Testable API and Microservice Projects: URL Shortener

[QuincyLarson]

We are updating the API and Microservice projects to be testable. Campers will start with a boilerplate specific to each project.

Here some proposed user stories - feel free to expand upon them by replying to this comment, and if you see any that look unnecessary, please say so: (to be added)

Progress:

• [x] Edit the user stories if necessary to ensure they are testable
• [x] Create the list of tests
• [x] Build a prototype where all of those tests pass (to verify it can be done)
• [ ] Ask campers to build their own versions based off of our instructions and our boilerplate :construction:
• [ ] Add tests to Free Code Camp's seed files

[Em-Ant]

Links

boilerplate: https://hyperdev.com/#!/project/pastoral-caution working demo: https://hyperdev.com/#!/project/thread-paper

Current user stories

1. I can pass a URL as a parameter and I will receive a shortened URL in the JSON response.
2. If I pass an invalid URL that doesn't follow the valid http://www.example.com format, the JSON response will contain an error instead.
3. When I visit that shortened URL, it will redirect me to my original link..

Proposed Improvements

• Change the HTTP method for the new url creation from GET to POST, according to REST. See https://github.com/FreeCodeCamp/FreeCodeCamp/issues/7392 i.e. The API endpoints are:
  • GET [project_url]/api/shorturl/:url_id to redirect to the url corresponding to :url_id
  • POST [project_url]/api/shorturl/new to create a new url

1. I can POST a URL to [project_url]/api/shorturl/new and I will receive a shortened URL in the JSON response. Example : {"original_url":"www.google.com","short_url":1}
2. If I pass an invalid URL that doesn't follow the valid http(s)://www.example.com(/more/routes) format, the JSON response will contain an error like {"error":"invalid URL"}. HINT: to be sure that the submitted url points to a valid site you can use the function dns.lookup(host, cb) from the dns core module.
3. When I visit the shortened URL, it will redirect me to my original link.

[Em-Ant]

@QuincyLarson should we go with POST ? If we use many boilerplates I can create a form in the main view.

@Greenheart feel free add your thoughts.

[Greenheart]

After reading up on this, I think we should use POST to follow conventions.

@Em-Ant I read the referenced issue. Have you solved how campers should test their API for this project? :)

tisdag 22 november 2016 skrev Emanuele Antonelli notifications@github.com:

@QuincyLarson https://github.com/QuincyLarson should we go with POST ? If we use many boilerplates I can create a form in the main view.

@Greenheart https://github.com/Greenheart feel free add your thoughts.

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[Em-Ant]

I was thinking to test the redirection using another hyperdev server .

The steps could be :

1. We add a valid url pointing to the support hyperdev server, having a random string in it. We test that the API response is ok, and we store the short url in a global var (e.g. window.shortUrl)
2. We use the redirection endpoint with the stored short url. After redirection the support hyperdev server will send back the random string. If we need maximum cheating protection, we could add some kind of encryption performed by the 2nd server.

Check out the last tests on narrow-plane. I implemented a draft version of this process.

[Em-Ant]

@QuincyLarson @BerkeleyTrue if we use the worflow explained above, the 2 steps need to be executed sequentially. Does our system support serial ajax calls (not parallel) ?

[QuincyLarson]

@Em-Ant @BerkeleyTrue said as long as when a request completes, it resolves a promise, these ajax calls can be run serially. Does this answer your question?

[Greenheart]

@Em-Ant Nice idea!

onsdag 23 november 2016 skrev Quincy Larson notifications@github.com:

@Em-Ant https://github.com/Em-Ant @BerkeleyTrue https://github.com/BerkeleyTrue said as long as when a request completes, it resolves a promise, these ajax calls can be run serially. Does this answer your question?

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[Em-Ant]

@QuincyLarson if the ajax call can be run serially I think it should be ok. Thanks.

[QuincyLarson]

OK - cool. Please let me know if I can help with anything else. My goal is to keep you all unblocked so you can keep making steady progress with this 🙂

[Em-Ant]

This should be ready to QA.

boilerplate: https://hyperdev.com/#!/project/pastoral-caution working demo: https://hyperdev.com/#!/project/thread-paper

testing with narrow-plane, option MS3-url shortener .

notes :

• this project needs a db (mLab URI)
• the tests must be run sequentially

[QuincyLarson]

Forum thread for QA'ing this is live here: https://forum.freecodecamp.com/t/url-shortener-project-with-testable-user-stories-guinea-pigs-needed/60782

[QuincyLarson]

Thanks for your help everyone! This is being QA'd and discussed.

I'm closing this issue. If anyone wants to discuss these further, please reopen it.