DevLog250305

# Dev Log | 250305

Project Ideas & Considerations

1. Enhancing the Spotify Playlist Maker

• Should I develop a UI for better usability?
  
• Could I integrate auto-suggestions based on:
  • Mood-based playlists (e.g., relaxing, focus, energy)?
    
  • Artists and genre preferences?
    
  • Keywords typed in by the user?
    
• Would adding machine learning elements to analyze user history improve recommendations?

2. Netflix Movie Recommendation Tool

• A tool that suggests movies or shows based on:
  • Mood or genre preferences.
    
  • A few simple questions to personalize recommendations.
    
  • Keyword-based searches (e.g., “sci-fi adventure with great cinematography”).
    
• Could use web scraping and AI to refine suggestions fron Netflix current library.
  
• This could be a good introduction to Rust, API integration, web scraping, and AI in a single project.

Reflections & Next Steps

• The Spotify Playlist Maker is now functional, but a UI and better recommendations could make it much more powerful.
  
• A Netflix recommendation tool would be an interesting way to start exploring AI-driven suggestions.
  
• The combination of Rust, APIs, web scraping, and AI opens up endless possibilities—figuring out how to focus efforts effectively.

Immediate Next Steps

• Reflect on whether the Spotify UI and auto-suggestion features should be the next priority.
  
• Consider whether the Netflix recommendation tool is worth prototyping.
  
• Research how Rust handles AI and recommendation engines to evaluate feasibility.

Dev Log: Implementing Tests, CI/CD, and Environment Variable Management

Date: 250305

Overview

This log documents improvements made to the Spotify Playlist Maker Rust project by adding automated tests, setting up GitHub Actions for CI/CD, and properly managing environment variables. These updates enhance project reliability, security, and maintainability.

1. Adding Tests

Unit Tests in Rust

We implemented unit tests to verify that environment variables are being loaded correctly.

Integration Test for .env Variables

A test file was created at tests/integration_tests.rs:

use dotenv::dotenv;
use std::env;

#[test]
fn test_env_variables() {
    dotenv().ok(); // Load .env file
    
    assert!(env::var("SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID").is_ok());
    assert!(env::var("SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET").is_ok());
    assert!(env::var("SPOTIFY_REDIRECT_URI").is_ok());
}

Running Tests

To execute tests, we ran:

cargo test

The tests passed, confirming that the .env variables were properly loaded.

2. Setting Up CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Adding a GitHub Actions Workflow

A new workflow file, .github/workflows/rust-ci.yml, was created to automate testing on every push.

GitHub Actions Workflow (rust-ci.yml)

name: Rust CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build-and-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Set up Rust
        uses: actions-rs/toolchain@v1
        with:
          toolchain: stable
          override: true

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: cargo build --verbose

      - name: Run tests
        run: cargo test --verbose

This workflow ensures that every push and pull request to main is automatically tested.

3. Managing Environment Variables

Moving .env to the Root Directory

To ensure Rust can properly load environment variables, the .env file was moved:

mv src/.env .env

Updating .gitignore

To prevent .env from being committed to GitHub, the .gitignore file was updated:

# Ignore environment variables (API keys, secrets)
.env

This ensures sensitive credentials remain secure.

Verifying .env in Rust

To check if the .env file was being loaded correctly, values were printed in main.rs:

use dotenv::dotenv;
use std::env;

dotenv().ok();
println!("SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID: {:?}", env::var("SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID"));
println!("SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET: {:?}", env::var("SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET"));
println!("SPOTIFY_REDIRECT_URI: {:?}", env::var("SPOTIFY_REDIRECT_URI"));

Running cargo run confirmed that the values were correctly loaded.

4. Pushing Updates to GitHub

Commit and Push

After verifying that everything worked, the changes were committed and pushed:

git add .gitignore .github/workflows/rust-ci.yml tests/
git commit -m "Added GitHub Actions CI/CD and integration tests"
git push origin main

GitHub Actions automatically ran the tests upon push, confirming that the pipeline is functional.

Final Results

• Automated testing is now in place for core functionality.
  
• CI/CD pipeline ensures that all commits and pull requests are tested before merging.
  
• Environment variables are securely managed and properly loaded.
  
• The project is structured for maintainability and scalability.

Next Steps

• Expand test coverage to include playlist creation.
  
• Add logging for better debugging and tracking API responses.
  
• Improve error handling for failed API requests.

With these improvements, the project now has automated testing, secure environment management, and a reliable CI/CD pipeline, ensuring stability as new features are added.