📝 Blog Application

A full-stack blog application built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB that allows users to create, read, and manage blog posts with user authentication and file uploads.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• Template Engine: EJS (Embedded JavaScript)
• Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
• File Upload: Multer
• Frontend: Bootstrap 5, HTML5, CSS3
• Development: Nodemon for auto-restart

✨ Features

• 🔐 User Authentication: Sign up, sign in, and secure session management
• 📖 Blog Management: Create, view, and manage blog posts
• 🖼️ Image Upload: Upload cover images for blog posts
• 💬 Comments System: Users can comment on blog posts
• 📱 Responsive Design: Bootstrap-powered responsive UI
• 🔒 Protected Routes: Authentication middleware for secure access
• 🍪 Cookie-based Sessions: Secure user session management

Project Structure

BLOG-APPLICATION/
│
├── middlewares/                 # Custom middleware functions
│   └── auth.js                  # Middleware to handle authentication checks
│
├── models/                      # Mongoose schemas for database collections
│   ├── blog.js                  # Blog post schema
│   ├── comment.js               # Comment schema
│   └── user.js                  # User schema
│
├── node_modules/                # Installed npm packages
│
├── public/                      # Publicly accessible assets
│   └── images/
│       └── uploads/             # Uploaded images (like blog cover images)
│
├── routes/                      # Express route definitions
│   ├── blog.js                  # Routes related to blogs
│   └── user.js                  # Routes for user signup, login, etc.
│
├── services/                    # Helper/service functions
│   └── auth.js                  # Auth service for login/signup logic
│
├── views/                       # EJS templates for rendering UI
│   ├── partials/                # Reusable UI components (header, nav, etc.)
│   │   ├── head.ejs
│   │   ├── nav.ejs
│   │   └── script.ejs
│   ├── addBlog.ejs              # Form to add a new blog post
│   ├── blog.ejs                 # Single blog post page
│   ├── home.ejs                 # Homepage displaying all blogs
│   ├── signin.ejs               # User sign-in page
│   └── signup.ejs               # User registration page
│
├── index.js                     # Entry point of the application
├── notes.txt                    # Developer notes or to-do list
├── package.json                 # Project metadata and dependencies
└── package-lock.json            # Exact version lock for dependencies

⚙️ Installation and Setup

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• MongoDB (v4.4 or higher)
• Git

Step-by-step Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/melroy12/blog-application.git
   cd blog-application

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Start MongoDB

   Make sure MongoDB is running on your system:

   # On Windows (if MongoDB is installed as a service)
   net start MongoDB
   
   # Or start manually
   mongod

4. Start the application

   For development with auto-restart:

   npm run dev

   For production:

   npm start

5. Access the application

   Open your browser and navigate to: http://localhost:8000

🚀 Usage Guide

Getting Started

1. Homepage: Visit the homepage to see all published blog posts
2. Sign Up: Create a new account using the sign-up form
3. Sign In: Log in with your credentials
4. Create Blog: Once logged in, create new blog posts with images
5. View Blogs: Click on any blog card to read the full post
6. Comments: Add comments to blog posts (requires authentication)

Key Routes

• / - Homepage with all blogs
• /user/signup - User registration
• /user/signin - User login
• /blog/add-new - Create new blog post
• /blog/:id - View individual blog post

File Upload

The application supports image uploads for blog cover images:

• Supported formats: Common image formats (PNG, JPG, JPEG, etc.)
• Files are stored in public/uploads/ directory
• Automatic filename generation with timestamps

🔧 Configuration

Database Configuration

The application connects to MongoDB using the following default configuration:

mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/blogify

To change the database connection, modify the connection string in index.js:

mongoose.connect('your-mongodb-connection-string')

Environment Variables

For production deployment, consider using environment variables:

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8000;
const MONGODB_URI = process.env.MONGODB_URI || 'mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/blogify';

📦 Dependencies

Production Dependencies

• express - Web framework
• mongoose - MongoDB object modeling
• ejs - Template engine
• jsonwebtoken - JWT authentication
• multer - File upload handling
• cookie-parser - Cookie parsing middleware
• bootstrap - CSS framework
• crypto - Cryptographic functionality

Development Dependencies

• nodemon - Development server with auto-restart

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 API Endpoints

User Routes

• GET /user/signin - Sign in page
• GET /user/signup - Sign up page
• POST /user/signin - Process sign in
• POST /user/signup - Process sign up
• GET /user/logout - User logout

Blog Routes

• GET /blog/add-new - Add new blog page
• POST /blog/ - Create new blog post
• GET /blog/:id - View specific blog
• POST /blog/comment/:blogId - Add comment to blog

🔐 Security Features

• JWT-based authentication
• Password hashing
• Protected routes with middleware
• Cookie-based session management
• Input validation and sanitization

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Express.js community for the excellent framework
• MongoDB team for the robust database solution
• Bootstrap team for the responsive CSS framework
• All contributors who help improve this project

👩‍💻 Author

• Made with ❤️ by Charul192
• Feel free to fork, clone, or contribute!

⭐ Support the Project

• If you found this project useful or interesting, please give it a star on GitHub — it helps others discover it too!

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