Message in a Bottle Backend API

RESTful API for Message in a Bottle frontend application consumption.

About The Project • Tools Used • Local Set Up • Installation • How To Use • Database Schema • Contributing • Acknowledgements

About The Project

Message in a Bottle is an application where users can discover stories about the communities around them. This app was designed as a way to interact with cities, neighborhoods, and the people that inhabit them. The Message in a Bottle backend is built with a Django framework that stores story and user data through PostgreSQL. We expose this data to our frontend team to build out the user interface.

Learning Goals

• Building a RESTful API with a Python Django backend
• Collaborating with a Front-End dev team
• Geolocation calls and tracking
• Applying best practices learned during Turing to a new language and framework
  • e.g. TDD, OOP, REST, MVC(Rails) <--> MTV(Django)
• Making use of the git rebase workflow

Tools Used

Development	Testing	Packages
Python 3.9.7	Pytest-Django	Django
Django	Pytest-Cov	Django CORS Headers
CircleCI	Postman	Django Heroku
PostgreSQL	VCRPY	Django REST Framework
Git/Github		Gunicorn
Heroku		Psycopg2
		Pycodestyle
		Python-Decouple
		Python-DotENV
		Requests

Local Set Up

1. To clone and run this application, you'll need Python 3.9.7 and Django 3.2.8. Using the official Python docs, follow instructions to install python3 for your local OS.

2. You can check for a successful installation using this command:

$ python3 -V
> Python 3.9.7

Installation

1. Fork this repo
2. Clone your new repo:

git clone https://github.com/MIBFB-COLLAB/message_in_a_bottle_backend.git

3. Create and Invoke your virtual environment:

python3 -m virtualenv venv
source venv/bin/activate

4. Install dependencies:

(venv) python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

5. Set up the database:

$ psql

CREATE DATABASE <project name>;
CREATE USER <user name> WITH PASSWORD <password>;
ALTER ROLE <user name> SET client_encoding TO 'utf8';
ALTER ROLE <user name> SET default_transaction_isolation TO 'read committed';
ALTER ROLE <user name> SET timezone TO 'UTC';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE <project name> TO <user name>;
\q

6. Add PostgreSQL database info to settings.py file:

DATABASES = {
  'default': {
      'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
      'NAME': '<project name>',
      'USER': '<user name>',
      'PASSWORD': '<password>',
      'HOST': '<host>',
      'PORT': '<port>',
  }
}

7. Migrate database:

(venv) python manage.py makemigrations
(venv) python manage.py migrate

8. Update CORS allowed origins in settings.py. Domains currently allowed are:

CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS = [
  'http://localhost:3000',
  'https://message-in-a-bottle-fe-app.herokuapp.com',
  'https://app-message-in-a-bottle.herokuapp.com',
]

9. Run the test suite with:

(venv) export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=message_in_a_bottle.settings
(venv) pytest --cov

10. Run your local Python server with:

(venv) python manage.py runserver

How To Use

To experience the front-end UI, please visit the application here. You can also hit our endpoints through an API client, such as Postman or HTTPie.

Endpoint Documentation

Domain: https://message-in-a-bottle-api.herokuapp.com

Stories Index Endpoint
The GET stories endpoint retrieves stories near you. You must supply valid longitude and latitude coordinates.

Query Params	Required?	Example	Notes
latitude	Yes	/api/v1/stories?latitude=12.345&longitude=4.5968	requires longitude
longitude	Yes	/api/v1/stories?latitude=12.345&longitude=4.5968	requires latitude

Request: GET /api/v1/stories?latitude=12.3456&longitude=4.5968

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "input_location": "phoenix,az",
    "stories":[
      {
      "id": 1,
      "type": "story",
      "attributes": {
        "title": "my cool story",
        "latitude": 13.201,
        "longitude": 9.2673,
        "distance_in_miles": 1.2,
        "created_at": "2021-10-27T03:45:34.165600Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-10-27T03:45:36.855162Z"
        }
      },
      {
      "id": 2,
      "type": "story",
      "attributes": {
        "title": "story",
        "latitude": 13.563,
        "longitude": 10.2673,
        "distance_in_miles": 3,
        "created_at": "2021-10-27T04:45:34.165600Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-10-27T04:45:36.855162Z"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Story Show Endpoint
Request: GET /api/v1/stories/:id?latitude=12.3456&longitude=-4.5968

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "id": 1,
    "type": "story",
    "attributes": {
      "title": "my cool story",
      "message": "This one time I saw a bird",
      "name": "Anonymous",
      "created_at": "2021-10-08T23:28:51.897746Z",
      "updated_at": "2021-10-08T23:28:51.897746Z",
      "latitude": 30.071945143440377,,
      "longitude": 31.225164325479227,
      "distance_in_miles": 1.2,
      "location": "Cairo Governorate, EG"
      }
   }
}

Directions Endpoint
Request: GET /api/v1/stories/:id/directions?latitude=1230&longitude=1209.3

Response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": null,
      "type": "directions",
      "attributes": {
        "narrative": "Turn left on Bob St.",
        "distance": ".8 miles"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": null,
      "type": "directions",
      "attributes": {
        "narrative": "Turn right on Starry Road",
        "distance": ".2 miles"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Create Story Endpoint
Request: POST /api/v1/stories

Request Body:

{
  "title": "A new title",
  "message": "I'm coming up",
  "latitude": 27.717311514603534,
  "longitude": 85.32098499247293
}

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "id": 2,
    "type": "story",
    "attributes": {
      "title": "A new title",
      "message": "I'm coming up",
      "name": "Anonymous",
      "created_at": "2021-10-08T23:28:51.897746Z",
      "updated_at": "2021-10-08T23:28:51.897746Z",
      "latitude": 27.717311514603534,
      "longitude": 85.32098499247293,
      "location": "Kathmandu, NP"
    }
  }
}

Update Story Endpoint
Request: PATCH /api/v1/stories/:id

Request Body:

{
  "title": "My Fixed Title",
  "message": "Hello World.",
  "name": "Sally"
}

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "id": 1,
    "type": "story",
    "attributes": {
      "title": "My Fixed Title",
      "message": "Hello World.",
      "name": "Sally",
      "created_at": "2021-10-08T23:28:51.897746Z",
      "updated_at": "2021-10-18T23:28:51.897746Z",
      "latitude": 40.3830,
      "longitude": 105.5190,
      "location": "Estes Park, CO"
    }
  }
}

Delete Story Endpoint
Request: DELETE /api/v1/stories/:id

Error Handling
Here are some examples of error messages you could receive if you send an invalid request:

Bad Request URI: GET /api/v1/stories/:id or /api/v1/stories/:id?latitude=&longitude=

Response:

{
    "errors": {
        "messages": [
            "Latitude or longitude can't be blank."
        ],
        "code": 1
    }
}

Bad Request URI: GET /api/v1/stories/:id?latitude=1000&longitude=1000

Response:

{
    "errors": {
        "messages": [
            "Invalid latitude or longitude."
        ],
        "code": 1
    }
}

Bad Request URI: GET /api/v1/stories/:id?latitude=0&longitude=0

Response:

{
    "errors": {
        "messages": [
            "Impossible route."
        ],
        "code": 2
    }
}

POST /api/v1/stories Bad Request Body:

{
    "title":"Here's Johnny!",
    "message": "allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboyallworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy",
    "name":"Jack Torrance",
    "latitude":40.3830,
    "longitude":105.5190
}

Response:

{
    "errors": {
        "message": [
            "Ensure this field has no more than 1000 characters."
        ],
        "location": [
            "This field may not be blank."
        ]
    }
}

Database Schema

Contributing

👤 Marla Schulz

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

👤 Taylor Varoglu

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

👤 Matt Kragen

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

👤 Mae Duphorne

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

👤 Fara Akhatova

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

👤 Justin Anthony

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

Acknowledgements

• Turing School of Software and Design
  • Project created for completion towards Backend Engineering Program
• MapQuest API
  • Radius Search, Route, and Reverse Geocoding APIs