External Database

This is the backend/server version of an external database system. External databases are good for sharing data between multiple hosted projects that aren't hosted on the same infrastructure or server. It is also a good way to save space on your server as database files can sometimes get quite hefty. Here is a pretty simple external database system which you can easily host yourself!

Prerequisites

Before you get started, you need to make sure you have Node.js version 12.0.0 or higher installed. Lower versions aren't really supported with these libraries we use and may cause the system to malfunction.

You'll need the following packages installed:

• express
• marked
• keyv
• @keyv/sqlite
• body-parser

To quickly install all files, you can run

npm i express marked keyv @keyv/sqlite body-parser

Configuration

Before you use the system, you need to change the configuration files. Head over to the config.js file to continue. Here are some explanations for these values.

Config Value	Explanation	Example Value	Required
dbURI	The file path where your database will be made. You can keep the current value as is, not unless you have a particular naming/ID system.	sqlite://db.sqlite	Yes
port	The port of what your server will be listening on. You can keep at its default setting of 3000.	3000	Yes
token	The API token you will use to authenticate with your server. This is required and you should choose something secure. We recommend you change what's already there.	331dc1d9-ea01-486f-89dd-7a58731cef6d	Yes

Now that you have that completed, you can continue.

Deploying

To deploy the server, simply run node index.js. It will log in the console with a confirmation message that it started.

Requests

To make requests, please follow the following format below. You can also use our client (where you won't really have to worry about these requests). Our client is available here.

⚠️ Notice: This database uses a key, value system where your key is the name or title of what you're storing and the value is the content you are storing under the key.

➕ Languages: In each request, we will add a language example for sending a request to the database. If you would like to include an example for a language you use, please make a pull request. Please observe the markdown formatting as well.

Posting Data to the Database

• Method: POST
• Path: /set
• Headers:

{ 
  "token": "Your API token here",
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

• Body:

{
  "data": {
    "key": "Key to post",
    "value": "Value to post"
  }
}

• Returns: 204 - No Content

Javascript POST Example

fetch("http://ip:port/set", {
  "method": "post",
  "headers": "{ \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\", \"token\": \"Your API token here\" }",
  "body": "{ \"data\": { \"key\": \"Key to post\", \"value\": \"Value to post\" } }"
});

Python POST Example

requests.post("http://ip:port/set", headers={ "token": "Your API token here" }, json={ "data": { "key": "Key to post", "value": "Value to post" } } )

Getting Data from the Database

• Method: POST
• Path: /get
• Headers:

{ 
  "token": "Your API token here",
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

• Body:

{
  "data": {
    "key": "Key to fetch"
  }
}

• Returns: 200 - OK & String Data

Javascript GET Example

fetch("http://ip:port/get", {
  "method": "get",
  "headers": "{ \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\", \"token\": \"Your API token here\" }"
});

Python GET Example

requests.get("http://ip:port/get", headers={ "token": "Your API token here" })

Pinging Database

• Method: GET
• Path: /ping
• Headers:

{ 
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

• Body: N/A
• Returns: 200 - OK & "Pong"

Javascript PING Example

fetch("http://ip:port/ping", {
  "method": "get",
  "headers": "{ \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\" }"
});

Python PING Example

requests.get("http://ip:port/ping")

Support

If you need help with this, you can create an issue on this repository or you can join our Discord Support Server. We will happily help you!

If you want to contribute to this, you can submit a pull request and we'll happily review it!