Flight Path Tracker Microservice API using Node.JS (Express)

Here is a detail doc for the format of the API endpoint

Overview

The created RESTful API for Flight Path Tracker as a microservice helps track and determine a passenger's flight path based on a list of unordered pair(s) of flight records, source and arrival points. On a broader sense, the API accepts a request that contains a list of flights defined by source and destination airport codes (IATA), sorts them, and returns the complete, compact, and viable flight path from take-off to the destination arrival airports.

Flow of Work

A. Tools Used and Steps of Development :

1. Created a specified folder JavaScript Flight Path Tracker on local machine, H:/

2. Opened VS Code via command terminal in the specified folder

3. Initialized the project via bash terminal running the following commands

   mkdir flight-path-tracker

   cd flight-path-tracker

   npm init -y

Which follows the following on the VS code terminal prompt: HP@DESKTOP - 9LVHOGF MINGW64 /h/JavaScript Flight Path Tracker/flight-path-tracker

4. Installed 2 following packages using the command below: express and body perser

   npm install express body-parser

5. Created flight path sourcing logic on findFlightPath.js on the same directory

6. Created server with express js and set up the /calculate API endpoint on server.js

B. Running the server locally (pre-testing)

1. Installation of the dependancy npm on bash terminal using the below command:

   npm install

2. Starting the server:

   node server.js

3. 'Flight path tracker listening on port 8080' appears as follows:

---

API Calculating Flight Path

API Endpoint: '/calculate'

Method: 'POST'

Request Format:

• Content Type: 'application/json'
• Body: 'Flights' contains an array of records as pair(s) in IATA format

Response Format:

• Content Type: 'application/json'
• Body: A JSON array with sorted, and compact flight path (as tested and shown below in 'Testing' section)

Error Response: 400 Bad Request

Checked for various invalid formats, i.e., 'flights' should be of two elements, start and end.

• Sample error message: 'Invalid input format. Expected an array of flight records.'

Testing of API : Postman

Checked the performance of API on Postman locally and it worked as expected for different use cases and scenarios:

Airports and cities I typically stepped in taking multiple flights: It worked amazingly as expected!

1. On Postman, locally installed: name the project or request to be made

2. 'New' > Select 'POST' > Enter URL 'http://localhost:8080/calculate'

3. 'Body' > 'raw' & 'JSON'

   { "flights": [ ["ATL", "EWR"], ["SFO", "ATL"] ] }

With various use cases, this JSON format changes.

5. Clicking the 'send' outputs the following, as expected: ["SFO", "EWR"]

Tested for various use cases, for example: the direct, multiple, and complex flights.

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References and required links: ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}

Footnotes

1. JavaScript Map Documentation ↩

2. Express/Node API Documentation ↩

3. Repo Documentation ↩

4. JIRA Dashboard ↩

5. Problem Assignment ↩

6. YouTube, ChatGpt, WWW ↩