verifyToken middleware, check if the token exists in the blacklist before allowing access to protected routes. If the token is found in the blacklist, deny access and treat it as expired or invalid.