Setting Up the MERN Booking App

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up the MERN Booking App on your local machine.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have Node.js installed on your system.

Cloning the Repository

Start by cloning the repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/chrisblakely01/mern-booking-app.git
cd mern-booking-app

Backend Configuration

1. Environment Files: Navigate to the backend folder and create two files: .env and .env.e2e. Add the following contents to both files:

   MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING=
   
   JWT_SECRET_KEY=
   FRONTEND_URL=
   
   # Cloudinary Variables
   CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=
   CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=
   CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=
   
   # Stripe
   STRIPE_API_KEY=
   

2. MongoDB Setup:

   • Sign up for an account at MongoDB Atlas.
   • Create a new cluster and follow the instructions to set up a new database.
   • Once set up, obtain your MongoDB connection string and add it to the MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING variable in your .env files.
   • For the .env.e2e setup see "running automated tests" below

3. Cloudinary Setup:

   • Create an account at Cloudinary.
   • Navigate to your dashboard to find your cloud name, API key, and API secret.
   • Add these details to the respective CLOUDINARY_* variables in your .env files.

4. Stripe Setup:

   • Sign up for a Stripe account at Stripe.
   • Find your API keys in the Stripe dashboard.
   • Add your Stripe API key to the STRIPE_API_KEY variable in your .env files.

5. JWT_SECRET_KEY:

   • This just needs to be any long, random string. You can google "secret key generator".

6. Frontend URL:

   • The FRONTEND_URL should point to the URL where your frontend application is running (typically http://localhost:3000 if you're running it locally).

Frontend Configuration

1. Environment Files: Navigate to the frontend folder and create a file: .env:

   VITE_API_BASE_URL=
   VITE_STRIPE_PUB_KEY=
   

2. VITE_API_BASE_URLL:

   • The VITE_API_BASE_URL should point to the URL where your backend application is running (typically http://localhost:7000 if you're running it locally).

Running the Application

1. Backend:

   • Navigate to the backend directory.
   • Install dependencies: npm install.
   • Start the server: npm start.

2. Frontend:

   • Open a new terminal and navigate to the frontend directory.
   • Install dependencies: npm install.
   • Start the frontend application: npm run dev.
   • The application should now be running on http://localhost:5173 but verify this in your command line terminal

Running Automated Tests

1. MongoDB Setup:

   • You will ideally want to create a new mongoDb database for your tests to run against. This is to keep the data stable
   • Sign up for an account at MongoDB Atlas.
   • Create a new project (e.g e2e tests)
   • Create a new cluster and follow the instructions to set up a new database.
   • Once set up, obtain your MongoDB connection string and add it to the MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING variable in your .env.e2e file.

2. Importing Test Data into MongoDB:

   • The repository contains a data folder at the root, which includes JSON files for a test user and a test hotel. You can import these into your MongoDB collections to quickly set up test data.
   • Locate the Test User File: In the data folder, find the file containing the test user data (likely named something like test-users.json).
   • Open MongoDB Compass: Launch MongoDB Compass and connect to your database.
   • Select the Database: In Compass, select the database you are using for the automated tests (created in step 1).
   • Import User Data:
     • Navigate to the users collection within your database. Create it if it doesn't exist
     • Click on the "Add Data" button and select "Import File".
     • Browse to the location of your test-users.json file and select it.
     • Choose JSON as the file format and click "Import".
     • The test user data will be added to the users collection.
     • user login: 1@1.com/password123
   • Locate the Test Hotel File:
     • Navigate to the hotels collection within your database. Create it if it doesn't exist
     • Repeat the import process as you did for the user data, but this time select the test-hotel.json file.
     • Ensure the file format is set to JSON and click "Import".
     • The test hotel data will be added to the hotels collection.

3. Running tests

   • In VS Code install the Playwright extension
   • Navigate to the e2e-tests directory.
   • Install dependencies: npm install.
   • Start the frontend and backend server using the steps above
   • Using the Playwright extension to run the tests