URL Shortener Python Challenge

The challenge is to create an API to shorten urls, in the style that TinyURL and bit.ly made popular.

Rules

1. The service must expose HTTP endpoints according to the definition below.
2. The service must be self contained, built on Python using Flask and able to be installed locally by following the steps you write in the README.
3. Write acceptance tests for your endpoints.
4. A data store is not required but it is a nice to have.

---

Setup

run

docker-compose build

to build the project.

Then

docker-compose up -d

System will be running on localhost:8000.

First Add some data with POST to the system and then try to navigate via short code.

Running unit tests

take a look at your running container id via docker ps

then run docker exec -it <container-id> python tests.py

API Documentation

All responses must be encoded in JSON and have the appropriate Content-Type header

POST api/shorten

POST api/shorten
Content-Type: "application/json"

{
  "url": "http://example.com",
  "shortcode": "example"
}

Attribute	Description
url	url to shorten
shortcode	preferential shortcode

Returns:

201 Created
Content-Type: "application/json"

{
  "shortcode": :shortcode
}

A random shortcode is generated if none is requested, the generated short code has exactly 6 alpahnumeric characters and passes the following regexp: ^[0-9a-zA-Z_]{6}$.

Errors:

Error	Description
400	url is not present
409	The the desired shortcode is already in use. Shortcodes are case-sensitive.
422	The shortcode fails to meet the following regexp: ^[0-9a-zA-Z_]{4,}$.

GET api/:shortcode

GET api/:shortcode
Content-Type: "application/json"

Attribute	Description
shortcode	url encoded shortcode

Returns

302 response with the location header pointing to the shortened URL

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: http://www.example.com

Errors

Error	Description
404	The shortcode cannot be found in the system

GET api/:shortcode/stats

GET api/:shortcode/stats
Content-Type: "application/json"

Attribute	Description
shortcode	url encoded shortcode

Returns

200 OK
Content-Type: "application/json"

{
  "start_date": "2012-04-23T18:25:43.511Z",
  "last_seen_date": "2012-04-23T18:25:43.511Z",
  "redirect_count": 1
}

Attribute	Description
start_date	date when the url was encoded, conformant to ISO8601
redirect_count	number of times the endpoint GET /shortcode was called
last_seen_date	date of the last time the a redirect was issued, not present if redirectCount == 0

Errors

Error	Description
404	The shortcode cannot be found in the system