Rapid Product Development with n8n: Practical guide to creating digital products on the web using workflow automation and n8n

Rapid Product Development with n8n
Foreword
Contributors
About the authors
About the reviewers
Preface
    Who this book is for
    What this book covers
    To get the most out of this book
    Download the example code files
    Download the color images
    Conventions used
    Get in touch
    Share Your Thoughts
Section 1 – An Introduction to Your Toolkit
Chapter 1: Introduction to No Code, n8n, and Bubble
    Technical requirements
    What is no code?
    Why does no code matter?
    An introduction to n8n
        Installing n8n
    How do people use n8n to solve problems?
        CRM call recording access
        Goomer pivots during COVID-19
        n8n sails the seven seas
    An introduction to Bubble
    Summary
Chapter 2: Using the Editor UI to Create Workflows
    Technical requirements
    Introduction to the Editor UI
    Exploring the regular and trigger nodes
    Expressions – using dynamic data
    Workflows – putting it all together
    Creating your first workflow – Hello World
    Summary
Chapter 3: Diving into Core Nodes and Data in n8n
    Technical requirements
    Introduction to the data structure in n8n
        JSON syntax
        n8n JSON structure
    Function node – Custom JavaScript in workflows
    The items array
        Dot notation
        Outputting data
        Data from other nodes (the $items method)
        Manipulating data
    HTTP Request node – Talk to any API
        Web API 101
        Anatomy of an API URL
        Other parameters
        HTTP methods
        Response codes
        Basic API call
        Using basic authentication
    Webhook node – Handling real-time events
        Creating a basic test Webhook
        Sending information to n8n
        Responding to the client
    Working with arrays and JSON objects
        Separating the cats from the dogs
        Combining two arrays
        Adding the same value to all JSON objects
    Summary
Chapter 4: Learn by Doing: Building Two n8n Apps
    Technical requirements
    Building products with n8n
    Building a Telegram bot
    Building a metrics dashboard
    Sharing and discovering workflows
    Summary
Section 2 – Building an API to Power Your Application
Chapter 5: Building Your First API Endpoints
    Technical requirements
    Planning your project's API
        Easy to understand
        Output data in JSON
        Using the GET, HEAD, and POST HTTP methods
        Knowing what your API will do
        Having meaningful and consistent response codes
        Consistent noun/verb design
        Submitting data
        Versioning your API
        Documenting your API
    Configuring the Webhook node to handle requests
        Parameters
        Response Code
        Response Mode
    Building the API in n8n
        API project specifications
        Creating credentials
        Creating Webhooks
        The rest of the workflow
    Securing your API endpoints
        Using SSL/TLS security
        Limiting where users come from
        Proxying your API
        Rotating security tokens
        Tracking and limiting the number of requests
        Providing metadata in your API responses
    Testing your API
        Use a testing platform
        Follow the documentation
        Try to break it
        Confirm the data
        Ongoing testing
    Summary
Chapter 6: Powering Your API with a No Code Database
    Technical requirements
    Learning about no code databases
    Selecting a database for your project
    Using Airtable for reading and writing data
    Best practices for working with databases
        Minimizing bandwidth
        Compressing data
        Minimizing API calls
        Minimizing database queries
        Minimizing database writes
        Enabling data caching
        Backing up the database
        Recording transactions
        Using record references and table views
        Securing your database
        Performing calculations on the database
        Load testing the database
    Optimizing your API for production
        Reducing database calls
        Caching data before the API
        Minimizing API calls
        Requiring authentication
        Encrypting API data on the wire
        Tracking API requests
        Tying API users to IP addresses
        Limiting the number of API calls per user per second
        Properly documenting the API
    Summary
Chapter 7: Transforming Your Data inside a Workflow
    Technical requirements
    Sharing data between workflows
    Merging datasets
    Performing calculations and analytics
    Summary
Chapter 8: Utilizing the Bubble API in n8n
    Technical requirements
    Introducing the Bubble API
        Bubble API endpoints
        Bubble API settings
    Understanding Bubble's data structure
        Data types
        Data security (privacy)
    Understanding Bubble's workflow engine
    Using Bubble's Data API
        Authentication
        Data manipulation
        Searching for data
    Using Bubble's Workflow API
        Activating a workflow
        Sending data to a workflow
    Receiving events and data from Bubble
        Configuring n8n
        Configuring Bubble
    Summary
Section 3 – Building the User Interface and Connecting the API
Chapter 9: Building the User Interface of the Application
    Implementing responsive design for your web app
        Responsive design factors
        Using the Responsive Viewer
        Learning more
    Working with events in Bubble
        Event types
        Setting up events
        Going deeper
    Validating data in Bubble
        Field types
        Custom data types
        Using the fields
        More data validation
    Designing the application structure
        Reviewing the design
    Dealing with errors in Bubble
        Planning for user error
        Locking down the application
        Detailed logging
        Debugging tools
    Summary
Chapter 10: We’ve Only Just Begun
    We’ve come a long way
        Introducing no-code tools
        APIs and data
        Building the user interface
    Where to next?
        Look for a problem to solve
        Dream big and start small
        Start an automation journal
        Get ideas from others
    Starting your next project
        Break it down
        Write it down
        Review n8n nodes
        Steal others’ code
    Conclusion