Blogger: Neighborhood Blog Site

This project demonstrates a blogging application constructed in MEAN

Completed for Code Louisville's Spring 2017 session

Web site features

• Track bloggers and their postings
• Individual blog postings have their own publishable URL
• Angular client application uses a RESTful API service
• All CRUDL operations demonstrated
• Responsive to large, medium and small media
• Small initial database can be re-seeded
• MongoDB server authentication can be demonstrated

Packages and frameworks

• MongoDB 3.4.2, Mongoose 4.8.2
• Express 4.14.1
• Angular 1.6.1
• Node.js 6.9.4
• Zurb Foundation for Sites 6.3.1

To see it in action:

• Install the application and its runtime environment
  • Install Node.js
  • Install and prepare MongoDB
    • MongoDB can serve from "localhost" or from another network address
    • Determine where your MongoDB datastore will reside
    • Set up MongoDB administration user and database, if needed
    • Set up the application user and database
    • Set up scripts to assist server and client shell startup
    • For prepared examples, refer to ./notes/MongoDB-notes.txt
    • Refer to the MongoDB documentation for installation advice
  • Download the application into a preferred folder
    • Use Git clone, or download and unpack the ZIP file
  • Retrieve npm modules and libraries
    • Open a command window in the application root
    • Issue the command "npm install" in the application folder
• Start the application
  • Start the MongoDB server
    • MongoDB can be run in its own command window, or as a background service
    • To demonstrate MongoDB authentication, use the --auth startup option
    • Configure "mongoUsesAuth" in ./server/config.js to agree with the authentication option
    • MongoDB authentication is not required to run the application
  • Start a MongoDB client shell, if desired
  • Start the Blogger application
    • Open a command window in the application root
    • Issue "node index -c mongoip -u username -p password -r seed"
      • "mongoip" is the network address of your MongoDB server, most likely "localhost"
      • If MongoDB requires authentication, application startup will require a username and password
      • Use (optionally) "-r empty" or "-r seed" to reset the database
      • Use "node index --help" to see all options.
  • Start a web browser and point it to "localhost:8080/Home"
• Application highlights
  • Errors and route requests are logged to the Node.js console
  • If you alter the Angular app, re-minimize it with "npm run build"
  • The AngularJS library is unminimized to allow for clearer error reporting

Comments are welcome! Send to: Calvin Miracle, cbmira01@gmail.com