Case Study for myFlix full-stack web development project
Overview
myFlix is a web app, developed using the MERN stack, that provides users with access to information about movies, directors, and genres. Users are able to create an account, update their personal data, and create a list of favourite movies.
Purpose & Context
myFlix was a personal project I built as part of my web development course at CareerFoundry, Berlin, Germany to demonstrate my mastery of full-stack web development using frame works like React and AngularJS.
Objective
The aim of the project was to have an ambitious full-stack project I can add to my professional portfolio. Also to build the complete server-side and client-side for the application from scratch. This aim technically represents the problem to be solved
Approach
Server-Side
This is a a RESTful API created using Node.js and Express, that interacts with a non-relational database (MongoDB). The API can be accessed via commonly used HTTP methods like GET or POST. To retrieve data from and store data in the database, CRUD methods are used. The API provides movie information in JSON format.
To test the API, I used Postman. I also included user authentication and authorization code in the form of basic HTTP authentication and JWT authentication.
Client-Side
It is a single-page, responsive application, developed with React and React-Redux. After completing the API, I started to build the interface users would need when making requests to, and receiving responses from, the server-side. It provides several interface views, including, but not limited to, a main view (shows a list of all movies), single movie view (shows data about a single movie and allows users to add the movie to their list of favorites), a login view, a registration view and a profile view (where users can update their user data and list of favorites).
Challenges
I particularly found AngularJS framework interesting. Despite that the development process seems also quite interesting,
This project was still not my favorite because of the complications I later noticed about the TypeScriipt language
of Angular framework seems to have been simplified better.
The most memorable side of the project is that, I quickly became familiar with using the terminal because of the
frequent troubleshooting and installations.
Eventually, the help provided by the Tutor made the difference and I must say that the frequent troubleshooting
was an advantage in terms of learning
Duration
The development of the client-side was particularly challenging. It took me a month to accomplish the objectives. Eventually, after some break and a restudy of the React documentation, a better understanding was achived as to the functionalities of React and React-redux.
Credit
- Tutor: Blaise Bakundukize
- Mentor: Ramadhan Aheebwa
- Career Specialist: Marion Sénéchal
