🎨 ArtUnion API

ArtUnion is a comprehensive ASP.NET Web API platform that connects artists and critics, enabling artists to showcase their work and receive professional feedback from critics.

📋 Project Overview

ArtUnion API serves as the backend for a portfolio and criticism platform that allows:

• 👨‍🎨 Artists to upload and manage their artwork in personal portfolios
• 🧐 Critics to provide professional feedback and ratings on artworks
• 👥 Users to follow their favorite artists and receive updates
• 👮‍♂️ Administrators to manage the platform's content and categories

💻 Tech Stack

• Framework: ASP.NET Core (.NET 6+)
• ORM: Entity Framework Core
• Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
• Email Service: SMTP integration
• Background Jobs: 🔄 Hangfire for automated tasks
• Cloud Services:
  • ☁️ AWS RDS for database
  • 📂 AWS S3 for artwork image storage
• Design Patterns: Repository Pattern
• Tools:
  • 🔄 AutoMapper for object mapping
  • ✅ FluentValidation for Model validation
  • 📄 Pagination for large data sets
  • 🛡️ Proper error handling and logging

✨ Core Features

👤 User Management

• Multiple user roles: Artist, Critic, Admin
• User registration and authentication
• Profile management

🖼️ Portfolio & Artwork Management

• Artists can create and manage portfolios
• Upload artwork with details (title, description, category)
• Organize artwork by categories
• ❤️ Like/unlike artwork functionality

📝 Criticism System

• Critics can provide ratings and textual feedback on artwork
• Artists receive notifications about new critiques

🔔 Subscription System

• Users can follow artists they like
• Followers receive notifications about new artwork from artists they follow

📧 Email Notifications

• Registration confirmation
• New criticism alerts
• New artwork notifications
• Weekly digest of popular works (automated via Hangfire)

🗄️ Storage

• Artwork images stored in AWS S3
• Database hosted on AWS RDS

🔌 API Endpoints

🔐 Authentication

• POST /api/auth/register - Register as Artist or Critic
• POST /api/auth/login - Login and receive JWT token

👥 Users

• GET /api/users - List all users (Admin only)
• GET /api/users/{id} - Get specific user information
• PUT /api/users/{id} - Update user information
• DELETE /api/users/{id} - Delete user (Admin only)

📁 Portfolios

• GET /api/portfolios - List all portfolios
• GET /api/portfolios/{id} - View specific portfolio
• POST /api/portfolios - Create new portfolio (Artist only)
• PUT /api/portfolios/{id} - Update portfolio (Owner only)
• DELETE /api/portfolios/{id} - Delete portfolio (Owner/Admin)

🖼️ Artworks

• GET /api/artworks - List artworks with filtering
• GET /api/artworks/{id} - View specific artwork
• POST /api/artworks - Add new artwork (Artist only)
• PUT /api/artworks/{id} - Update artwork (Owner only)
• DELETE /api/artworks/{id} - Delete artwork (Owner/Admin)
• GET /api/artworks/category/{categoryId} - Get artworks by category
• POST /api/artworks/{artworkId}/like - Like/unlike an artwork

🏷️ Categories

• GET /api/categories - Get all categories
• GET /api/categories/{id} - Get specific category
• POST /api/categories - Add new category (Admin only)
• PUT /api/categories/{id} - Update category (Admin only)
• DELETE /api/categories/{id} - Delete category (Admin only)

📝 Critiques

• GET /api/critiques/artwork/{artworkId} - Get reviews for specific artwork
• POST /api/critiques - Add review (Critic only)
• PUT /api/critiques/{id} - Update review (Owner only)
• DELETE /api/critiques/{id} - Delete review (Owner/Admin)

🔔 Subscriptions

• GET /api/subscriptions/followers/{artistId} - Get artist's followers
• GET /api/subscriptions/following - Get artists followed by current user
• POST /api/subscriptions/{artistId} - Follow an artist
• DELETE /api/subscriptions/{artistId} - Unfollow an artist

🗂️ Data Models

👤 User

• User information (name, email, password hash, bio, profile image)
• Role (Artist, Critic, Admin)

📁 Portfolio

• Title
• Description
• Creation date
• Owner (Artist)

🖼️ Artwork

• Title
• Description
• Category
• Creation date
• Image URL
• Portfolio reference

🏷️ Category

• Name
• Description

📝 Critique

• Rating
• Comment text
• Creation date
• Critic reference
• Artwork reference

🔔 Subscription

• Follower reference
• Artist reference
• Subscription date

❤️ ArtworkLike

• User reference
• Artwork reference
• Liked timestamp

🔒 Authorization Rules

• API access requires authentication
• Critique creation limited to users with Critic role
• Artwork upload limited to users with Artist role
• Category management limited to users with Admin role
• Content modification restricted to content owners or administrators

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 6 SDK or later
• AWS account with S3 and RDS access
• SMTP server access for email notifications

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/GeorgeShani/ArtUnion-API.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

cd ArtUnion-API

3. Restore NuGet packages:

dotnet restore

4. Create a .env file with your environment variables.

5. Apply migrations to create the database:

dotnet ef database update

6. Run the application:

dotnet run

⚙️ Configuration

The application uses environment variables (.env file) for configuration. Key settings include:

• 🗄️ Database connection information (AWS RDS)
• 🔐 JWT authentication settings
• 📧 SMTP configuration for email notifications
• 📂 AWS S3 credentials for artwork storage
• 🔄 Hangfire configuration for background jobs

🔄 Background Tasks

The application uses Hangfire to schedule and execute background tasks, including:

• 📅 Weekly digest emails of popular artworks
• 📧 Automated email notifications

📞 Contact

For any questions or suggestions regarding this project, please contact:

• Giorgi Shanidze - GitHub Profile