API, Timer trigger, Azure function, HTTP function, Food API
Beatrix Cendana is a business student, UX designer/Writer, and tech writer based in Seattle, WA, US. She used to be a medical student in Indonesia and switched her career choice to tech when coming to the US. She first got into programming when she was in the second year of college.
I thought to go to Data Science, so I took many math classes (the highest one was Calc 4), Java 1 and 2 classes.
In her final year of college, she figured out that she was interested in something else instead: designing, writing, and developing a web/application. Thus, she decided not to move forward pursuing a data science career.
For her passion, she is passionate about fast-paced career development, which inspires the way the world functions and lives. She also plans to build a startup in the future that focuses more on earth and sustainability.
To learn more about the camp experience and the challenges she faced, here is the link to her YouTube video.
As a UX designer, tech writer, and international student that works or studies from home due to the pandemic, I need a product that can help me to generate a random recipe for daily cooking. Also, I need a reminder when it is time for me to eat lunch or breakfast. The reason is that I always focus on working without thinking about having a meal on the proper schedule. Before creating this idea or solution, I researched by asking ten people in my Discord group.
6 out of 10 always eat instant noodles or instant foods because they have no idea what to cook or prepare.
So, I decided to create the SMS feature that can remind people to eat based on a proper schedule and add the feature to help them get the random recipe.
I made two flowcharts. In case the Tasty API doesn't work (sometimes it has an issue with the key), I can use another API which is called Spoonacular Food API.
- Timer trigger function: to give the reminder to the user when it is time to cook/eat.
- Food API: Search and understand the users' food preferences by pulling out relevant and detailed food recipes.
- The Technologies (Azure services, APIs, etc.)
- By saving the environment variable in Azure configuration, I can call the timer trigger function to send a message to my phone
No front end or UI in this feature. The language that I applied is Node.js.
- Node-fetch
- Express
- HTTP
Based on the timezone that people choose, they can get notifications when to prepare the meals.
You can type any ingredients that you would like to have and get one random recipe (including the name of the recipe, description, and link).
You can re-type the random ingredient again if you are not satisfied enough with the random recipe that API generates for you :) Easy, right?
The challenges that I ran into were mostly figuring out the best documentation to help me work on the APIs. Also, debugging the code was the most challenging part for me due to the limited knowledge regarding serverless functions.
During my time at the camp, I learned a lot about using the time wisely, being patient, and not giving up doing more research. If one thing doesn't work, it doesn't mean this will be the end of the world.
I also realize that I couldn't finish the final project perfectly due to the limited time working on the code. I also had to juggle campus stuff and work. Sometimes, I wanted to give up and thought that this thing is not for me. But in my mind, I believe there is something I can reach if I want to dig more.
There is no failure except in no longer trying.
-- Elbert Hubbard
Thanks to BitProject for giving me such a huge opportunity to learn more about API or serverless function, participate in the tech conferences, and practice my presentation skills. I never thought that I would work on the development process or backend stuff. Also, I appreciate Jonah for spending time mentoring me and debugging the code together. Her strong coding passion opens my eyes that being a developer is fun! Thanks Jonah!
I hope in the future that this feature can be useful for people that have problem with eating schedule and problem to choose food recipe.
I think I will take a break for two weeks then I will probably fix some bugs, such as timezone problem with Twilio (because it is always default in CET) and change all functions to Azure Durable Functions because this project is easier to be implemented with that. I didn't do this earlier because I still have limited knowledge regarding how Durable functions work. If this project successfully get the best result, I plan to implement this feature in the Android apps. It will require more work to do since I have to do more research and design/UI stuff, but I think this project will be more fun! I would be so glad to earn more experience working as a designer and developer at the same time.
The camp was such a wonderful experience! I never thought that I would have a chance to work on this big project. Something that relates to serverless always amazes me! I don't know that one API can change anything and create a real product that can benefit others. :)
Last but not least, let's say 🥂🥂 thank you for all BitProject team and mentors for all your hardwork! 🥂🥂 Cheers! -- Beatrix Cendana