RouteMatrix

Comprehensive FlightLabs API implementation.

Quick Start

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

2. Set up environment variables: Create a .env file in the backend directory:

   # Required
   FLIGHTLABS_ACCESS_KEY=your_flightlabs_api_key_here
   
   # Optional (defaults shown)
   CACHE_ENABLED=true
   CACHE_TTL_SECONDS=60
   CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES=100
   API_TIMEOUT=30000
   API_MAX_RETRIES=3

3. Run the development server:

   npm run dev

FlightLabs API Integration

This backend includes comprehensive utilities for working with the FlightLabs real-time flight data API:

Features

• Type-safe API client with full TypeScript support
• Automatic retry logic for handling transient failures
• Response caching to reduce API calls and costs
• Data processing utilities for unit conversions and formatting
• Enhanced service layer with business logic methods
• Comprehensive error handling

Main Components

1. FlightLabsClient - Low-level API client
2. FlightLabsService - High-level service with caching
3. FlightDataProcessor - Data transformation utilities
4. FlightLabsCache - Smart caching system

Usage Example

import FlightLabsService from './utils/flightlabs';
import { flightLabsConfig } from './config/flightlabs.config';

// Initialize service
const flightService = new FlightLabsService(flightLabsConfig);

// Get flights by airline
const flights = await flightService.getFlightsByAirline('AA');

// Track a specific flight
const tracking = await flightService.trackFlight('AA100');

// Get airport activity
const activity = await flightService.getAirportActivity('JFK');

// Clean up when done
flightService.destroy();

Available Methods

• Flight queries by airline, flight number, route, airport
• Real-time flight tracking
• Geographic area searches
• Airport departure/arrival information
• Airline fleet status
• Advanced search with multiple criteria

See /src/utils/flightlabs/README.md for detailed API documentation.

Project Structure

backend/
├── src/
│   ├── config/           # Configuration files
│   ├── types/            # TypeScript type definitions
│   ├── utils/            # Utility modules
│   │   └── flightlabs/   # FlightLabs API utilities
│   └── examples/         # Usage examples
├── dist/                 # Compiled JavaScript (generated)
├── package.json          # Dependencies and scripts
└── tsconfig.json         # TypeScript configuration

Available Scripts

• npm run dev - Start development server with hot reload
• npm run build - Build for production
• npm start - Run production build
• npm test - Run tests

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
FLIGHTLABS_ACCESS_KEY	Yes	-	Your FlightLabs API key
FLIGHTLABS_BASE_URL	No	https://app.goflightlabs.com	API base URL
CACHE_ENABLED	No	true	Enable/disable caching
CACHE_TTL_SECONDS	No	60	Cache time-to-live
CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES	No	100	Maximum cache entries
API_TIMEOUT	No	30000	API request timeout (ms)
API_MAX_RETRIES	No	3	Maximum retry attempts

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16+
• npm or yarn
• FlightLabs API key (get one at https://flightlabs.io)

Testing

Run the example scripts to test the FlightLabs integration:

# Run all examples
npm run dev src/examples/flightlabs-usage.ts

# Or run specific functions by uncommenting them in the main() function

Error Handling

The utilities include comprehensive error handling:

try {
  const flights = await flightService.getFlights({ airlineIata: 'AA' });
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof FlightLabsApiError) {
    // Handle API-specific errors
    console.error('API Error:', error.message);
  } else {
    // Handle other errors
    console.error('Unexpected error:', error);
  }
}

License

Copyright of the Superbuilders School organization.