**Course Title:** Mastering Node.js: Building Scalable Web Applications **Section Title:** Managing Data with MongoDB and Mongoose **Topic:** Create a RESTful API that connects to a MongoDB database using Mongoose for data management.(Lab topic) **Objective:** By the end of this topic, you will be able to create a RESTful API that connects to a MongoDB database using Mongoose for data management. You will learn how to design and implement a RESTful API that follows best practices and uses Mongoose to interact with a MongoDB database. **Prerequisites:** * You should have a basic understanding of Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB. * You should have completed the previous topics in this section, including "Introduction to Mongoose" and "Performing CRUD operations with Mongoose". **Step 1: Designing the RESTful API** A RESTful API is designed around resources, which are identified by URIs. Each resource has a set of operations that can be performed on it, such as creating, reading, updating, and deleting. In this lab, we will design a RESTful API for managing books in a MongoDB database. * Define the resources: In this case, the resource is a book. * Define the operations: The operations for a book are: + Create: Create a new book. + Read: Get a book by ID. + Update: Update a book. + Delete: Delete a book. **Step 2: Setting up the MongoDB Database** Before we can create the RESTful API, we need to set up the MongoDB database. We will use Mongoose to interact with the database. * Install Mongoose: `npm install mongoose` * Create a MongoDB database: `mongo` * Create a Mongoose model: `const mongoose = require('mongoose'); mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/books', { useNewUrlParser: true, useUnifiedTopology: true }); const bookSchema = new mongoose.Schema({ title: String, author: String }); const Book = mongoose.model('Book', bookSchema);` **Step 3: Creating the RESTful API** Now that we have set up the MongoDB database, we can create the RESTful API. * Create a new Express.js app: `const express = require('express'); const app = express();` * Define the routes: We will define routes for creating, reading, updating, and deleting books. + Create a new book: `app.post('/books', (req, res) => { const book = new Book(req.body); book.save((err, book) => { if (err) { res.status(500).send(err); } else { res.send(book); }});}); + Get a book by ID: app.get('/books/:id', (req, res) => { Book.findById(req.params.id, (err, book) => { if (err) { res.status(404).send(err); } else { res.send(book); }});}); + Update a book: app.put('/books/:id', (req, res) => { Book.findByIdAndUpdate(req.params.id, req.body, { new: true }, (err, book) => { if (err) { res.status(404).send(err); } else { res.send(book); }});}); + Delete a book: app.delete('/books/:id', (req, res) => { Book.findByIdAndRemove(req.params.id, (err, book) => { if (err) { res.status(404).send(err); } else { res.send(book); }});}); **Step 4: Testing the RESTful API** Now that we have created the RESTful API, we can test it using a tool like Postman. * Create a new book: Send a POST request to `http://localhost:3000/books` with a JSON body containing the book details. * Get a book by ID: Send a GET request to `http://localhost:3000/books/:id` with the book ID in the URL. * Update a book: Send a PUT request to `http://localhost:3000/books/:id` with a JSON body containing the updated book details. * Delete a book: Send a DELETE request to `http://localhost:3000/books/:id` with the book ID in the URL. **Conclusion:** In this lab, we created a RESTful API that connects to a MongoDB database using Mongoose for data management. We designed the API to follow best practices and used Mongoose to interact with the database. We tested the API using Postman and verified that it works as expected. **Additional Resources:** * Mongoose documentation: <https://mongoosejs.com/docs/> * Express.js documentation: <https://expressjs.com/en/4x/api.html> * Postman documentation: <https://www.postman.com/> **Leave a comment or ask for help:** If you have any questions or need help with this topic, please leave a comment below.