Creating Categories

Creating Categories

Now that our data model stub is set up, let’s build the ability to actually create categories in the database.

1. The Data Operation

First, implement the createCategory method in our CategoryOps class.

data/categories.js

  async createCategory(formData) {
    try {
      const category = new Category(formData);
      await category.save();
      return { success: true, category };
    } catch (error) {
      return { success: false, error, category: null };
    }
  }

2. The Create Form View

Next, we need an admin form view so we can input new categories. Let’s create category-form.ejs in views/admin/categories/.

{{/* views/admin/categories/category-form.ejs */}}
<h2>Create Category</h2>
<a href="/admin/categories">Back to Categories</a>
<form action="/admin/categories" method="POST">

  <label>
    Name
    <input
      type="text"
      name="name"
      required
      value="<%= category?.name || '' %>"
    />
  </label>

  <label>
    Slug
    <input
      type="text"
      name="slug"
      required
      value="<%= category?.slug || '' %>"
      placeholder="e.g. web-development"
    />
  </label>

  <label>
    Description
    <textarea name="description" rows="5">
<%= category?.description || '' %></textarea
    >
  </label>

  <button type="submit">Save</button>

  <% if (errorMessage) { %>
  <p class="alert"><%= errorMessage %></p>
  <% } %>
</form>

T.A. Watts

Ensure your category-form forces a valid, URL-safe slug schema so we don’t end up with broken category links later!

3. Admin Routing

Now we need to handle the GET route to render the empty form, and the POST route to submit it. Add these to your admin router.

// routers/adminRouter.js (Additions)
const _categoryOps = require("../data/categories");

// GET: show empty create category form
router.get("/categories/new", (req, res) => {
  res.render("admin/categories/category-form", {
    category: null,
    errorMessage: "",
  });
});

// POST: handle create category form submission
router.post("/categories", async (req, res) => {
  const formData = {
    name: req.body.name,
    slug: req.body.slug,
    description: req.body.description,
  };

  const result = await _categoryOps.createCategory(formData);

  if (!result.success) {
    return res.render("admin/categories/category-form", {
      category: formData,
      errorMessage: "Error. Unable to create category.",
    });
  }

  res.redirect("/admin/categories");
});

⏭ Next: Reading Categories

We can create them, but right now our redirect goes nowhere! Next, we need to build the views and operations to actually see the categories we’ve made.