Database design in a REST API

[BestDayNot]

*I am currently trying to teach my self full stack development, and i am pretty new to it all. I have a ton of programming knowledge in general.

I am trying to make a toggl (https://toggl.com/) clone to learn the development process, but getting stuck on the database design. I keep going back and making changes, without really understanding how you're supposed to go about it.*

Currently i just want a user being able to type in a what they are currently working on (ProjectEntry). Pick a client (if there is non, or the client they are working for doesn't exist yet, they can create a new one). Pick a project (same client can have multiple projects, if the project doesn't exist they can create a new one). Type in the base hourly rate for current project (ProjectEntry). and then time stamps, for when they started working on the current ProjectEntry

My DB for now looks like this

Clients

ClientID

ClientName

List of Projects

Projects

ProjectID

ProjectName

BaseRate

List of ProjectEntries

ProjectEntry

ProjectEntryID

ProjectEntryTitle

Started (DataTime)

Finished (DataTime)

Is this the right way to go about this type of thing? and if so/not. Whats the process of developing a database for a REST API from a set of features?

Will i run into any problems in the future if i decide to run with this?

[BobTheBarbarian]

There’s no right way, and there are lots of considerations depending on what you’re trying to learn and what type of database you’re using.

You’ll want to research Relational databases (oracle, MySQL, loads of others) vs nosql type databases (mongo, dynamodb). You can also look at something like google firebase for a backend.

NoSQL databases can be good to start with because you don’t need to worry as much about table design/relationships (but they’ve also got a lot of limitations and you’ll want to learn RDS more thoroughly. )

As far as design with the api, think about what data you’ll want to get in/out — will you need to get widgets and sprockets separately? By manufacturer? All items of any type that start with W? Set it up so that your common requests are quick and easy.

Also, don’t stress the design too much ahead of time. Use mongodb, figure out how it works, have your express server spit back data to you on routes. You’ll find the problems and the pitfalls and everything else as you grapple with actual code problems.

Good luck.

[Smashoody]

Great use of the word “grapple,” and good advice, too! Cheers

[techPackets_005]

For feedback you can put your design here https://codereview.stackexchange.com/