DEV Community: Gray

Building Balgs Store

Gray — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:10:06 +0000

Earlier this year, I decided to build up an idea I always had in mind, which is an online Iphone ecommerce store, not to disrupt the market but to facilitate business for already existing vendors.

I decided to learn Spring boot and build the entire backend system with it, and from the look of things at this moment

I am able to pull it off, setting everything up, starting from swagger down to endpoints implementations.

For the frontend, I basically vibe coded it using Claude AI and I am so happy I did.

I will be releasing the github repos by April 10th 2026, I would be marketing the product for traction

Getting to know about Spring boot

Gray — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:12:55 +0000

Early this year, I took up the challenge to learn Java and then pivot to building with Spring boot, which is the most popular framework for Java.

The learning curve was not that steep, as I correlated every concept with that of NestJs, which quite intertwine in term of working mechanics.

Udemy Java Certification

By the end of the course, I set out to build balgs, which is an online iphone ecommerce store. Actually I built it already using NestJs, but rebuilding it using Spring boot was so much faster and I was more confident about the system I built.

I am looking to building more project with spring boot, particularly geared at Fintech.

Building a CRUD application with React, TypeScript, TypeORM, MySQL, GraphQL, and NodeJs | Part A

Gray — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 16:10:45 +0000

In building a CRUD application we would need a client and a server, to cut to the chase I will be starting with the server.

To start the project, run

$ yarn init

Press the Enter key for all prompts, ;), I will need to set up Typescript for my project

$ tsc --init

The above to create Typescript configuration file, within the tsconfig.json, uncomment the following
****
Now, it's time to install some packages and dependencies

$ yarn add nodemon cors express express-graphql graphql typeorm mysql2 typescript ts-node dotenv

Then install the types of some of the dependencies

$ yarn add @types/node @types/express @types/cors

We need to add some script to the package.json so that we can be able to start our application based on certain commands like yarn dev or npm run dev.
Add the following to your package.json

Remember we need to create two folders namely, src and dist incase you can still go back to your tsconfig.json we uncommented out outDir: "dist/" and rootDir: "src/", our written Typescript cannot be understood by the browser so it's transpiled into the output direction(dist folder) of which you should have created by now.

Now, create an index.ts within the src folder as the entry point of our server.
Type in the following code as a starter template

Let's try running the server using the below-updated code

Run

$ yarn dev

Next, we would be connecting our baby server to a database using typeORM, before we do that create a .env file outside your src folder and store your database and other details like this:

Make sure your detail for the above is correct, i.e. it matches your MySQL configuration. In case you don't know how to set up your MySQL, you could watch a YouTube video on that.
Next, we set up our Db creating its folder within the src folder

|-src
   |--- Db
        |--- index.ts

Next, head over to the entry file and add the following code

If your database details are correct, you get the below result

Hooray!! We connected to our Database using TypeORM

Next, we start setting up Graphql for our API, I would implore you to strap your belt well.

To know about Graphql and why it's being used head over to for more details, Now let's cut to the chase.

To include Graphql, create the following folder structure within your src,

Quick rant:

In Graphql, all requests to get data from our database are housed within the Queries folder, Query are more like the GET requests in building REST APIs. The Mutations are replicas of the PUT, PATCH, UPDATE, and DELETE requests in REST APIs, then within the TypeDefs we define attributes contained and can be queried from data stored within the database.

|-src
   | ...
   |-- Schema
         |--- Mutations
                 |---- User.ts
         |--- Queries
                 |---- User.ts
         |--- TypeDefs
                 |---- User.ts
         |--- index.ts

Add the following code within the entry file, but it has to be commented out as we don't yet have our schemas

One quite important thing is to create a table so that we can be able to query and mutate values within our database, first, we create an Entities folder with a User.ts file
Now, enter the below code to create our User table schema:

Now, we need to create our User mutation, queries, and typedef first.
Within the typeDef index file, add the following code

Next, within the Mutation User file, add the following code

args: Specify the parameters that are required to create a user

Next, we need to specify a query for getting all users from the database, Go to your Queries folder and place the following code into your index file:

The new GraphQLList() specifies that we would be receiving a list of types which was defined.

Next, we create our Schema by entering the following code within the index.ts file which is inside the Schema folder

Now, the remaining thing is to uncomment the route we had to our graphql in our entry file

Your final entry index.ts file should look like this

Also, add our Created entity inside the array of entities within our database configuration like this:

You should have your MYSQL running, go to your browser and enter the url:localhost:/graphql
Do you see one cool thing about graphql, we only use one route which is /graphql.

Now, you should see your studio, which looks like this:

Quick notice: Your table is not yet created, to create your table set the synchronize value in your Db configuration to true, after it reflects on your Database set it back to false.

Your MySQL should look like this:

Now, let's add a user to our database from our graphql studio. In graphql we use mutation to effect changes or insertions, let's add a user to our database

The change is effected, as you can see

Now, let's try and query our data from the database
Note: I added two extra records to our database, now let's query them

Also, enabling logging: true will render the SQL statement within your terminal

Exactly what we wanted.

Congratulations you got to the end of part A.

Designing an Data flow diagram for an online shopping system

Gray — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 13:59:53 +0000

Currently in my 300 level and being bombarded with the above assignment from Mrs. Aminat Atanda on Software Engineering. My quest to derive the sensical diagram for the above really cracked up my sleeping brain, as that part of computer science which I have been yearning for awakens.
Now, let's delve into the system, in designing this system we need to identify the entities, processes and data flows with data which are possibly flowing through this systems. In a shopping system, we have our Customer, Payment Gateway, probably a product but I don't want to complicate things for myself so I don't want to include it.
Now I made effort to identify the processes which could occur within the system, viz: authentication of user, add product to cart, search for product, view all product, checkout e.t.c.
Next I identify, What data store will I need to store some of my data like, customer data(authenticated users), ordered product, products in cart.
When I mapped out this important details, I resolve to draw them out and connecting them using draw.io