Today’s modules have been:

  1. AJAX Rest API (geolocation, placing markers and boundaries and autocomplete)
  2. AJAX Rest API (hearting)
  3. AJAX Rest API (reviews, advanced aggregation)
  4. Pagination
  5. Deployment!!

nonobvious things to note:

  • using location: {$near: { $geometry: {type:'Point', coordinates}, $maxDistance: 10000}}}
  • get current location navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition
  • zoom in on bounds: const bounds = new google.maps.LatLngBounds();, bounds.extend(position);, map.setCenter(bounds.getCenter()); map.fitBounds(bounds);
  • placing marker and infowindow on places
  • using google.maps.places.Autocomplete
  • hearting uniquely: const operator = hearts.includes(req.params.id) ? '$pull' : '$addToSet'
  • hearting conditionally: use es6 params const user = await User.findByIdAndUpdate(req.user._id,{[operator]: {hearts: req.params.id}},{new: true}) for a given operator
  • adding a heart.js on the frontend to handle the ajax toggling of hearted class on classList property of heart element
  • reviewer stars css dark magic…
  • mongoose virtual populate - mapping localfield to foreignfield
  • mongoose virtual populate - wont be in the obj or json unless you define toJSON: {virtuals: true} in your schema setup
  • mongoose autopopulate - attached to .pre('find', autopopulate)
  • mongodb aggregation - $lookup (to map), $match (as a creative length filter), $project (to create a new field, aka $addField)
  • pug: putting element: instead of element means you can put the next element inline instead of on next line
  • pagination: Model.find().skip(skip).limit(limit)
  • dotenv: "dotenv": "variables.env.now"

Deployment checklist

  • git init, git add, git commit
  • .gitignore
node_modules/
.DS_Store
*.log
.idea
haters/
variables.env
variables.env.now
  • variables.env
  • variables.env.now
  • package.json start command
  • now

i have now finished wesbos’ class in a fairly epic sprint. he did a good job of abstracting the hard design decisions and explaining all the nifty mongodb and ajax tricks that would have taken ages to get through. emailing was also a highlight. I think that this is a solid base but really needs to be updated to use react/vue to be taken as a modern stack.

Problems with Learn Node:

  1. doesn’t use any modern frontend framework - unrealistic for serious development
  2. lacking polish - at end state, Maps page still doesnt find anything, Tags page doesn’t have pagination, hearts page pagination is broken, no delete button, etc
  3. unsatisfying ending, feels rushed.

Followups: