Configuration

In the configuration section, you can further customize the backend application (currently only NodeJS).

The settings are used to generate environment variables that the application uses for its configuration. The environment variables are not pushed to the Git repository for security reasons. They must be created manually during the initial setup and updated whenever there are changes.

This includes:

• Structure: The project and folder structure

• Server: server parameters such as port number and API key

• Database: database parameters like username, password, and port.

Structure

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All the following directories are relative to the directory that contains the backend application:

The generated backend is located in /home/vb/myfirstapp/backend and the database directory is /db/generated. That means that the absolute path of the database directory is /home/vb/myfirstapp/backend/db/generated.

Directories

• Database Directory: This directory contains all database models and subdocuments (MongoDB).

• Routes Directory: This directory contains all rest api routes.

• Extension route directory: Contains all custom functions.

• Test directory: Contains all *.http files.

Server

• NodeJS version: The NodeJS version that is used for the server application.

• Port: The port of the server application.

• API-Key: The API-Key that is used to access the routes. The API-Key can be changed by clicking the refresh button. Note: If the API-Key is updated, it must also be updated in the NodeJS project (.env file).

Note: The API-Key is included in the request header as 'x-api-key'.

Database

• User: The user that is used to read and write from/to the database.

• Password: The password of the database user.

• Port: The port the database instance is running on.

Warning: Do not change the user or the password after creating the database without making a backup first. Otherwise, it could result in data loss.

Access Environment Variables

The configuration is automatically provided by VisualBoost when creating a project. However, before the application can be started for the first time, the configuration parameters must be manually added to the software project. For this, a .env file must be manually created in both the backend and db directories. To add the respective environment variables to these files, you can click the button to display the environment variables.

VisualBoost displays the required environment variables as they are needed in the NodeJS application. By clicking the copy button, the content can be copied and added to the project.