Crest

Crest is a REST API Server for MongoDB built in node.js.

About

The idea for crest was born when we needed a REST API for a MongoDB project at work and we only found a few alternatives out there built in ruby, python and nodejs. We didn’t want to run the ruby one in that particular project and the nodejs alternative was an alpha version not updated in 3 years. We went with the one built in python but we soon found out that it has no way of configuring it without rewriting the code and it also has problems with stability.

So this is my attempt at building a small and easy to use REST API Server for MongoDB with primary focus on json. Since this is my first time building a REST API I’ll appreciate any and all feedback.

Crest stands for Cygnus REST.

Installation

Recommended way

npm install crest -g

This will install crest globally so that it may be run from the command line.

As node.js module

npm install crest

This will install crest as a module to be used as a part of some other project.

Clone with git

git clone git://github.com/Cordazar/crest.git

Usage

If installed globally you can just run

crest

Quick try

After starting the server you can quickly try it out by issuing the following from the command line:

curl -d '{ "Key" : 42 }' -H "Content-Type: application/json" http://localhost:3500/test/example

This should add a document to the collection example in database test looking similar to this:

{ "Key": 42, "_id": ObjectId("4e90e196b0c7f4687000000e") }

Supported REST requests

GET /db/collection

Returns all documents (query and options can be sent in GET body)

GET /db/collection?query=%7B%22isDone%22%3A%20false%7D

Returns all documents satisfying query

GET /db/collection?query=%7B%22isDone%22%3A%20false%7D&limit=2&skip=2

Ability to add options to query (limit, skip, etc)

GET /db/collection/id

Returns document with id

POST /db/collection

Insert new document in collection (document in POST body)

PUT /db/collection/id

Update document with id (updated document in PUT body)

DELETE /db/collection/

Delete document with id

Content Type

Please make sure application/json is used as Content-Type when using POST/PUT/GET with data in request body.

Setup

Configuration parameters

These parameters are saved in config.json.

Database settings where username and password are optional.

db [object]
    host [string]
    port [string]
    username [string] (optional)
    password [string] (optional)

Server settings for where and how the rest api is going to be run.

server [object]
    port [string] 
    address [string]

General settings

flavor [string] (mongodb or normal)
debug [boolean]

Flavors

• Choose mongodb as flavor to keep using _id as primary key for a document.
• Choose normal as flavor if you want to change _id to id

Dependencies

Application dependencies are sorted under dependencies in package.json while test dependencies are sorted under devDependencies.

Tests

Basic tests are available and can be run via mocha.

These tests require a working mongodb installation and might require changes to config.json

Recommended way to run mocha in terminal with mocha reporter spec chosen.

mocha -R spec

More indepth tests will be added at a later date.

Bugs

Issues can be found at https://github.com/cordazar/crest/issues

License

The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2013 Ricard Aspeljung

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.