Make a Leaderboard API for your game with Node.js, Express & MongoDB

In this tutorial, we will be using Node.js to write a backend API for a fictional game. We shall use the Express framework to define API routes, and MongoDB as the database for storage (because of its NoSQL document structure).

Prerequisites

• Install Postman to make the API calls (This Sweetcode post does a great job or showing how to use it)
• Set up a MongoDB database on mLab.
  • MongoDB can be run locally, or using an external cloud service (also called Database as a Service, DBaaS). For this tutorial, we will be using the DBaaS mLab.
  • Use this walkthrough from mLab to set up your mLab account, and create a database (with the name sweetgame) for this tutorial.
  • Copy the connection string at the top panel (we will need this in the backend).

Connection string

• Run `npm init` in the project folder and `npm install express body-parser mongodb –save` to install dependencies

Player schema and leaderboard API design

The Player object will have two attributes: `username` & `score`

player = {“username” : “string”, “score” : integer}

The leaderboard API schematic should provide routes to:

1. Create a new player
2. Update a player’s score
3. Remove a player
4. Fetch a list (leaderboard) of top players (ranked by score)
   
   

Step 1: Connecting our Node.js backend to the MongoDB database on mLab

Now, we need to connect to the database we created in mLab (in this case sweetgame), and make a collection called players that will contain records of all our players.

Index.js

// Import necessary packages const express = require(“express”); const bodyParser = require(“body-parser”); // create and configure the express app const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000; const app = express(); app.use(express.json()); // Database Connection Info const MongoClient = require(“mongodb”).MongoClient; // the URL we copied from earlier. Replace username and password with what you created in the initial steps const url = “mongodb://sweetgame:sweetgame1@ds135156.mlab.com:35156/sweetgame”; let db; // The index route app.get(“/”, function(req, res) {    res.send(“Sweet Game Leaderboard API!”); }); // Connect to the database with [url] (async () => {    let client = await MongoClient.connect(        url,        { useNewUrlParser: true }    );    db = client.db(“Players”);    app.listen(PORT, async function() {        console.log(`Listening on Port ${PORT}`);        if (db) {            console.log(“Database is Connected!”);        }    }); })();

Note: In production, you are going to want those keys in an external .env file

Run the server now with `node index.js`

Step 2: Creating a route to create a new player

This route involves `creating` a new player object. As such, we will use the `POST` HTTP method. We will use MongoDB’s `findOne` function to find an object and the `insertOne` function to create a new object. Refer to MongoDB’s API Docs to see more useful and helpful functions.

… // Route to create new player app.post(“/players”, async function(req, res) {    // get information of player from POST body data    let { username, score } = req.body;    // check if the username already exists    const alreadyExisting = await db        .collection(“players”)        .findOne({ username: username });    if (alreadyExisting) {        res.send({ status: false, msg: “player username already exists” });    } else {        // create the new player        await db.collection(“players”).insertOne({ username, score });        console.log(`Created Player ${username}`);        res.send({ status: true, msg: “player created” });    } }); // Connect to the database with the url

Restart the server and open up Postman. In Postman, make a POST request to `localhost:3000/players` with body data:

{“username”: “charles”, “score”: 0}

Since this is our first time creating this user, it will work just fine:

The response body (bottom section) shows the player was created.

Run this POST request again and notice it shows that the username already exists.

Head over to your mLab account and check the sweetgame database (specifically the players collection).

You’ll see the document created there. This confirms that everything is working as it should.

Step 2: Creating a route to update player scores

This route involves `updating` the player scores with a new value. As such, we shall use the `PUT` HTTP Method.

app.put(“/players”, async function(req, res) {    let { username, score } = req.body;    // check if the username already exists    const alreadyExisting = await db        .collection(“players”)        .findOne({ username: username });    if (alreadyExisting) {        // Update player object with the username        await db            .collection(“players”)            .updateOne({ username }, { $set: { username, score } });        console.log(`Player ${username} score updated to ${score}`);        res.send({ status: true, msg: “player score updated” });    } else {        res.send({ status: false, msg: “player username not found” });    } });

Restart the server, head into Postman, and update the score of the player you created above to 10:

Check with mLab to see the result:

Step 3: Creating a route to remove a player

This route involves `deleting` the player object. As such, we shall use the `DELETE` HTTP Method.

// delete player app.delete(“/players”, async function(req, res) {    let { username, score } = req.body;    // check if the username already exists    const alreadyExisting = await db        .collection(“players”)        .findOne({ username: username });    if (alreadyExisting) {        await db.collection(“players”).deleteOne({ username });        console.log(`Player ${username} deleted`);        res.send({ status: true, msg: “player deleted” });    } else {        res.send({ status: false, msg: “username not found” });    } });

Restart the server, and in Postman, make a DELETE request to `localhost:3000/players` with body data: {username: “charles”}

Checkup with mLab to see results

Step 4: Route to get the leaderboard

Before we create the route for the leaderboard, go ahead and create a few more players with varying scores using the POST request in Postman (like in Step 2).

Now, the client (the game) should be able to use this route to request a specified number of top players. Since this route involves `retrieving/getting` data, we will use the `GET` HTTP method.

The `GET` route differs from other routes in that you do not carry data with that request. Instead, data is passed using ‘query strings’ in the URL.

For example, to get the leaderboard, the client will make requests like so: ‘localhost:3000/players?lim=2’ where lim=the number of top players to show.

// Access the leaderboard app.get(“/players”, async function(req, res) {    // retrieve ‘lim’ from the query string info    let { lim } = req.query;    db.collection(“players”)        .find()        // -1 is for descending and 1 is for ascending        .sort({ score: -1 })        // Show only [lim] players        .limit(lim)        .toArray(function(err, result) {            if (err)                res.send({ status: false, msg: “failed to retrieve players” });            console.log(Array.from(result));            res.send({ status: true, msg: result });        }); });

You should now see a list of player objects sorted by their score.

Great job. Now you have your leaderboard API up and running!

To deploy this to the Web, check out this tutorial (link to “Deploying an Express Node.js backend on Heroku”) to see how to deploy this Node.js app to Heroku.

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