Step 1: Why Organize Routes?

Imagine your code is like a big kitchen. 🍳
If all the ingredients, pots, and pans are thrown in one corner, cooking gets messy fast!

Right now, all our API routes are in server.js. That’s fine for small projects, but as we grow, it’s better to organize routes in separate files. This makes your project clean, readable, and easier to maintain.

Step 2: Create a Routes Folder

1. In your project folder, make a new folder called routes:

mkdir routes

2. Inside routes, create a file called users.js.

This file will hold all the user-related routes.

Step 3: Move Routes into users.js

In routes/users.js, put this code:

const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
const sqlite3 = require('sqlite3').verbose();

// Database connection
const db = new sqlite3.Database('./database.db');

// GET all users
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
    db.all('SELECT * FROM users', [], (err, rows) => {
        if (err) return res.status(500).json({ error: err.message });
        res.json(rows);
    });
});

// GET user by ID
router.get('/:id', (req, res) => {
    const { id } = req.params;
    db.get('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?', [id], (err, row) => {
        if (err) return res.status(500).json({ error: err.message });
        res.json(row);
    });
});

// POST create new user
router.post('/', (req, res) => {
    const { name, email } = req.body;

    // Simple input validation
    if (!name || !email) {
        return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Name and email are required!' });
    }

    db.run('INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)', [name, email], function(err) {
        if (err) return res.status(500).json({ error: err.message });
        res.json({ id: this.lastID, name, email });
    });
});

// PUT update user
router.put('/:id', (req, res) => {
    const { id } = req.params;
    const { name, email } = req.body;

    if (!name || !email) {
        return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Name and email are required!' });
    }

    db.run('UPDATE users SET name = ?, email = ? WHERE id = ?', [name, email, id], function(err) {
        if (err) return res.status(500).json({ error: err.message });
        res.json({ updatedID: id, name, email });
    });
});

// DELETE user
router.delete('/:id', (req, res) => {
    const { id } = req.params;
    db.run('DELETE FROM users WHERE id = ?', [id], function(err) {
        if (err) return res.status(500).json({ error: err.message });
        res.json({ deletedID: id });
    });
});

module.exports = router;

Notice how we added simple input validation. If someone tries to create a user without a name or email, our API will politely refuse. 😊

Step 4: Update server.js

Now we need to tell server.js to use this new route file:

const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const userRoutes = require('./routes/users');

const app = express();
const PORT = 3000;

app.use(bodyParser.json());

// Use the user routes
app.use('/users', userRoutes);

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
    res.send('Hello, young coder! Your organized REST API is running. 🚀');
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
    console.log(`Server is running on http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});

Now, all user routes live in routes/users.js and server.js stays clean and simple.

Step 5: Test Everything

• Open Postman or use curl to check that all endpoints (GET /users, POST /users, etc.) still work.

• Try sending invalid data to POST /users to see the validation in action.

Step 6: Next Tips from Your Coding Grandpa 😄

• You can create more route files for other features like products.js or tasks.js.

• Learn about Express middleware to add authentication or logging.

• Always keep routes small and organized—like tidy drawers in your kitchen!