Setup Books 2 Project

🛠️ Initial Setup — Creating the Books Endpoint

In this phase, inside the FastAPI directory, you will create a new Python file called books2.py ✋

FastAPI/
 └── books2.py 

#This file will define your first endpoint and initially return **an empty list**.

👉 You may delete the old books.py file or keep it for reference.

🤝 GET Endpoint for all books

At this stage, we define a GET endpoint responsible for retrieving all books.

🗂️ books2.py

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()

BOOKS = [] #empty list

# 👉 **GET endpoint** responsible for retrieving all books.
@app.get("/books")
async def read_all_books():
    return BOOKS

🔎 What This Code Does

• Creates a FastAPI application instance app = FastAPI()

• Defines an empty list called BOOKS

• Registers a GET endpoint at /books and Returns the contents of the BOOKS list

• Since the list is empty, the response will be [] Empty Array

▶️ Running the Application

Open your terminal and start the application:

uvicorn books2:app --reload

✋ The --reload automatically restarts the server when changes are detected.

🌐 Verifying in the Browser

In your default browser, visit:

<http://127.0.0.1:8000/books>

You should see: []

👉 This confirms your endpoint is working correctly.

🧱 Transition — From Dictionaries to Python Objects

In Project 1, books were simple dictionaries.

✋ In Project 2, books will become real Python objects using a dedicated class.

This approach provides:

• 🧩 Better structure

• 🏗️ Cleaner architecture

• 🔎 Improved readability

• 📈 Scalability for real-world applications

🧩 Defining the Book Class

Add the following class below your FastAPI instance:

🗂️ books2.py

class Book:
    id: int
    title: str
    author: str
    description: str
    rating: int

🔎 What This Does

• Defines required attributes

• Uses type hints for clarity

• Establishes a structured model for each book

🛠️ Adding a Constructor

Now define the constructor to initialize book objects:

🗂️ books2.py

def __init__(self, id, title, author, description, rating):
    self.id = id
    self.title = title
    self.author = author
    self.description = description
    self.rating = rating

🧠 Key Concepts

• __init__ initializes each object

• self refers to the current instance

• Values passed into the class are assigned to object attributes

🧪 Populating the BOOKS List

Here is an example of adding a single book:

🗂️ books2.py

BOOKS = [
    (1, 'Computer Science Pro', 'codingwithrobby', 'A very nice book', 3)
]

To simulate a real dataset, create multiple books:

🗂️ books2.py

BOOKS = [
    Book(1, 'Computer Science Pro', 'codingwithrobby', 'A very nice book', 3),
    Book(2, 'Be Fast with FastAPI', 'codingwithrobby', 'A great book', 5),
    Book(3, 'Master Endpoints', 'codingwithrobby', 'An awesome book', 5),
    Book(4, 'HP1', 'Author 1', 'Book Description', 2),
    Book(5, 'HP2', 'Author 2', 'Book Description', 3),
    Book(6, 'HP3', 'Author 3', 'Book Description', 1)
]

👉 Now your /books endpoint will return a populated list.

▶️ Restarting (If Needed)

If auto-reload does not trigger, restart the server:

uvicorn books2:app --reload

🌐browser

🌐 API Testing with Swagger UI

Navigate in your default browser:

<http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs>

🌐browser

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()

class Book:
    id: int
    title: str
    author: str
    description: str
    rating: int
    
    def __init__(self, id, title, author, description, rating):
        self.id = id
        self.title = title
        self.author = author
        self.description = description
        self.rating = rating 

BOOKS = [
    Book(1, 'Computer Science Pro', 'codingwithrobby', 'A very nice book', 3),
    Book(2, 'Be Fast with FastAPI', 'codingwithrobby', 'A great book', 5),
    Book(3, 'Master Endpoints', 'codingwithrobby', 'An awesome book', 5),
    Book(4, 'HP1', 'Author 1', 'Book Description', 2),
    Book(5, 'HP2', 'Author 2', 'Book Description', 3),
    Book(6, 'HP3', 'Author 3', 'Book Description', 1)
]

@app.get("/books")
async def read_all_books():
    return BOOKS