Bash REST server

Simple and light Bash REST server for inventory management

Description

I wanted to create a tool for keeping track of an inventory, and I wanted the data to be readily available in my phone or my PC whenever I needed it.

Since I have an old Raspberry Pi 2 always connected to my home network, I opted to use it as a server. Finally, being my server an old Raspberry Pi 2, onto which several utilities are continuously running, I wanted my tool to be as "light" as possible.

Thus, I wrote this tool in Bash, using all the tools it offers and leveraging netcat to manage the TCP connections. Of course this script is not suited for big or very complex datasets, but it is very useful for a bit of household management!

Use case: scale model kits inventory

I have a lot of unfinished kits and accessories stored in several boxes at home and in my basement. If I'm looking for a specific kit, I don't want to check the content of all of these boxes to find it, but I want to know the content of each box without opening it. How to do it?

1. First of all, I wrote my inventory in a CSV-like text file (I changed the field separators to |, in case the names contained any commas), e.g.:

   # position|description|brand
   box_1|MkIV "Male"|Emhar
   box_3|Somua S35|Tamiya
   box_2|LVT-4 "Water Buffalo"|Italeri
   box_1|8,8cm FlaK 36/37|Italeri
   box_2|Merkava Mk.II|Minicraft
   

   Being a plain text file, it's human-redable and simple to edit. I don't have hundreds of kits, after all, so this solution is quite manageable.

2. I created the main script, bash_rest_server.sh, which uses netcat to accept incoming requests, forwards them to a "handler" script for processing and send a response back. I wrote it as much generic and modular as possible, so I will be able to add new use cases in the future if I want.

3. A handler script, handle_model.sh, is called by the main one. It will process a specific request, read the data from the inventory file and create a response (either in JSON or in HTML format), then it will return such response back to the caller script.

4. The main script will run as a service on the Raspberry Pi 2, listening to a specific port (e.g. 20000) and I will be able to use a browser to make a query to it (e.g. http://my.raspberry:20000/model/box/2?fmt=html) and display the result.

I put a label on each box with a QR-Code containing the related REST URL, and thus I will be able to read the content of each one. Alternatively, I can simply query for a specific model or brand (e.g. http://my.raspberry:20000/model/brand/Tamiya?fmt=html) and read where it is stored.

Add other use cases

Other use cases can be added by simply adding a new path in bash_rest_server.sh and the related handler script.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/vonvikken/bash_rest_server. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.

Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting in the Bash REST Server project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.

License

This project is distributed under the MIT license.