URL Shortener App

This is a url shortening service implemented in Python with the FastAPI framework. It runs locally with supprt from Uvicorn to act as a web server.

The app is a simplified version of the one implemented by Philipp Acsany in his tutorial, most notably because it does not use a database.

Dependencies

To run the app, please install fastapi, uvicorn, and validators.

This project was developed in a conda environment. If you are also using conda, install the packages by running

conda install -c conda-forge fastapi
conda install -c conda-forge uvicorn
conda install -c conda-forge validators

If you are not using conda, run

pip install fastapi
pip install uvicorn
pip install validators

Starting the Web Server

To use the app, start the Uvicorn server by navigating to the url-shortener-project directory via the command line. In url-shortener-project run

uvicorn url_shortener_app.main:app --reload

If the start-up was successful, you should see Application startup complete printed in the command line. You can check that Uvicorn is running by entering http://localhost:8000/ into your browser.

Using the URL Shortener App

You can use the app via the command line, an API like Postman, or your web browser by navigating to http://localhost:8000/docs.

Encoding a URL

With http://localhost:8000/docs:

1. Click on the /encode dropdown
2. Select Try it out
3. Replace "string" in the Request body with your desired URL
4. Click Execute

In the Responses section below, you will see the generated shortened URL. Paste the shortened URL in the address bar of your web browser to navigate to the target URL.

With Postman:

1. Create a new POST request
2. Enter the request URL: http://localhost:8000/encode
3. In the Body tab of the Request section, select the raw radio button and then JSON instead of Text from the dropdown menu
4. Enter a URL to be shortened in the Body in JSON format, e.g.

{
    "url": "https://www.devtopics.com/best-programming-jokes/"
}

5. Click Send

In the Response section below, under the Body tab, you will see the shortened URL. Paste the shortened URL in your web browser to navigate to the target URL.

Note: If the URL you are trying to shorten is invalid (e.g. malformed), you will see an error message.

Decoding a Shortened URL

With a Web Browser

The easiest way is to copy the key from the shortened URL

http://localhost:8000/{key}

and enter the following into your browser's address bar:

http://localhost:8000/decode/{key}

The target URL will appear in the browser window.

With Postman:

1. Create a new GET request
2. Copy the key from the shortened URL (http://localhost:8000/{key})
3. Enter the request URL: http://localhost:8000/decode/{key}
4. Click Send

In the Response section below, under the Body tab, you will see the original URL.

Note: If the key doesn't exist (e.g. typo) or has expired because the Uvicorn server was restarted, you will see an error message.

Running Unit Tests

To run endpoint unit tests, navigate to the url-shortener-project directory via the command line. In url-shortener-project run

python test_endpoints.py