NCT127 – NASA Collection of Technologies

A full-stack web application to explore NASA's technology patents. Built for educational exploration and personal research organization.

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Features

• Search NASA Patents via the TechTransfer API
• Detailed Patent Views with modal interface
• Stash System to preview saved patents
• Profile Management with persistent saves
• Notes, URLs, and Tags per patent
• Tag Filtering for fast lookup
• User Authentication (Sign Up & Login)
• Material UI + Framer Motion animations

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API Endpoints

All requests are prefixed with /api.

Account & Auth (nctAccount.js)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/nctaccount	Retrieve all accounts
POST	/nctaccount	Register a new user
GET	/nctaccount/:accountId	Get user by ID
PUT	/nctaccount/:accountId	Update user data
POST	/nctaccount/login	Login user

Patent Handling (handlePatents.js)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/handlePatents/:accountId	Get all saved patents for user
POST	/handlePatents/:accountId	Add new patent to user profile
GET	/handlePatents/:accountId/:patentId	Get one patent by ID
PUT	/handlePatents/:accountId/:patentId	Update notes, tags, URLs
DELETE	/handlePatents/:accountId/:patentId	Remove patent from user profile

NASA External Search (nasaApi.js)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/nasaApi/:search	Search patents from NASA API

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Data Flow (Frontend <-> Backend)

• React (frontend) uses fetch() to communicate with Express (backend).
• State is shared across routes via React Router using useSearchParams or useParams.
• Data is stored in a MongoDB collection named accounts, each user with a patents array.

MongoDB Schema

{
  "_id": ObjectId,
  "username": String,
  "email": String,
  "password": String,
  "patents": [
    {
      "id": String,
      "data": Array,
      "notes": String,
      "tags": [String],
      "urls": [String]
    }
  ]
}

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File Structure

project-root/
├── frontend/
│   └── src/
│       ├── App.jsx
│       ├── components/
│       ├── assets/
│       └── main.jsx
├── backend/
│   ├── server.js
│   ├── api/
│   └── config/
├── Documents/
│   └── (project writeups, diagrams, reports)
└── README.md

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Setup Instructions

1. Frontend Setup

cd frontend
npm install
npm install react react-dom react-router-dom
npm install @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled
npm install lucide-react
npm install framer-motion

2. Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install
npm install express cors body-parser mongodb
npm install -g nodemon
nodemon server.js

3. MongoDB Setup

• Install MongoDB Community Edition
• Create a database: NCT127
• Create a collection: accounts
• Ensure the MongoDB URI and port in config/db.js match your local MongoDB setup

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Team Contribution

Danton Dang

• Frontend: PatentView, Profile, View/Edit Notes, Stash Page
• Backend: CRUD endpoints for accounts and patents

Evan

• Frontend: Navbar, Dropdowns, Login/Signup
• Backend: User authentication routes and validation logic

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