What I Watched Today

A Hollywood-themed movie log where every film you watch gets its own spotlight, poster, rating, and review.

Lights. Camera. Log.

Welcome to What I Watched Today: a cinematic watch journal built with Node.js, Express, EJS, PostgreSQL, and OMDb. It’s designed like a backstage pass to your personal film archive, where every entry gets a poster reveal and a spot on the marquee.

What This App Does

• Add a new movie to your watch list
• Automatically fetch a poster from OMDb when available
• Store the date watched, rating, and your notes in PostgreSQL
• Edit existing entries
• Delete entries with password confirmation
• Display your watch history in a clean, date-grouped timeline

Trailer

When the app opens, you land on your personal screening room:

• The home page shows your movie log
• The add form lets you enter a title, watch date, rating, notes, and admin password
• The edit screen pre-fills an existing entry for quick updates
• The delete confirmation screen adds one last security checkpoint before an entry disappears from the lineup

Cast And Crew

• Runtime: Node.js + Express
• Template engine: EJS
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Poster lookup: OMDb API
• Middleware: body-parser, dotenv
• HTTP client: axios

Scene Setup

1. Install Dependencies

npm install

2. Prepare Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root using the same keys as .env.example:

OMDB_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
PASSWORD=your_secure_password_here

3. Create The Database

This app expects a PostgreSQL database named Movies and a movies table.

Example schema:

CREATE TABLE movies (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    title TEXT NOT NULL,
    watch_date DATE NOT NULL,
    rating INTEGER NOT NULL,
    review TEXT,
    poster TEXT
);

4. Update Database Credentials If Needed

The database connection lives in index.js. If your local PostgreSQL setup uses different credentials, update them there or refactor the connection to use environment variables.

5. Start The Show

node index.js

Then open:

http://localhost:3000

Script Notes

The current package.json includes only a placeholder test script.

• Start the app with node index.js
• Add your own dev or start script later if you want a smoother production flow

Routes On The Bill

• GET / - Show the full watch log
• GET /add - Open the add movie form
• POST /add - Save a new movie entry
• GET /edit/:id - Open the edit form for one movie
• POST /edit/:id - Update an existing entry
• GET /delete-confirm/:id - Show the delete confirmation screen
• POST /delete - Remove a movie after password confirmation

File Map

• index.js - Express app, database access, and route logic
• views/index.ejs - Main movie log page
• views/add.ejs - Add movie form
• views/edit.ejs - Edit movie form
• views/delete-confirm.ejs - Delete confirmation screen
• public/static/main.css - App styling

Production Tips

• Keep your .env file private
• Replace hardcoded database credentials in index.js with environment variables before deployment
• Make sure PostgreSQL is running before you launch the app
• If OMDb returns no poster, the app falls back to a placeholder image

Credits

• Built by Mridul Jha
• Movie poster data powered by OMDb
• Crafted as a personal movie log inspired by classic premiere-night energy

Final Frame

This project is basically your personal awards-night archive: every movie gets a record, a rating, and a little red-carpet treatment.

If you want, the next upgrade could be a sharper npm start script, a deployment section, or a more dramatic README badge layout.