AutoExpo Backend API

🚗 Welcome to the AutoExpo backend API documentation!

AutoExpo is a multi-page application (MPA) that serves as both the backend and frontend, providing dynamic HTML pages using Handlebars to showcase a diverse collection of cars and car-related information.

📂 Application Structure

AutoExpo is organized into several key components:

• Config: Contains configuration files for database (MongoDB) setup, Express.js, and routing.
• Controllers: Houses the controllers responsible for handling different routes and functionalities, including authentication, car management, catalog display, user registration, and more.
• Middlewares: Includes middleware functions for tasks like authentication, setting default page titles, guarding routes, and managing user navigation.
• Models: Defines data models for cars, extras, and users.
• Services: Contains service modules responsible for handling authentication, car-related operations, and more.
• Static: Stores static assets such as images and the styles.css file.
• Utils: Contains utility functions, including error parsing.

🌐 Views

AutoExpo utilizes Handlebars (HBS) templates for rendering dynamic HTML pages. The views directory consists of various HBS templates, including layouts, partials, and individual page templates such as the catalog, car details, user registration, and more.

🚀 Getting Started

To run the AutoExpo backend API, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository to your local machine.

2. Install the required dependencies by running:

   npm install

3. Start the server using the following command:

   npm start

4. The server will start listening on port 3000. Open your web browser and go to http://localhost:3000/ to access the frontend of the application.

🔑 Key Features

AutoExpo's backend API offers the following key features:

• Multi-Page Application: AutoExpo is a multi-page application, providing a seamless experience for users to explore a wide range of cars and related information.

• Dynamic HTML Rendering: The API utilizes Handlebars templates to render dynamic HTML pages, allowing for flexibility in content presentation.

• Car Management: Users can access, edit, and delete car listings, making it a comprehensive platform for car enthusiasts. Additionally, administrators have the privilege to create car extras, enhancing the platform's functionality for managing car-related information.

• User Registration: The API supports user registration, enabling users to create accounts and interact with the application as registered members.

• Authentication: Robust authentication mechanisms are in place to ensure secure access to protected routes and functionalities.

🛣️ API Routes

AutoExpo defines various API routes and controllers to handle different functionalities:

• Home Controller: Manages routes for the home and about pages. This route does not require any special permissions to be accessed. It's open to all users.

  • / - GET route for the home page.
  • /about - GET route for the about page.

• Auth Controller: Manages user authentication and registration routes. The authentication route is accessible to all guests and does not require any specific permissions.

  • /auth/login - GET and POST routes for user login.
  • /auth/register - GET and POST routes for user registration.
  • /auth/logout - GET route for user logout.

• Car Controller: Handles routes related to car management. The car route is accessible to all users and does not require any specific permissions.

  • /car/edit/:id - GET and POST routes for editing car details.
  • /car/delete/:id - GET and POST routes for deleting cars.

• Catalog Controller: Manages routes for accessing the car catalog. The catalog route is open to all users and does not require any specific permissions.

  • /catalog - GET route for browsing and searching cars.
  • /catalog/:id - GET route for viewing car details.

• Create Controller: Provides routes for creating new car listings. To access the create route, user authentication is required. Users need to be logged in to use this functionality.

  • /create/car - GET and POST routes for creating new car listings.

• Extra Controller: Handles routes related to car extras. The extra route has two functionalities:

  Create: To access the create extras functionality, users need to have an "admin" role. This means they must be administrators to view the page and add new car extras to the database.

  • /create/car-extras - GET and POST routes for adding car extras.

  Edit: To access the edit car extras functionality, user authentication is required. Additionally, the user must be the owner of the car associated with the extras they want to edit.

  • /edit/:carId/car-extras - GET and POST routes for modifying car extras.

• Default Controller: Handles errors and renders the 404.hbs template when a route is not found or errors occur during processing. This ensures a user-friendly error page is displayed in such cases.