Personal Blog Platform

A modern, full-stack personal blogging platform built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. Features include blog post creation with image uploads, pagination, GridFS storage, and Blogspot import capabilities.

🌟 Features

• Create & Manage Blog Posts: Write and publish blog posts with rich text and images
• MongoDB Atlas Storage: Cloud-based persistent storage for all data
• GridFS Image Storage: Binary image files stored in MongoDB (no filesystem dependency)
• Pagination: Browse posts efficiently with 10 posts per page
• Blogspot Import: Migrate existing posts from Blogspot with original dates
• Chronological Sorting: Newest posts displayed first automatically
• Responsive Design: Clean, modern UI optimized for all devices
• Dynamic Profile Images: Random profile image rotation on page navigation

📁 Project Structure

Blog/
├── index.js                           # Express server entry point
├── package.json                       # Dependencies and scripts
├── .env                              # Environment variables (gitignored)
├── .gitignore                        # Git ignore rules
├── LICENSE                           # ISC License
├── README.md                         # This file
├── MONGODB_SCHEMA.md                 # Database schema documentation
├── BLOGSPOT_MIGRATION.md             # Blogspot import guide
│
├── routes/                           # Backend API routes
│   ├── db.js                        # MongoDB connection module
│   ├── getdata.js                   # Blog CRUD operations
│   └── imageroutes.js               # Random image endpoint
│
├── views/                            # HTML templates
│   └── entry.html                   # Blog post creation form
│
├── public/                           # Frontend static files
│   ├── Blog.html                    # Main blog display page
│   ├── cons.html                    # Console/admin page
│   ├── contact.html                 # Contact page
│   ├── style.css                    # Main stylesheet
│   ├── server-side.css              # Entry form styles
│   └── scripts/
│       ├── blog.js                  # Blog display & pagination
│       └── cons.js                  # Console functionality
│
├── photos/                           # Profile images (gitignored)
│
└── scripts/                          # Utility scripts
    ├── migration/
    │   ├── migrate-to-mongodb.js    # JSON to MongoDB migration
    │   ├── import-blogspot.js       # Blogspot post importer
    │   └── fix-migrated-dates.js    # Date correction script
    ├── check-dates.js               # Date verification utility
    ├── analyze-manual-posts.js      # Post analysis tool
    ├── fix-dates.js                 # Date updater
    └── test-mongodb.js              # DB connection test

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js v14+
• MongoDB Atlas account (free tier works)
• npm package manager

Installation

1. Clone and install

   git clone https://github.com/karan10i/Meig.git
   cd Blog
   npm install

2. Configure environment

   Create .env file:

   MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<cluster>.mongodb.net/blogDB?retryWrites=true&w=majority

3. Start the server

   node index.js

   Server runs at http://localhost:3000

📖 Usage

Creating Posts

1. Navigate to http://localhost:3000/entry
2. Fill in the form:
   • Heading: Post title
   • Text: Post content (supports line breaks)
   • Blog Image: Upload image (optional)
3. Click "Post" to publish

Viewing Posts

• Visit http://localhost:3000/Blog.html
• Browse with Previous/Next pagination controls
• Latest posts appear first

Importing from Blogspot

node scripts/migration/import-blogspot.js

Features:

• Fetches from Blogspot Atom feed API
• Preserves original publication dates
• Avoids duplicates (checks by title)
• Marks posts with source: 'blogspot'

🗄️ Database Schema

Posts Collection

{
  _id: ObjectId,
  heading: String,           // Post title
  text: String,             // Post content
  imageId: ObjectId,        // GridFS image reference
  publishedDate: Date,      // Publication date (for sorting)
  createdAt: Date,          // Creation timestamp
  source: String,           // 'manual' | 'blogspot'
  sourceUrl: String         // Original URL (if imported)
}

GridFS Collections

• images.files: Image metadata (filename, contentType, size)
• images.chunks: Binary data in 255KB chunks

See MONGODB_SCHEMA.md for detailed documentation.

🔌 API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/getData?page=1&limit=10	Paginated posts
POST	/api/saveData	Create post (multipart/form-data)
GET	/api/image/:id	Stream image from GridFS
GET	/api/getRandomImage	Random profile image URL
GET	/entry	Blog entry form

🛠️ Utility Scripts

Migration

# Migrate from old JSON file to MongoDB
node scripts/migration/migrate-to-mongodb.js

# Import Blogspot posts
node scripts/migration/import-blogspot.js

# Fix post dates
node scripts/migration/fix-migrated-dates.js

Maintenance

# Check post dates
node scripts/check-dates.js

# Test MongoDB connection
node scripts/test-mongodb.js

📦 Tech Stack

Backend:

• Express 5.1.0 - Web framework
• MongoDB 6.20.0 - Database driver
• Multer 2.0.2 - File upload handling
• Dotenv 17.2.3 - Environment config

Scraping:

• Axios 1.13.2 - HTTP client
• Cheerio 1.1.2 - HTML parsing

Frontend:

• Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)
• CSS3 with Flexbox/Grid
• Fetch API for AJAX

🚢 Deployment (Render)

1. Push to GitHub

   git add .
   git commit -m "Deploy blog platform"
   git push origin main

2. Configure Render

   • Create new Web Service
   • Connect GitHub repository karan10i/Meig
   • Build Command: npm install
   • Start Command: node index.js

3. Set Environment Variables

   • Add MONGODB_URI in Render dashboard
   • Ensure MongoDB Atlas allows Render IPs (0.0.0.0/0 for simplicity)

4. Deploy

   • Render auto-deploys on git push
   • Check logs for "✓ Connected successfully to MongoDB"

🔒 Security Notes

• .env file is gitignored (never commit credentials)
• MongoDB Atlas: Use strong passwords with URL encoding for special chars
• GridFS: Images stored in database (no public file access)
• CORS enabled for local development

📝 License

ISC License - See LICENSE file

🤝 Contributing

Personal project, but feedback welcome! Open an issue for suggestions.

📧 Support

Questions? Visit /contact.html or open a GitHub issue.

---

Built with ❤️ by Karan Gupta
Powered by Node.js, Express, and MongoDB Atlas