README.md

Template Service

This directory contains the code for the Template Service.

Questions Service

Running with Docker (Standalone)

1. Run this command to build:

   docker build \
     -t question-express-local \
     --build-arg port=9002 \
     -f express.Dockerfile .

2. Run this command, from the root folder:

   make db-up

3. Run the necessary migrate and seed commands, if you haven't yet.

4. Run this command to expose the container:

   docker run -p 9002:9002 --env-file ./.env.docker question-express-local

Running with Docker-Compose (Main config)

Edit the variables in the .env.compose file and run make up from the root folder.

Any startup instructions will be run from entrypoint.sh instead.

Database

We use:

• PostgreSQL 16 for the database. To run it, we use:
  • Docker to run the database, as well as inject any user-defined configurations or SQL files into the Docker image.
  • Docker-Compose to run the database, as well as any other services this API microservice may depend on.
• Drizzle for the ORM.

Follow the instructions below for the setup, as well as to learn how to work with the database.

Setup

1. Install Docker Desktop on your device. Launch it.

2. To verify that it is launched and installed correctly, run the following in your terminal:

   docker --version

   If the command does not error, and outputs a version, proceed to the next step.

3. Inspect the docker-compose.yml file. It should look like this:

   services:
     # ...
     postgres:
       # ...
       volumes:
       - "template-db-docker:/data/template-db"
       #  - ./init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql
       ports:
       - "5431:5432"
       restart: unless-stopped
   
   volumes:
     template-db-docker:
       external: true

   We observe that this Database relies on a Docker Volume. Replace all instances of template-db-docker with your desired volume name.

4. Then, create the Docker Volume with the following command:

   # in this case, the command is
   # docker volume create template-db-docker
   docker volume create <volume-name>

5. Finally, create the Database Container:

   docker-compose up -d

6. To bring it down, run this command:

   docker-compose down

Schema

We maintain the schema in the src/lib/db/schema.ts file.

Refer to the Drizzle documentation to learn how to properly define schemas. Then, insert your schemas into the file.

Migration

After you have created/updated your schemas in the file, persist them to the Database with Migrations.

1. Configure your credentials (port, password, ...) in:

   • drizzle.config.ts
   • drizzle.migrate.mts.
   • src/lib/db/index.ts.

   In the future, we may wish to migrate these credentials to environment variables.

2. Run the npm run db:generate command to generate your .sql Migration Files under the drizzle folder.

3. Rename your <migration_num>_<random_name>.sql file to <migration_num>_<meaningful_name>.sql.

   For example:

   • Generated: 0000_dazzling_squirrel.sql
   • Renamed: 0000_initial_schema.sql.

   Then, rename the meta/_journal.json tag from 0000_dazzling_squirrel to 0000_initial_schema as well. Replace the migration number and name with the one you used.

4. Finally, run the migration with this:

   npm run db:migrate

Connecting with the DB

1. Import the db instance from lib/db.

2. Use the Drizzle APIs and the tables defined in src/lib/schema.ts to interact with the tables.

   import { db, tableName } from '../lib/db';
   
   const route = async (req, res) => {
     await db.select().from(tableName); //...
   }