Polling Application

Backend Documentation

Overview

The backend is built using Rust with the Actix-web framework. It provides RESTful APIs for poll creation, management, and real-time updates. The database used is MongoDB. Authentication is handled using Passkey Authentication (WebAuthn/FIDO2) and JWT tokens.

Features

• User authentication with Passkeys and JWT.
• Poll creation, deletion, and management.
• Real-time updates using Server-Sent Events (SSE).
• Protected routes using JWT custom middleware function.

Key Components

Authentication

• Routes:

  • Authentication

    • POST /api/auth/register/start: Initiates Passkey registration.
    • POST /api/auth/register/finish: Completes Passkey registration.
    • POST /api/auth/login/start: Initiates Passkey authentication.
    • POST /api/auth/login/finish: Completes Passkey authentication.

  • Poll

    • GET /api/: Retrieves all polls.
    • POST /api/polls: Creates a new poll.
    • GET /api/polls/[pollId]: Retrieves poll details.
    • POST /api/polls/[pollId]/vote: Casts vote for a poll option.
    • POST /api/polls/[pollId]/close: Closes a poll (only for poll creators).
    • POST /api/polls/[pollId]/reset: Resets votes for a poll (only for poll creators).

  • Real Time Updates

    • GET /api/socket/create-client: Creates an SSE client and sends to client for real-time updates.

• Libraries:

  • webauthn-rs for WebAuthn implementation.
  • jsonwebtoken for JWT handling.
  • actix-web for Web Server Setup.

Database

• Technology: MongoDB
• Structure:
  • user collection for storing user data.
  • poll collection for poll details.

Configuration

• Environment Variables:
  • DATABASE_URL: MongoDB connection string.
  • JWT_SECRET: Secret key for JWT.
  • DATABASE_NAME: MongoDB Database name.

Local Setup

Prerequisites

Before setting up the project, make sure you have the following installed:

• Rust: Follow the installation guide on Rust's official website.
• MongoDB: Install MongoDB locally or use a cloud service like MongoDB Atlas.
• OpenSSL: Required for Passkey (WebAuthn) authentication.

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Azeem-0/polling_application_backend.git
   cd polling_application_backend

2. Install dependencies

     cargo build

3. Set up environment variables:

   DATABASE_URL=<your-mongodb-connection-string>
   JWT_SECRET=<your-secret-key-for-jwt>
   WEBAUTHN_ORIGIN=<your-web-auth-origin-url>

4. Run the server:

  cargo run

5. Access the api endpoints as described in the documentation above.

You can view the documentation of the APIs on http://localhost:3001/swagger-ui/.