readme.txt

Download Node.js installer from:
    https://nodejs.org/en/download/

Install:
    This will install Node and Npm:
        Node is the runtime environment which will allow you to run your javascript code on
        the server.

        Npm (Node Package Manager) is an application which will help you manage and install
        third party Node modules like Express.

Create a new directory for the project.

Get this code to that directory. If you are using a unix based shell you may type this command:
    git clone https://github.com/BrianLovelace128/WebDevProject.git

Open the node shell (or powershell or a unix terminal) and navigate to this directory.
Now try to run this command:
    node server.js


^^ This should fail with a "ReferenceError: expressed is not defined"

Express is a module used by the server. You must first install this module and make it accessible
to the node runtime.

You can do this using Npm. Type:
    npm install express --save

Once it's done you will see a series messages showing you all the things that it did. If you type
"ls" into the shell, you should also see that a new file called node_modules has been created. 
    DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! It is for node's internal book keeping.

Now you have configured node to run your server. So lets try to start it again. Type:
    node server.js

You should now see the following output on your shell:
    Server running at http://localhost:8080

What is the "node server.js" command doing?
    "node" is the name of the application you are running. You are running it with a command line
    argument to tell it how to run your program. Node then constructs an environment from which
    it can run javascript code, and starts your program. 

    If you are familiar with javascript, you may associate it with the code inside of <script> tags
    in your HTML. This javascript is the very same language, but with several BIG differences in
    it's runtime environment. Mainly, javascript code running with node has no access to a global
    "document" object. Javascript running within HTML uses this "document" object to manipulate what
    you see on the web page. From within node, there is no webpage. Node's runtime comes with the 
    ability to create and import javascript modules using "exports" and "require".

    You'll notice the text "express = require('express');" as the first line. This is importing
    the express module into the variable express. "var app = express()" is creating an express
    object, which is in tern used as a listener for the server.


What to do next?
    Take a look at the code in  client/index.htm. Unless you're already familiar with angular, it will most
    likely not make a lot of sense to you. That's okay! You don't need to understand how the front end
    works in order to set up the back end. And that's the purpose of this project: Write the back end!
    Look for where index.htm makes its API calls, and get those hooks into the server. Check out
    out db.json and questions.json to understand the format in which index.htm is sending and expecting
    data. Use these things to piece together a picture of how the system talks to itself, and fill in the
    blanks on the server side.

And once that's done?
    You may have noticed that surveys.htm is blank. Now you get to write the front end. Think about the type
    of data you can present to the user and how you'd like to do it.
    Read about AJAX and manipulating the DOM (Document Object Model). Here you have control of both the
    front end and the back end, so you can do whatever you want! Enjoy.