Note-Taking App

A full-stack Note-Taking application using Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and a client-side interface with HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Each user can register, log in, and manage their own notes—including categories/tags for organizing notes better.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Tech Stack
• Project Structure
• Setup and Installation
  • Prerequisites
  • Environment Variables
  • Installation Steps
• API Documentation
• Usage Guide
  • Register / Login
  • Managing Notes
  • Managing Categories
• Running Tests
• License

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Features

• User Authentication: Create an account, log in, and manage personal note collections.
• Create / Read / Update / Delete (CRUD): Users can add new notes, update them, clone them, or delete them.
• Categories (Tags): Each note can be associated with multiple categories, making organization easy.
• Responsive Front-End: A simple, user-friendly interface that adapts to different screen sizes (desktop and mobile).
• RESTful API: All note operations are exposed via clean RESTful endpoints secured by JWT tokens.
• Error Handling: Ensures proper data is being given to the database, sending error codes when relevant.

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Tech Stack

1. Node.js + Express: Back-end server and routing.
2. MongoDB (with Mongoose): For data persistence.
3. HTML/CSS/JavaScript: Front-end user interface.
4. JWT: Token-based authentication.
5. Swagger: (Optional) for API documentation.
6. Jest + Supertest: Automated testing suite.

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Project Structure

note-taking-app/                         
├── README.md                            # Project documentation
├── client                               # Front-end files
│   ├── public                           # Static assets (CSS, JS, images)
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── styles.css               # Main stylesheet
│   │   ├── js                           # Front-end scripts
│   │   │   ├── auth.js                  # Client-side auth helper (JWT handling)
│   │   │   ├── categories.js            # Handles category management on the front-end
│   │   │   ├── index.js                 # Home page logic
│   │   │   ├── login.js                 # Login page logic
│   │   │   ├── notes.js                 # Note-taking page logic
│   │   │   └── register.js              # Registration logic
│   │   └── images                       # Static images/icons
│   ├── index.html                       # Home page
│   ├── login.html                       # Login page
│   ├── notes.html                       # Notes interface
│   └── register.html                    # Registration form
└── server                               # Back-end API
    ├── config
    │   └── db.js                        # Database connection setup
    ├── controllers                      # API request handlers
    │   ├── authController.js            # User authentication logic
    │   ├── noteController.js            # Note CRUD operations
    │   └── categoryController.js        # Category CRUD operations
    ├── middlewares
    │   └── authMiddleware.js            # JWT verification middleware
    ├── models                           # Database models (MongoDB/Mongoose)
    │   ├── User.js                      # User schema
    │   ├── Note.js                      # Note schema
    │   └── Category.js                  # Category schema
    ├── routes                           # API routes
    │   ├── authRoute.js                 # Routes for authentication (/api/auth)
    │   ├── noteRoute.js                 # Routes for notes (/api/notes)
    │   └── categoryRoute.js             # Routes for categories (/api/notes/categories)
    ├── tests                            # Automated tests (only for development)
    │   ├── authController.test.js       # Tests for auth functionality
    │   ├── noteController.test.js       # Tests for notes
    │   └── categoryController.test.js   # Tests for categories
    ├── .env                             # Environment variables (ignored in production)
    ├── package.json                     # Dependencies and scripts
    └── server.js                        # Main Express server entry point

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Setup and Installation

Prerequisites

1. Node.js (v14 or later recommended)
2. MongoDB installed locally or an online MongoDB service (e.g., MongoDB Atlas).

Environment Variables

Create a .env file (in the project root) with the following keys:

MONGO_URI=<YourMongoURI>
JWT_SECRET=<YourSecretKey>
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=1h
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=5000
TEST_MONGO_URI=<YourMongoURIForTests>

• MONGO_URI: The connection string for your MongoDB database.
• JWT_SECRET: A random secret key used for JWT signing.
• JWT_EXPIRES_IN: Token expiration, e.g. "1h" or "2d".
• PORT: The port the server runs on (default 5000).
• TEST_MONGO_URI: A separate database for running tests (only required if running tests).

Installation Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/sjkd23/note-app.git

2. Navigate to the project folder:

   cd note-taking-app

3. Navigate to the server folder:

   cd server

4. Install dependencies:

   npm install

5. Create your .env file as described above.

6. Start the server:

   npm start

7. Set your front-end API URL in client/public/js/config.js:

   // config.js
   const CONFIG = {
     API_URL: "http://localhost:5000"  // or your deployed server URL
   };

8. Open the front-end in your browser: Open index.html in your browser (located in client/public)

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API Documentation

If you have Swagger set up, you can open:

GET /api-docs

to see the interactive docs. Otherwise, you can check the routes below:

• Auth
  • POST /api/auth/register
  • POST /api/auth/login
• Notes
  • GET /api/notes
  • POST /api/notes
  • GET /api/notes/:id
  • PUT /api/notes/:id
  • DELETE /api/notes/:id
• Categories
  • POST /api/notes/categories
  • GET /api/notes/categories
  • GET /api/notes/categories/:id
  • PUT /api/notes/categories/:id
  • DELETE /api/notes/categories/:id

These endpoints require a valid JWT in the Authorization header (except for /register and /login).

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Usage Guide

Register / Login

1. Register a new user at POST /api/auth/register with { username, email, password }.
2. Login at POST /api/auth/login with { email, password }. On success, you’ll get a JWT token.

Managing Notes

• Create a note: POST /api/notes with { title, content, categories (optional) }.
• View all notes: GET /api/notes.
• Update a note: PUT /api/notes/:id.
• Delete a note: DELETE /api/notes/:id.
• Clone: You can also clone a note from the front-end UI if implemented.

Managing Categories

• Create a category: POST /api/notes/categories with { name }.
• View all categories: GET /api/notes/categories.
• Update a category: PUT /api/notes/categories/:id.
• Delete a category: DELETE /api/notes/categories/:id.

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Running Tests

• Unit/Integration tests use Jest + Supertest.

• Ensure your .env includes TEST_MONGO_URI.

• Then run:

  npm test

• This will spin up a test environment, connect to TEST_MONGO_URI, and run the controllers’ tests.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License—feel free to modify or distribute. Check the LICENSE file (if you create one) for full details.

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