CourseHub – Group 8 Final Project

A cloud-native microservice-based web app that lets users log in and manage a course catalog. Features both Google OAuth and traditional username/password authentication, and is deployed on IBM Cloud.

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Tech Stack

• Frontend: React (Vite)
• Backend: Node.js with Express.js
• Database: MongoDB Atlas
• Authentication: Google OAuth & JWT (passport.js)
• Deployment: IBM Cloud (Cloud Foundry + Toolchain)

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Architecture & Components

1. Backend - server/app.js

• Uses Express to handle HTTP requests.
• Connects to MongoDB Atlas via Mongoose using MONGO_URI.
• Seeds initial courses from initialCourses.json if DB is empty.
• Middleware:
  • cors with dynamic FRONTEND_URL
  • express-session (for Google OAuth sessions)
  • passport for authentication
• Routes:
  • /auth: Handles login/signup & Google OAuth
  • /api: Handles course-related endpoints
• In production, serves React frontend from dist/.

2. Authentication - routes/auth.js, config/passport.js

• Username/Password Auth:
  • POST /signup: Registers user, hashes password, returns JWT
  • POST /login: Authenticates and returns JWT
• Google OAuth:
  • GET /auth/google: Redirects to Google login
  • GET /auth/google/callback: Handles callback, issues JWT, redirects to frontend
• JWT Auth:
  • Tokens signed with JWT_SECRET, expire in 1 hour
• Passport Strategy:
  • Configured for Google, stores user in MongoDB

3. Course Management - routes/courses.js

• Handles core app functionality:
  • GET /api/items: Fetch all courses
  • POST /api/item: Add a course
  • PUT /api/item: Edit a course
  • DELETE /api/item: Remove a course

4. Frontend (React via Vite)

• Local Dev: http://localhost:5173 using npm run dev
• Production: Compiled to dist, served by backend
• API calls use relative routes with credentials: "include"
• Features include:
  • Course listing
  • Login/signup
  • User profile & possibly enrolled courses (if implemented)

5. MongoDB Models

• User.js: Stores user credentials, cart, dark mode, etc.
• Admin.js: Similar to User but with role: "admin"
• Course.js: Defines schema for course objects

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End-to-End Flow

1. User Logs In

   • Google or username/password
   • JWT issued, frontend redirects

2. Course Actions

   • Frontend calls /api routes to fetch/add/edit/delete

3. Backend Handles Requests

   • Verifies JWT/auth
   • Interacts with MongoDB
   • Returns JSON responses

4. Frontend Updates View

   • Displays data dynamically

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Admin Access

The following admin accounts have been pre-seeded into the database for testing admin functionality:

• Username: admin1 | Password: adminpass1
• Username: admin2 | Password: passadmin123

To test admin features:

1. Start the application with npm run dev.
2. Log in using one of the above credentials via the login page.
3. Access admin-only routes (course management,number and people who have enrolled , number of views for the course) to verify restricted access.

Local Deployment

Install dependencies

npm install

Run frontend (Vite)

npm run dev

Run backend (if separated)

cd server node app.js