Creating a simple REST API with Node Express

Install dependencies

	npm install express
	npm install body-parser
	npm install morgan

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Create: server.js

	var express = require('express');
	var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
	var morgan = require('morgan');
	var films = require('./film-data.json');
	var app = express();
	app.use(bodyParser.json());
	// logs incoming requests
	app.use(morgan('combined'));
	var router = express.Router();
	router.get('/films', function(req, res) {
	res.json(films);
	});
	router.get('/films/:id', function(req, res) {
	if(films.length <= req.params.id || req.params.id < 0) {
	res.statusCode = 404;
	return res.send('Error 404: No film found');
	}
	var film = films[req.params.id];
	res.json(film);
	});
	router.post('/films', function(req, res) {
	if(!req.body.hasOwnProperty('title')) {
	res.statusCode = 400;
	return res.send('Error 400: Post syntax incorrect.');
	}
	var newFilm = {
	id: films.length,
	title: req.body.title
	};
	films.push(newFilm);
	res.json(true);
	});
	router.delete('/films/:id', function(req, res) {
	if(films.length <= req.params.id) {
	res.statusCode = 404;
	return res.send('Error 404: No film found');
	}
	films.splice(req.params.id, 1);
	res.json(true);
	});
	app.use('/api', router);
	console.log('Open a browser: http://localhost:3412/api/films');
	app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3412);

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Create film-data.json

	[
	{
	"id": 0,
	"title": "Interstellar",
	"imageUrl": "http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjIxNTU4MzY4MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzM4ODI3MjE@._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg",
	"releaseDate": "2014-11-07",
	"rating": "PG-13",
	"length": 169,
	"stars": [
	{
	"name": "Matthew McConaughey"
	},
	{
	"name": "Anne Hathaway"
	},
	{
	"name": "Jessica ChastainNothing"
	}
	]
	},
	{
	"id": 1,
	"title": "Fury",
	"imageUrl": "http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjA4MDU0NTUyN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzQxMzY4MjE@._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg",
	"releaseDate": "2014-10-17",
	"rating": "R",
	"length": 134,
	"stars": [
	{
	"name": "Brad Pitt"
	},
	{
	"name": "Shia LaBeouf"
	},
	{
	"name": "Logan Lerman"
	}
	]
	},
	{
	"id": 2,
	"title": "The Theory of Everything",
	"imageUrl": "http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTAwMTU4MDA3NDNeQTJeQWpwZ15BbWU4MDk4NTMxNTIx._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg",
	"releaseDate": "2015-01-16",
	"rating": "PG-13",
	"length": 123,
	"stars": [
	{
	"name": "Eddie Redmayne"
	},
	{
	"name": "Felicity Jones"
	},
	{
	"name": "Tom Prior"
	}
	]
	}
	]

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Start the server

node server.js

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You can download and run the full source without the need to install any dependencies:  https://github.com/stevenh77/simple-rest-express-server