Coursera API Data Access and Export

Uses Laravel 5.2.15 to access the Coursera API and persist data to a MySQL DB. Also provides ability to export the persisted data to Excel files. Updation and export of data (and sends via email) can also be easily scheduled.

Record Types

• Courses
• Partners
• Instructors

Pre-Requisites

This is a laravel 5 app so the same requirements apply:

• PHP >= 5.5.9
• OpenSSL PHP Extension
• PDO PHP Extension
• Mbstring PHP Extension
• Tokenizer PHP Extension
• Composer - https://getcomposer.org/

Setting Up Instructions

• GIT CLONE or DOWNLOAD and UNZIP the zip file from this page.
• Run composer install in the root of this directory.
• Setup a MySQL database on your machine using whatever you want. I prefer MySQL CLI. For GUI options on the Mac - look at http://www.sequelpro.com/
• Rename the file called example.env in the root of this directory to just .env. Change details as needed in this file. At the minimum, you will have to enter your database credentials. You should also add your email setup here as needed. Laravel supports "smtp", "mail", "sendmail", "mailgun", "mandrill" and a few others. I chose to go with Mailgun.
• Run php artisan key:genrate to setup the app key.
• Run php artisan migrate to create the databases needed.
• Run php artisan serve in the root. This will launch a simple local server on http://localhost:8000.
• Visit http://localhost:8000 in a browser of your choice. - NO WORK HAS BEEN DONE ON THE FRONTEND YET SO STAY OFF OF THIS. USE THE COMMANDS DETAILED BELOW INSTEAD.

Basic Usage Instructions

• Haven't had the time to finish the frontend to so STAY OFF OF IT.
• Besides the frontend, you have terminal access to the main commands:
• Running php artisan coursera:update --recordType=courses will query the Coursera API and update the Database with Courses not yet in our database.
• Running php artisan coursera:export --recordType=courses will export all current database entries for Courses to .xlsx files and emails them as per.
• Other available recordType options usable with above commands - 'partners', 'instructors' and 'all'. Defaults to 'all'. Just replace 'courses' in the above commands to whatever recordType you wish.
• Exported files are stored in storage/exports/coursera directory.

Scheduling Updates and Exports

• Start the scheduler by setting up the below cron entry (run crontab -e)
• * * * * * php /path/to/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1
• Go to app/console/kernel.php and look for the the schedule() method. This is where you can setup when you want the updates to occur and when you want the exports(+email) to occur.
• Read more about scheduling frequency options here - https://laravel.com/docs/5.2/scheduling.
• Defaults to 'daily' updates and 'weekly' exports.

ToDo

• Abstract a lot of stuff currently in the controller to make them usable for EdX, Udacity and may be more providers. - PARTIALLY DONE (extracted to commands)
• Provide a proper frontend rather than the ugly stuff this has right now as an excuse.

Contact Info

• skype: pratyushpundir
• email: pratyushpundir@icloud.com
• http://www.sublimearts.me