Building a Blog API with Golang using Gin and Gorm (Part 1)

Adetunji Adetayo — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 22:58:43 +0000

Project Overview

1. What You Will Build

You will construct a blog API with the following functionalities:

Registration with a username, email and password
Login with email and password
Create new post
Update post
Retrieve a particular post
Delete Post

2. Prerequisites

Before diving in, ensure you have the following prerequisites:

Go
Basic understanding of Go and JWTs
Postman
Git
psql
PostgreSQL installed on your machine

Project Setup

To initiate the project, follow these steps:

Create a new folder named blog_api in your development directory and navigate into it.

mkdir blog_api
cd blog_api

Initialize a Go module with the following command.

go mod init blog_api

This generates a go.mod file to track your project's dependencies.

Install Dependencies

This project utilizes the gin framework. Run the following command to install gin and other dependencies we will be using


go get github.com/gin-gonic/gin
go get github.com/jinzhu/gorm
go get golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt
github.com/golang-jwt/jwt/v5

Now create the following directories:

internal
internal/auth
internal/handler
internal/storage
internal/router
internal/model
config
Database
main.go

Connecting to Postgres

I am assuming that you have postgres installed already, if you dont go ahead and install it
create a database named blog_db

CREATE DATABASE blog_db;

In your config folder Create a .env file in your root directory to store our database details

config/.env

DB_DSN=host=localhost user=yourusername password= your_password dbname=blog_db port=5432 sslmode=disable

Creating models

create models for User and Post

In your internal/model folder, create a user.go and a post.go file

Internal/model/user.go

package model

import "gorm.io/gorm"

type User struct {
Username   string    `gorm:"unique; not null"`
Email      string    `gorm:"unique; not null"`
Password   string    `gorm:"not null"`
Posts      []Post    `gorm:"foreignKey:AuthorID"`
}

internal/model/post..go

package model

import "gorm.io/gorm"

type Post struct {
    gorm.Model

    Title    string `gorm:"not null"`
    Content  string `gorm:"not null"`
    AuthorID uint
    Author   User `gorm:"foreignKey:AuthorID"`
}

Initializing Database

We will setup the database connection using Gorm. In your internal/storage folder, create a new file named database.go.

internal/storage/database.go

package storage

import (
    "log"
    "os"
    "blog-api/internal/model"
    "gorm.io/driver/postgres"
    "gorm.io/gorm"
)

DB *gorm.DB

func InitDB()
 {
dsn := os.Getenv("DB_DSN")
db, err := gorm.open(postgres.Open(dsn), &gorm.Config{})

if err != nil {
log.Fatal("Failed to connect to database", err)

}

db.Automigrate(&model.User{}, &model.Post{})
DB = db
}

In this code snippet:

DB is a global variable that holds the database connection.
InitDB initializes the database connection using the gorm.Open method and automatically migrates the User and Post models.

Now, set up main.go file to :

loads the .env file.
Initializes the database.
Sets up the router and starts the HTTP server.

package main

import (
    "log"
    "net/http"

    "blog-api/internal/router"
    "blog-api/internal/storage"
    "github.com/joho/godotenv"
)

func main() {
err := godotenv.Load("config/.env)

if err != nil {
log.Fatal("Error loading .env file)

}

//initialize database 
storage.InitDB()

//setup router
r := router.setupRouter()
log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8080", r))

Note: The setupRouter is a function in our router.go that sets up our application router, feel free to comment it out, we will setup our router in the next part of the blog.

Run the Application

Run the application using the command

go run main.go

Don't stop Building

Adetunji Adetayo — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 04:23:35 +0000

We often find ourselves comparing our work to others, doubting our abilities, and questioning the value of what we create. But here's a reminder for everyone: do not stop building.
Whether you're building or designing a to-do app, writing an article, or crafting anything else — there is immense beauty in the act of creation.
So, whenever you question the significance of your work, remind yourself: do not stop building. Celebrate your progress, no matter how minor it may seem. Share your creations with others, inspire and be inspired, and keep pushing forward.

Your creations matter. Keep building, keep creating.
I am rooting for you.

Forem: Adetunji Adetayo