RESTful API Hands-On Exercise

This hands-on practice will guide you through building a RESTful API using Python. You will:

✅ Set up a Python REST API (FastAPI or Flask)
✅ Create CRUD endpoints (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
✅ Connect to a database (SQLite/PostgreSQL)
✅ Add authentication (JWT tokens)
✅ Test the API (Postman, PyTest, Unittest)
✅ Document the API (Swagger UI & OpenAPI)

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Git & GitHub account
• Virtual environment (venv or conda)
• Postman or Curl

Project Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/restful-api-exercise.git
   cd restful-api-exercise

2. Create a virtual environment and activate it

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies Choose your framework: FastAPI or Flask

   • FastAPI

     pip install fastapi uvicorn sqlalchemy alembic pydantic passlib python-jose

   • Flask

     pip install flask flask_sqlalchemy flask_jwt_extended flask_swagger_ui

Project Structure

/restful-api-exercise
├── src/
│   ├── __init__.py  # Marks `src` as a package
│   ├── main.py  # FastAPI entry point
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── __init__.py  # Makes `routes` a package
│   │   ├── book_routes.py  # Routes for books API
│   │   ├── user_routes.py  # Routes for user management
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── __init__.py  # Makes `models` a package
│   │   ├── book_models.py  # Database models for books
│   │   ├── user_models.py  # Database models for users
│   ├── auth/
│   │   ├── __init__.py  # Makes `auth` a package
│   │   ├── jwt_handler.py  # JWT authentication functions
│   ├── database.py  # Database connection
├── tests/
│   ├── test_main.py  # API tests
│   ├── test_auth.py  # Authentication tests
├── requirements.txt  # Dependencies
├── .env  # Environment variables (e.g., database URL, secret keys)
├── README.md  # Project documentation
├── .gitignore  # Ignore unnecessary files
└── Dockerfile  # Docker configuration

## Running the API

### FastAPI
```sh
uvicorn src.main:app --reload

API docs available at: http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs

Flask

python src/main.py

API docs available at: http://127.0.0.1:5000/swagger

CRUD Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/users	Get all users
POST	/users	Create a user
GET	/users/{id}	Get user by ID
PUT	/users/{id}	Update user
DELETE	/users/{id}	Delete user

Database Configuration

• SQLite (default) or PostgreSQL
• Set up connection in database.py

Authentication

• Uses JWT tokens for secure API access
• Obtain token by logging in via /auth/login
• Send token in Authorization: Bearer <token> header

Testing the API

• Postman: Import API collection and test endpoints manually
• PyTest: Run automated tests

  pytest tests/

Deployment

• Docker: Build and run containerized API

  docker build -t restful-api .
  docker run -p 8000:8000 restful-api

• Cloud Platforms: Deploy on AWS, Heroku, or DigitalOcean

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a new branch (feature-branch)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m "Added new feature")
4. Push to GitHub (git push origin feature-branch)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.