Workshop One - Shell Aliases and Functions

Prerequsites

1. Basic knowledge of HTTP requests and what the methods GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE do.
2. Access to an *nix shell
   • Mac OS
   • WSL installed on Windows
   • Linux
3. Your account has admin access to run sudo
4. Have node and npm installed. We recommend that you use Node Version Manager (nvm) to do this
5. Have JSON Server installed with npm i -g json-server
6. Know what your default shell environment is by running echo $SHELL in your terminal. It will likely be bash (/bin/sh) or zsh (/bin/zsh).

Overview

• What is a shell environment? Is it the terminal?
• Temporary aliases.
• Shell initialization and permanent aliases for adding and committing with git.
• Bash functions and positional arguments to add, commit and push with a single command. A quick commit.
• Variables vs environment variables.

  greeting="Welcome to your terminal"
  me=$(whoami)
  day=$(date +%A)
  echo "$greeting, $me. Today is $day."
  echo ""
  cal

Group Project - Postman in the Terminal

Most people are familiar with Postman, or a related application, that allows developers to make HTTP requests to a remote API for testing. Sometimes, though, it would be nice to make a quick GET request to an API without waiting for Postman to start up.

Getting Started

You are going to work in a small team to collaboratively write some bash functions in your shell initialization script (.bashrc or .zshrc depending on your default shell). It is recommended that each teammate take turns sharing their screen and writing some of the functions.

Each teammate should follow along as closely as possible while another teammate is sharing their screen. That way, when it is your turn, you have some of the same code already written.

Help each other.

1. Create a new directory named rest-server wherever you like.
2. In that directory, create a file named database.json
3. Copy the JSON provided below into that file.
4. Start your simple API with json-server database.json -p 8080.

Setting Remote API Environment Variable

Create a bash function named setapi that sets the value of the REMOTE_API environment variable to the first positional argument ($1), which will be the root URL to your local API.

If you set it up correctly, the following commands...

setapi http://localhost:8080
echo $REMOTE_API

Will echo http://localhost:8080 in your terminal.

Function to GET Resources

The request URL for all curl commands will start with the value of the REMOTE_API environment variable (e.g. $REMOTE_API/$1). Meaning, you won't hard-code http://localhost:8080 anywhere in the four functions you are about to create.

Create a function in your shell initialization file named get. In this function, you will use the bash command curl to make an HTTP GET request to your local pirate API. Since we did not cover curl in the overview, it's your team's responsibility to research it. I recommend using ChatGPT or visit the Using Curl to make REST API requests article.

You should be able to enter the following command in your shell and get all of the pirates JSON as a response.

get pirates

Function to DELETE a Resource

Create a function in your shell initialization file named delete. In this function, you will use the bash command curl to make an HTTP DELETE request to your local pirate API.

You should be able to enter the following commands in your shell and verify that pirate 1 is no longer in the API.

delete pirates/1
get pirates

Function to POST a Resource

Create a function in your shell initialization file named post. In this function, you will use the bash command curl to make an HTTP POST request to your local pirate API.

You will using two positional arguments for the post function instead of one. The JSON data string becomes $1, and "pirates" becomes $2.

You should be able to enter the following commands in your shell and verify that a new pirate is added to the array of pirate objects.

post '{"name": "John Drake", "rank": "Buccaneer", "ship": "Blue Night"}' pirates
get pirates

Function to PUT a Resource

Create a function in your shell initialization file named put. In this function, you will use the bash command curl to make an HTTP POST request to your local pirate API.

You will using two positional arguments for the post function instead of one. The JSON data string becomes $1, and the path to the resource your are modifying becomes $2.

You should be able to enter the following commands in your shell and verify that pirate 51 has been updated in the API. If you don't have a pirate 51, change the primary key to one that does exist.

put '{ "name": "John Drake", "rank": "Buccaneer", "ship": "Blue Midnight" }' pirates/51
get pirates/51

Changing Your Target API

1. Use setapi to change your target to http://giffyapi.nss.team.
2. Request the users resource.
3. Add yourself as a user with a POST request.
4. Change your password with a PUT request.
5. Delete your user with a DELETE request.

Explorer Challenge

The output you get in the terminal is basic. There is no color coding of the JSON like you might see in more powerful editors like VS Code.

Your challenge is to use the json npm package to colorize and format the JSON. You will need to pipe the output from curl to json -i. Read How to Use Pipes on Linux to learn more.

API Data

Expand the details below to get your data.

JSON Pirates Data

{
  "pirates": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Blackbeard",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Queen Anne's Revenge"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Anne Bonny",
      "rank": "Pirate",
      "ship": "Ranger"
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "name": "Calico Jack",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "The Revenge"
    },
    {
      "id": 4,
      "name": "Captain Kidd",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Adventure Galley"
    },
    {
      "id": 5,
      "name": "Charles Vane",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Ranger"
    },
    {
      "id": 6,
      "name": "Edward England",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Pearl"
    },
    {
      "id": 7,
      "name": "Edward Teach",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Queen Anne's Revenge"
    },
    {
      "id": 8,
      "name": "Henry Avery",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Fancy"
    },
    {
      "id": 9,
      "name": "Henry Morgan",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "Satisfaction"
    },
    {
      "id": 10,
      "name": "Jack Rackham",
      "rank": "Captain",
      "ship": "The Revenge"
    },
    {
      "id": 50,
      "name": "Mary Read",
      "rank": "Pirate",
      "ship": "Ranger"
    }
  ],
  "stories": [
    {
      "id": 2,
      "pirateId": 8,
      "title": "The Ghost Ship",
      "content": "The crew of the merchant ship Mary Celeste were found mysteriously missing, leaving the ship and its valuable cargo untouched. It's been said that the ship still sails the seas, haunting those who cross its path.",
      "date": "1718-09-01"
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "pirateId": 3,
      "title": "The Kraken",
      "content": "The Kraken, a massive sea monster, has been the subject of many pirate tales. Its tentacles can stretch for miles and it can easily capsize even the largest ships. Many pirates have met their end at the hands of this fearsome creature.",
      "date": "1718-11-22"
    },
    {
      "id": 149,
      "pirateId": 50,
      "title": "The Curse of the Flying Dutchman",
      "content": "Legend had it that the Flying Dutchman was cursed to sail the seas forever, its crew doomed to an eternal existence as undead pirates. But when a group of adventurers stumbled upon the ship one stormy night, they found that the curse was all too real. Now they must find a way to break the curse before it's too late.",
      "date": "1722-10-15"
    },
    {
      "id": 56,
      "title": "The Battle of Blackbeard's Bay",
      "content": "It was a fierce battle that raged on for hours. The sound of cannons and the clash of swords echoed across the bay. The pirates fought with all their might, determined to come out on top. In the end, it was Blackbeard's crew that emerged victorious, with a chest full of treasure to show for it.",
      "pirateId": 2,
      "date": "1718-09-01"
    },
    {
      "id": 57,
      "title": "The Curse of the Kraken",
      "content": "Legend had it that the Kraken would rise from the depths of the ocean to claim any ship that sailed too close to its lair. The crew of the Black Pearl had heard the tales, but they didn't believe them. That was until they saw the monstrous creature rise from the waves, its tentacles reaching out to grab them. They fought with all their might, but in the end, only a few managed to escape with their lives.",
      "pirateId": 5,
      "date": "1718-09-01"
    },
    {
      "id": 58,
      "title": "The Treasure of Captain Kidd",
      "content": "Captain Kidd had buried his treasure on a deserted island, but he had left behind a map that would lead to its location. Many pirates had tried to find the treasure, but none had succeeded. That was until Captain Jack Sparrow got his hands on the map. He and his crew set sail for the island, and after days of searching, they finally found the treasure. It was more gold than they could ever have imagined.",
      "pirateId": 3,
      "date": "1725-05-30"
    },
    {
      "id": 59,
      "title": "The Betrayal of Black Bart",
      "content": "Black Bart was known as one of the fiercest pirates on the high seas. His crew was loyal to him, and they would follow him to the ends of the earth. Or so he thought. One night, while they were anchored off the coast of Jamaica, his first mate led a mutiny against him. Bart fought bravely, but in the end, he was overpowered. He was left marooned on a deserted island, while his crew sailed off with all his treasure.",
      "pirateId": 4,
      "date": "1722-06-22"
    },
    {
      "id": 60,
      "title": "The Revenge of Calico Jack",
      "content": "Calico Jack had been captured by the British Navy and sentenced to hang. But he managed to escape and vowed revenge against the captain who had betrayed him. He spent months planning his revenge, gathering a crew of loyal men and plotting his attack. Finally, the day arrived, and he and his crew stormed the captain's ship. They fought fiercely, but in the end, it was Calico Jack who emerged victorious. He sailed off into the sunset, a hero to his crew and a thorn in the side of the British Navy.",
      "pirateId": 9,
      "date": "1742-08-15"
    }
  ]
}