Inventory - Order Management API

A backend-focused ASP.NET Core Web API project that simulating a simple order management system. Designed to practice API design with authentication, logging, error handling, and relational data.

Features

Authentication & Authorization

• JWT token-based authentication
• Role-based authorization (e.g., Admin vs. User)
• Secure password hashing
• Email Validation

Product Management

• Create, update, delete products
• Validate stock before fulfilling orders

Order Management

• Create orders containing existing products
• Stock deduction when order is placed
• Prevent order submission in case of insufficient stock

Audit Logging

• Tracks all key user actions (e.g., product changes, order creation,..)
• Stores who did what and when

Error Handling/ Validation/ Logging

• Prevent any app crash by properly handling any exceptions
• Logging any unsuccessful attempts/ encountered errors
• Model validation using FluentValidation

Data seeding

• Initial testing data are stored in development environments

Data Model Overview

Entity	Relationships
User	Has many Orders, has many AuditLogs, has many EmailVerificationTokens
EmailVerificationToken	Belongs to single User, records created and expiration date
Product	Appears in many OrderItems, tracks stock quantity and price
Order	Created by one User, contains many OrderItems, tracks created date, order status and price
OrderItem	Links one Order and one Product, tracks ordered quantity and unit price
AuditLog	Belongs to one User, records action & timestamp

Tech Stack

• BE: ASP.NET Core Web API
• Auth: JWT Bearer Tokens
• DB: Entity Framework Core + SQL Server
• Testing: xUnit + Moq
• Validation: FluentValidation
• Logging: Serilog

Tools used

• Postman - for endpoints tests
• PaperCut SMTP - for email tests

Running the app within a docker container

Prerequisites:

• Docker Desktop (includes Docker Engine, CLI, and Compose)
• Alternatively which includes all 3 components

Run the app:

docker compose up --build

Which:

1. Starts a SQL Server 2022 instance
2. Build and start the Inventory-Management.API
3. Starts Papercut SMTP server and email viewer

Accessing components:

• API → http://localhost:7024
• Papercut GUI → http://localhost:8080

Areas for Improvement:

• Add integration tests
• Add functionality to re-send verification emails
• Add background tasks to clear non-verified user and expired email validation tokens
• Implement product search & filtering
• Build small React frontend for visualization
• and many more