JoelDore / goog-reads

📚 MERN stack app allowing user to search Google Books and save books to review or purchase later

googreads

MERN stack app allowing users to search for and save books to review or purchase later

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Scripts
• Usage
• Technologies
• Contributing
• Reflection
• Future Scope
• Questions

Features

• Search for books using Google Books API.
• Paginated search results for easier search experience & faster page load.
• Save books for later reference to review or purchase on Google Books.
• Delete saved books when no longer needed

Installation

1. Download project by clicking at the top of this repository, and navigate to project root directory in terminal.

2. Install all dependencies:

   npm i
   

   Scripts

   In the project root directory, you can run:

   npm start

   Runs the app in the development mode.
   Open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.

   The page will reload if you make edits.
   You will also see any lint errors in the console.

   npm test

   Launches the test runner in the interactive watch mode.
   See the section about [running tests](https://facebook.github.io/ create-react-app/docs/running-tests) for more information.

   npm run build

   Builds the app for production to the build folder.
   It correctly bundles React in production mode and optimizes the build for the best performance.

   The build is minified and the filenames include the hashes.
   Your app is ready to be deployed!

   See the section about [deployment](https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/ docs/deployment) for more information.

   npm run eject

   Note: this is a one-way operation. Once you eject, you can’t go back!

   If you aren’t satisfied with the build tool and configuration choices, you can eject at any time. This command will remove the single build dependency from your project.

   Instead, it will copy all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them. All of the commands except eject will still work, but they will point to the copied scripts so you can tweak them. At this point you’re on your own.

   You don’t have to ever use eject. The curated feature set is suitable for small and middle deployments, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to use this feature. However we understand that this tool wouldn’t be useful if you couldn’t customize it when you are ready for it.

Usage

Currently deployed with Heroku

1. Enter a book or author you want to search for and tap/click Search Books.
2. Select View on any result to review/purchase in Google Books, or Save to reference later.
3. If you do not see the book you want, you may view more results by selecting Next/Prev Page at the bottom of the screen, or try a different search query.
4. View books you have saved for later on the Saved page, where you have the option to View on Google Books or Delete from your saved books.

Technologies Used

• MongoDB/Mongoose
• Express
• React
  • react-router
  • react-bootstrap
• Google Books API
• Axios

Contributing

Contributions welcome!

1. Fork this repository
2. Create a new branch
3. Commit/push your changes
4. Create a new pull request

Reflection

• Taught myself how to effectively paginate results from a web API
• Deepened my understanding of how environment variables work, and learned the proper methods for handling web API calls/env variables with React

Future Scope

• More thoroughly handle potential errors with Google Books API response
• Indicate when a book has already been saved when displaying search results.
• Add user authentication

Questions

If you have any questions, feel free to create an Issue or contact me directly at [e-mail]

License

This project is MIT licensed.
© 2021 Joel Dore

This project was bootstrapped with Create React App.

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