Create a Node.js web app to call an API
Applies to: Workforce tenants External tenants (learn more)
In this article, you prepare the app project you created in Tutorial: Prepare your external tenant to sign in users in a Node.js web app to call a web API. This article is the second part of a four-part guide series.
Prerequisites
- Complete the steps in the first part of this guide series, Prepare external tenant to call an API in a Node.js web application.
Update project files
Create more files, fetch.js, todolistController.js, todos.js, todos.hbs and .env, then organize them to achieve the following project structure:
ciam-sign-in-call-api-node-express-web-app/
├── .env
└── server.js
└── app.js
└── authConfig.js
└── fetch.js
└── package.json
└── auth/
└── AuthProvider.js
└── controller/
└── authController.js
└── todolistController.js
└── routes/
└── auth.js
└── index.js
└── todos.js
└── users.js
└── views/
└── layouts.hbs
└── error.hbs
└── id.hbs
└── index.hbs
└── todos.hbs
└── public/stylesheets/
└── style.css
Install app dependencies
In your terminal, install more Node packages, axios
, cookie-parser
, body-parser
, method-override
, by running the following command:
npm install axios cookie-parser body-parser method-override
Update app UI components
In your code editor, open views/index.hbs file, then add a View your todolist link:
<a href="/todos">View your todolist</a>
Your views/index.hbs file now looks similar to the following file:
<h1>{{title}}</h1> {{#if isAuthenticated }} <p>Hi {{username}}!</p> <a href="/users/id">View your ID token claims</a> <br> <a href="/todos">View your todolist</a> <br> <a href="/auth/signout">Sign out</a> {{else}} <p>Welcome to {{title}}</p> <a href="/auth/signin">Sign in</a> {{/if}}
We add a link to a UI that enables you interact with the ciam-ToDoList-api. We define the express route for this endpoint later in this guide.
In your code editor, open
views/todos.hbs
file, then add the following code:<h1>Todolist</h1> <div> <form action="/todos" method="POST"> <input type="text" name="description" class="form-control" placeholder="Enter a task" aria-label="Enter a task" aria-describedby="button-addon"> <button type="submit" id="button-addon">Add</button> </form> </div> <div class="row" style="margin: 10px;"> <ol id="todoListItems" class="list-group"> {{#each todos}} <li class="todoListItem" id="todoListItem"> <span>{{description}}</span> <form action='/todos?_method=DELETE' method='POST'> <span><input type='hidden' name='_id' value='{{id}}'></span> <span><button type='submit'>Remove</button></span> </form> </li> {{/each}} </ol> </div> <a href="/">Go back</a>
This view allows the user to perform tasks that initiate an API call. For instance, after a user signs in, and the app acquires an access token, the user can create a resource (task) in the API app by submitting a form.
Next steps
Next, learn how to sign-in users and acquire an access token: