Equipment Status API

Overview

The Equipment Status API is a simple, yet functional backend application that demonstrates how to keep track of equipment status updates and provide a RESTful API to interact with this data. The API is documented using Swagger and uses a lightweight SQLite database.

Features

• Receive and store equipment status updates
• Retrieve the current status of any equipment
• API documentation and testing using Swagger UI

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• .NET Core SDK 8.0 or later
• SQLite (included in the project)
• Entity Framework core

Steps to Run the Application

1. Clone the Repository

   Clone the repository and navigate to the solution directory.

   git clone https://github.com/p-koskey/EquipmentStatusAPI.git
   cd EquipmentStatusAPI
   

2. Restore dependencies

   Restore the necessary NuGet packages.

   dotnet restore
   

3. Build the project

   Build the project to ensure all dependencies and configurations are correct.

   dotnet build
   

Make sure you install dotnet-ef tool, if you don't have it installed, use the following command :

 dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef --version 8.*

4. Change the directory into the API directory

   Navigate to the project directory.

   cd EquipmentStatusAPI
   

5. Add the Initial Migration

   Add the initial migration to set up your database schema.

    dotnet-ef migrations add InitialCreate
   

6. Update the database

   Apply the migration to update your database.

   dotnet-ef database update
   

7. Run the application

   Run the application using the following command:

    dotnet run
   

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:5147/swagger/index.html to view and test the endpoints

Choice of database

The application uses SQLite as a lightweight, file-based database. SQLite is suitable for this project due to its simplicity and it's quite easy to setup.

Architectural pattern

Since it is a small project, a traditional layered architecture was used. This architecture has the following layers:

• Controllers: Handle HTTP requests and responses.
• Services: Contain business logic.
• Repositories: Interact with the database.
• DTOs (Data Transfer Objects): Transfer data between layers and to/from the client.

This pattern promotes separation of concerns, making the application easier to maintain and extend.

Testing

Unit tests are included to ensure the reliability of the API endpoints.

Running Tests

1. Change the directory into the EquipmentStatusAPI.Tests directory

   Navigate to the test project

   cd EquipmentStatusAPI.Tests
   

2. Run the Tests

   Run the tests using the following command:

   dotnet test