readme.md

UI Backend API Documentation

This code implements the backend for a User Interface (UI) that allows users to register and login, view, add, update, and delete users, RSS feeds, and news articles. The API supports JSON requests and responses.

Endpoints

Response Body

Parameter	Type	Description
message	string	Success message or error message.
status	int	HTTP status code.

---

Authentication API

This is a simple API for user authentication.

Routes

POST /api/register

Description: Registers a new user and returns a JWT access token upon success.

Request Body

Field	Type	Required	Description
Email	string	Yes	The email address for the user account.
Password	string	Yes	The password for the user account.
ConfirmPassword	string	Yes	The confirmation password for the user account.
Is_Admin	boolean	No	Whether the user should have admin privileges.
Username	string	Yes	The username for the user account.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A welcome message for the user.
	token	string	A JWT authentication token for the user.
500	message	string	Message that describes what went wrong

On success, returns a 200 status code and a JSON response with the following fields:

POST /api/login

Description: Logs in an existing user and returns a JWT access token upon success.

Request Body

Field	Type	Required	Description
Email	string	Yes	The email address for the user account.
Password	string	Yes	The password for the user account.

Response

On success, returns a 200 status code and a JSON response with the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
message	string	A welcome back message for the user.
UID	string	The user ID for the logged-in user.
Email	string	The email address for the logged-in user.
token	string	A JWT authentication token for the user.
Username	string	The username for the logged-in user.
isAdmin	boolean	Whether the logged-in user has admin privileges.

On failure, returns a 401 status code and a JSON response with a message field describing the error.

POST /api/verify_password

Description: Verifies the password for an existing user account.

Request Body

Field	Type	Required	Description
Email	string	Yes	The email address for the user account.
OldPassword	string	Yes	The old password for the user account.
NewPassword	string	Yes	The new password for the user account.
ConfirmPassword	string	Yes	The confirmation password for the user account.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	message password has been changed successfully.
401	message	string	Message that describes what went wrong

Security

This API uses JWT authentication to secure user accounts.

To access any of the routes, a valid JWT token must be provided in the Authorization header of the HTTP request.

To obtain a JWT token, use the /api/register or /api/login endpoints.

Dependencies

This API was built using Python and the Flask web framework. It also relies on the following dependencies:

• bcrypt for password hashing
• cross_origin for handling CORS requests
• jwt for JWT

User API Documentation

GET /api/users

Description: Get a list of all users in the database

Response

Status Code	field	type	Description
200	User objects	list	A JSON array of user objects containing user details
500	None	/	An error occurred while processing the request

Response Body Details

Each user object in the response body contains the following fields:

Field	Data Type	Description
id	integer	The unique identifier for the user
username	string	The username of the user
email	string	The email address of the user
password	string	The password hash of the user
is_admin	boolean	Indicates whether the user is an admin

GET /api/users/totalusers

Description: Get the total number of users in the database

Response

Status Code	field	type	Description
200	totalUsers	int	A JSON object containing the total number of users in the database
500	None	/	An error occurred while processing the request

GET /api/visitor

Description: Generate a unique cookie and add a new user

Response

Status Code	field	type	Description
200	Cookie	string	A JSON string containing a unique cookie value used for tracking users
500	None	/	An error occurred while processing the request

Response Body Details

The response body contains a JSON string with a unique cookie value used for tracking users.

POST /api/user

Description: Add a new user to the database

Request Body

Field	Data Type	Required	Description
Username	string	Yes	The username of the new user
Email	string	Yes	The email address of the user
Password	string	Yes	The password of the new user
Is_Admin	boolean	No	Indicates whether the user is an admin (default is false)

Response

Status Code	field	type	Description
200	message	JSON obj	A JSON object indicating that the user was added successfully
401	message	JSON obj	A JSON object indicating that the request was unauthorized or invalid
500	message	JSON obj	JSON object indicating that an error occurred while processing

POST /api/user/<id>

Description: Update a user of the database

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	The ID of the user to update
Username	string	The new username for the user (optional)
Email	string	The new email for the user (optional)
Password	string	The new password for the user (optional)
Is_Admin	bool	Whether or not the user should be an admin (optional)

Response

Status Code	field	type	Description
200	message	string	The specified user is successfully updated
401	message	string	There was an error updating the user
404	message	string	The specified user was not found in the system

POST /api/user/<id>

Description: Delete a user of the database

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	The ID of the user to delete

Response

Status Code	field	type	Description
200	message	string	The specified user is successfully deleted
404	message	string	The specified user was not found in the system

RSS Feed API Documentation

GET /api/rssfeeds

Description: This endpoint returns a list of all the RSS feeds that have been added to the database in JSON format.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	RSS feeds	Array of objects	An array of objects, where each object represents an RSS feed in the database.

Each object has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
URL	String	The URL of the RSS feed
Publisher	String	The name of the publisher of the RSS feed
Topic	String	The topic of the RSS feed

GET /api/rssfeeds/totalrssfeeds

Description: This endpoint returns the total number of RSS feeds that have been added to the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	totalRSSFeeds	Integer	The total number of RSS feeds in the database

POST /api/rssfeeds

Description: This endpoint allows adding a new RSS feed to the database. It expects a JSON object containing the URL, Publisher, and Topic of the RSS feed. The endpoint first validates the RSS feed URL by checking that it can be accessed and contains valid RSS XML. If the validation is successful, the endpoint attempts to add the new RSS feed to the database.

Request Body

Field	Type	Description
URL	String	The URL of the RSS feed
Publisher	String	The name of the publisher of the RSS feed
Topic	String	The topic of the RSS feed

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	String	A message that adding rss was successful
401	message	String	A message that given was by the db when trying to add rss
500	message	String	A message that said that something went wrong

PATCH /api/rssfeeds

Description: This endpoint allows updating an existing RSS feed in the database. It expects a JSON object containing the URL, Publisher, and Topic of the RSS feed to be updated. The endpoint attempts to update the corresponding RSS feed in the database.

Request Body

Field	Type	Description
URL	String	The URL of the RSS feed
Publisher	String	The name of the publisher of the RSS feed
Topic	String	The topic of the RSS feed

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	String	A message that updating rss was successful
401	message	String	A message that was given by the db when trying to update rss

DELETE /api/rssfeeds

Description: This endpoint allows deleting an existing RSS feed from the database. It expects a JSON object containing the URL of the RSS feed to be deleted. The endpoint attempts to delete the corresponding RSS feed from the database.

Request Body

Field	Type	Description
URL	String	The URL of the RSS feed

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	String	A message that deleting rss was successful
401	message	String	A message that was given by the db when trying to delete rss

POST /api/check_rssfeed

Description: This API endpoint checks the validity of an RSS feed.

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
URL	string	Yes	The URL of the RSS feed to be validated

Response

The API returns a JSON object with a message and a status code.

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	The RSS feed is valid
401	message	string	The URL provided does not correspond to a valid RSS feed
500	message	string	There was an error validating the RSS feed. Please try again later.

News Article API Documentation

GET /api/articles

Description: This endpoint retrieves a list of all news articles currently stored in the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	articles_list	Array	A list of dictionaries representing each news article.

GET /api/articlesDict

Description: This endpoint retrieves a dictionary containing all news articles currently stored in the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	articles_dict	Dictionary	A dictionary with the keys being the article URLs and the values being dictionaries representing each news article.

POST /api/article

Description: This endpoint retrieves a specific news article by its URL.

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
article_url	String	The URL of the news article to be retrieved.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	article	Dictionary	A dictionary representing the news article.

GET /api/articles/totalarticles

Description: This endpoint retrieves the total number of news articles currently stored in the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	totalArticles	Integer	The total number of news articles in the database.

GET /api/articles/genres

Description: This endpoint retrieves a list of all topics (genres) of news articles currently stored in the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	topics	Array	A list of strings representing all the topics (genres) of news articles in the database.

POST /api/articles/genre

Description: This endpoint retrieves all news articles for a specific topic (genre).

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
genre	String	The topic (genre) of news articles to be retrieved.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	articles	Array	A list of dictionaries representing each news article for the specified topic (genre).

POST /api/articles/recommended

Description: This endpoint retrieves the recommended articles for a specific cookie.

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
cookie	String	The cookie for which the news articles needs to be retrieved.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	articles	Array	A list of articles for recommended

---

Favorite Articles API Documentation

This API provides endpoints for adding, deleting, and retrieving favorite articles for a given user.

GET /api/favorites

Description: This endpoint retrieves a list of favorite articles for a given user.

Response

The response will be in JSON format with the following fields:

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	favorites	list	A list of favorite articles

POST /api/favorites

Description: This endpoint adds a new favorite article for a given user.

Request Body

Field	Data Type	Description
UID	integer	The ID of the user
article_url	string	The URL of the article

Response

The response will be in JSON format with the following fields:

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A message indicating adding was successful
401	message	string	Message from db what went wrong when adding favorite

DELETE /api/favorites

Description: This endpoint deletes a favorite articles for a given user.

Request Body

Field	Data Type	Description
UID	integer	The ID of the user
article_url	string	The URL of the article

Response

The response will be in JSON format with the following fields:

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A message indicating deleting favorite was successful
401	message	string	Message from db what went wrong when deleting favorite

DELETE /api/all_favorites

Description: This endpoint deletes all favorite articles for a given user.

Request Body

Field	Data Type	Description
UID	integer	The ID of the user

Response

The response will be in JSON format with the following fields:

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A message indicating deleting all favorites was successful
401	message	string	Message from db what went wrong when deleting all favorites

API Visitor/Topics/Clicked Documentation

GET /api/visitors

Description: This endpoint retrieves a list of visitors from the database. The response includes a JSON object containing a list of visitors.

Response

The response includes a JSON object containing a list of visitors.

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	visitors	Array	An array of visitor objects

Each visitor object has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
id	Integer	The unique ID of the visitor
name	String	The name of the visitor
email	String	The email address of the visitor
created_at	String	The date and time when the visitor was created

GET /api/topics

Description: This endpoint retrieves a list of topics from the database. The response includes a JSON object containing a list of topics.

Response

The response includes a JSON object containing a list of topics.

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	topics	Array	An array of topic objects

Each topic object has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
id	Integer	The unique ID of the topic
name	String	The name of the topic
created_at	String	The date and time when the topic was created

POST /api/clicked

Description: This endpoint adds a new clicked topic for a given visitor. The response includes a JSON object containing a message and a status code.

Request Body

Field	Data Type	Description
Article_URL	String	The URL of the article
Cookie	String	The Cookie of the guest

Response

The response includes a JSON object containing a message and a status code.

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A message that click on article for given cookie was added successfully
401	message	string	Message from db what went wrong when adding click

Clusters API Documentation

GET /api/clusters

Description: This endpoint retrieves a list of all the clusters sorted per genre of news articles currently stored in the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	all_clusters	Array	A list of dictionaries where clusters are sorted per topic.

POST /api/clustersGenre

Description: This endpoint retrieves all clusters of articles for a specific topic (genre).

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
topic	String	The topic (genre) of clusters of news articles to be retrieved.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	all_clusters	Array	A list of clusters of articles for the specified topic (genre).

Google Log in API Documentation

POST /api/google/login

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Description
email	String	The email of the user to check if the user exists in the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A message that user is authorised/welcome back
	info_user	JSON obj	A JSON object that consists of all the data of the given user
401	message	string	Message that the user does not exist

Each info_user object has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
UID	Integer	The user ID
Email	String	The email of the user (same as the given email)
token	String	The JWT
Username	String	The Username of the user
isAdmin	Bool	If the user is an admin or not

Other API Documentation

Error Handler Endpoints

/errorhandler/404

Description: This endpoint is triggered when the user attempts to access a resource that does not exist on the server. It returns an error page with a status code of 404.

Method	Path	Description
GET	/errorhandler/404	Returns an error page indicating that the resource was not found.

/errorhandler/500

Description: This endpoint is triggered when the server encounters an internal error. It returns an error page with a status code of 500.

Method	Path	Description
GET	/errorhandler/500	Returns an error page indicating that the server has encountered an internal error.

/errorhandler/429

Description: This endpoint is triggered when the user attempts to access a resource too many times. It returns an error page with a status code of 429.

Method	Path	Description
GET	/errorhandler/429	Returns an error page indicating that the user has attempted to access a resource too many times.

Settings Endpoints

PATCH /api/settings

Description: This endpoint allows the user to update a setting value in the database.

Request Body

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
setting	string	Yes	The name of the setting to be updated.
value	string	Yes	The new value for the setting to be set.

Response Body

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	message	string	A message indicating the update of the settings was successful.
401	message	string	There is something wrong, an error occurred

GET /api/settings

Description: This endpoint allows the user to retrieve all settings from the database.

Response

Status Code	Field	Type	Description
200	settings	object	An object containing all settings and their current values.

DB API Documentation

/db/rssfeeds

Description: Returns a list of RSS feeds that have been added to the database.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the RSS feed.
url	String	URL of the RSS feed.
title	String	Title of the RSS feed.
description	String	Description of the RSS feed.
date_added	Date	Date the RSS feed was added to the database.

/db/newsarticles

Description: Returns a list of news articles that have been added to the database.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the news article.
url	String	URL of the news article.
title	String	Title of the news article.
description	String	Description of the news article.
image_url	String	URL of the image associated with the news article.
source_name	String	Name of the news source.
source_url	String	URL of the news source.
published_date	Date	Date the news article was published.
date_added	Date	Date the news article was added to the database.
genre	String	Genre of the news article.

/db/visitors

Description: Returns a list of visitors that have visited the website.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the visitor.
ip_address	String	IP address of the visitor.
user_agent	String	User agent of the visitor.
date_visited	Date	Date the visitor visited the website.

/db/users

Description: Returns a list of users that have registered on the website.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the user.
username	String	Username of the user.
email	String	Email of the user.
password	String	Password of the user.
date_registered	Date	Date the user registered on the website.

/db/cookies

Description: Returns a list of cookies that have been stored on the website.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the cookie.
name	String	Name of the cookie.
value	String	Value of the cookie.
date_created	Date	Date the cookie was created.
date_expired	Date	Date the cookie will expire.
user_id	Integer	ID of the user the cookie belongs to.

/db/hasclicked

Description: Returns a list of articles that have been clicked by users.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the clicked article.
article_id	Integer	ID of the article that was clicked.
user_id	Integer	ID of the user who clicked the article.
date_clicked	Date	Date the article was clicked.

/db/favored

Description: Returns a list of articles that have been favored by users.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the favored article.
article_id	Integer	ID of the article that was favored.
user_id	Integer	ID of the user who favored the article.
date_favored	Date	Date the article was favored.

/db/settings

Description: Returns the current website settings.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the setting.
name	String	Name of the setting.
value	String	Current value of the setting.

/db/backup

Description: Returns a backup of the entire database.

Field	Data Type	Description
backup_file	Binary	A binary file containing the entire database backup.

/db/topics

Description: Returns a list of topics that have been added to the database.

Field	Data Type	Description
id	Integer	Unique identifier for the topic.
name	String	Name of the topic.
date_added	Date	Date the topic was added to the database.

/db/articlesgenres

Returns a dictionary of articles grouped by genre.

Field	Data Type	Description
genre	String	The name of the genre.
articles	List	A list of news articles belonging to the genre. Each news article is represented as a dictionary with the same field names as in /db/newsarticles.