Clothing E-commerce Platform (Full Stack)

This repository contains the full-stack code for a modern, feature-rich clothing e-commerce platform. The application is built with a robust Node.js/Express backend, a PostgreSQL database, and a clean, modular Vanilla JavaScript frontend (following the Service/View pattern).

🚀 Key Features

• Complete Product Management: Full CRUD operations for Products, Categories, and detailed Product Variants (Size, Color, Stock).
• User & Authentication: Secure registration, login, and token-based authentication using JSON Web Tokens (JWT).
• Shopping Cart: Persistent shopping cart management using PostgreSQL functions (carts and cart_items tables).
• Order Workflow: Creation and management of orders, linked to product variants and user addresses.
• Image Upload System: Dedicated Express middleware (multer) for secure and efficient handling of product image uploads.
• Modular Frontend: Clean separation of concerns using the Service/View pattern, with a centralized BaseService for all API communication and authentication management.

🛠️ Architecture Overview

Backend (Node.js/Express)

The API is built using Express, following a standard MVC-like structure (Routes, Controllers, Services/Middleware). All data access is handled asynchronously through shared utility modules.

Database (PostgreSQL)

The application uses PostgreSQL as its primary data store. The database logic is highly centralized:

• Schema (schema_and_indexing.sql): Defines all tables, foreign keys, and indexes for optimal relational integrity and query speed.
• Stored Procedures (procedures_and_triggers.sql): Core business logic (like adding to cart, user creation) is implemented directly in PostgreSQL functions using PL/pgSQL for improved performance and transactional reliability.

Frontend (Modular Vanilla JS)

The client-side code avoids heavy frameworks and uses native Fetch API for networking. It implements a Service/View architecture:

• Service Layer: (public/js/services/) Handles all API calls, data fetching, and transformation. Relies exclusively on BaseService.js.
• View Layer: (public/js/views/) Handles all DOM manipulation, rendering, and event listening. It is purely responsible for the UI.
• Controller: (public/js/app.js) Acts as the central router, coordinating data flow between the Service and View layers.

⚙️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

You must have the following installed on your local machine:

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• PostgreSQL (with the psql command-line utility)

1. Database Setup

• Create Database:

CREATE DATABASE clothingDB;

• Load Schema:

schema_and_indexing.sql

• Load Procedures:

procedures_and_triggers.sql

2. Project Setup

• Install Dependencies:

npm install

(Note: This project relies on express and pg for the backend, and multer for file uploads.)

• Configure Environment Variables:
  Create a file named .env in the root directory and populate it with your configuration details (see the section below).

• Start the Server (Development):
  The dev script uses node --watch for hot reloading and loads the environment file automatically.

npm run dev

The server will start at http://localhost:8000 (or the port specified in your .env file).

🌍 Environment Variables Create a file named .env in the root of your project.

Variable	Description	Example Value
PORT	Server listening port	8000
DB_HOST	PostgreSQL host	localhost
DB_USER	PostgreSQL user	postgres
DB_NAME	PostgreSQL database name	clothingDB
DB_PASSWORD	PostgreSQL password	0000
DB_PORT	PostgreSQL port	5432
JWT_SECRET	Secret key for signing JWTs	key

🗃️ Database Details The database is highly normalized to handle the complexities of e-commerce data:

Table	Purpose	Key Relations
users	Stores user credentials and profile data.	Primary entity.
categories	Organizes products (supports nested categories).
products	Core product information.	Links to categories.
product_variants	Size, color, stock, and image URL for product versions.	Links to products.
carts, cart_items	Stores current items in a user's shopping cart.	Links to users and product_variants.
orders, order_items	Completed transactions and the items included.	Links to users, addresses, and product_variants.

Key Stored Procedures The schema_and_indexing.sql file contains essential utility functions, including:

• get_or_create_cart(p_user_id): Ensures every user has an active cart.
• add_to_cart(p_user_id, p_variant_id, p_quantity): Handles insertion or updating quantity if the item is already present.
• get_all_products(): Retrieves the list of products for the catalog view.