📚 Book Review API

A RESTful Book Review API built with Flask, Flask-RESTful, and Flasgger, using Airtable as a lightweight database and deployed on Render.

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🔗 Live API

Swagger Documentation:
https://ri-book-review-api.onrender.com/apidocs

🚀 Overview

This project is a backend API that allows users to:

• Add book reviews
• Retrieve all reviews
• Sort and limit results
• Process text through utility endpoints (uppercase + transformations)

It demonstrates core backend engineering concepts including:

• REST API design
• External database integration (Airtable)
• Environment variable management
• API documentation using Swagger (Flasgger)
• Cloud deployment (Render)
• Basic API testing via Python scripts

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🧰 Tech Stack

• Python 3
• Flask
• Flask-RESTful
• Flasgger (Swagger UI)
• Airtable API
• Gunicorn
• Render

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📦 Project Structure

.
├── app.py                   # Main Flask application
├── book_review.py          # Airtable integration layer
├── api_request_test.py     # Manual API testing script
├── requirements.txt        # Dependencies
└── README.md

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🔐 Environment Variables

This project requires an Airtable API key.

Set it in your environment:

AIRTABLE=your_airtable_api_key

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📡 Base URL

https://ri-book-review-api.onrender.com

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📘 API Endpoints

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➕ Add a Book Review

POST /post_review

Adds a new book review to Airtable.

Request Body:

{
  "book": "The Alchemist",
  "rating": 9,
  "notes": "A meaningful philosophical journey"
}

Required Fields:

• book (string)
• rating (integer)

Response:

{
  "message": "Book review added successfully"
}

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📚 Get All Reviews

GET /all_reviews

Returns all book reviews stored in Airtable.

Query Parameters:

• sort: ASC | DESC (optional)
• max_records: integer (optional, default 10)

Example:

/all_reviews?sort=DESC&max_records=5

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🔠 Uppercase Text

GET /uppercase

Query:

• text (required)

Example:

/uppercase?text=hello

Response:

{
  "text": "HELLO"
}

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🔁 Process Text

GET /process

Query Parameters:

• text (required)
• duplication_factor (optional)
• capitalization (UPPER | LOWER | NONE)

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🧪 API Testing Script (IMPORTANT)

This project includes a manual API testing file:

📄 api_request_test.py

This script is used to test deployed endpoints directly using Python.

Example Usage:

import requests

BASE_URL = "https://ri-book-review-api.onrender.com"

url = f"{BASE_URL}/all_reviews"

params = {
    "max_records": 3,
    "sort": "DESC"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=params)

print(response.status_code)
print(response.json())

Why this exists:

• Quick sanity check for deployed API
• Helps debug Airtable connection issues
• Verifies GET/POST requests without Swagger UI
• Useful for development + deployment testing

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🗄️ Database

Uses Airtable to store:

• Book title
• Rating
• Notes
• Timestamp

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📖 Swagger Documentation

Interactive API docs available at:

https://ri-book-review-api.onrender.com/apidocs

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🚀 Deployment

Deployed on Render with:

• Gunicorn WSGI server
• Environment variables configured in dashboard
• Auto deployment from GitHub

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⚠️ Common Issues

• Missing AIRTABLE key → API fails
• Invalid JSON body → POST request fails
• Render cold start → first request may be slow
• Ensure correct endpoint URLs when testing

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🙌 Credits

Inspired by Keith Galli’s Flask API tutorial series.

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📌 Future Improvements

• Add authentication (API keys / JWT)
• Add update/delete endpoints
• Add pagination for reviews
• Switch Airtable → PostgreSQL
• Add automated tests (pytest + CI pipeline)
• Improve validation + error handling