binbashburns.com - BadgeBox

A .NET-based project that pulls public Credly badges and renders them in a static résumé site.

Components (requirements):

• C# Web API (src/BadgeBox.Api): Minimal API that fetches public Credly badge data and normalizes it.
• Consumer app (src/BadgeBox.Cli): Console app that calls the API and writes normalized JSON into the Jekyll site.
• Test library (tests/BadgeBox.Tests): xUnit tests (with FluentAssertions) covering normalization logic.
• Documentation: this README plus comments in code and workflows.

Website: website/ is a Jekyll site (served by GitHub Pages). The CLI writes website/_data/credly-badges.json, and a Liquid include renders a badge grid.

---

Architecture

Credly (public JSON endpoint)
          │
          ▼
   BadgeBox.Api  <-- .NET 9 Minimal API (Swagger + MemoryCache)
      /api/badges?userId=...         /api/status?userId=... (summary)
          │
          ▼
   BadgeBox.Cli  <-- Console app (calls API, writes JSON to Jekyll data)
          │
          ▼
   website/ (Jekyll)  <-- builds static site with badges include
          │
          ▼
   GitHub Pages (Actions deploy)

Caching: API responses are cached in-memory for 30 minutes.

---

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 9.0+
• Ruby 3.x with Bundler (for local Jekyll builds)
• GitHub Pages enabled in the repo (Build & Deploy via GitHub Actions)

---

Quick Start (local)

1. Build & test

   dotnet restore
   dotnet build -c Release
   dotnet test -c Release

2. Run the API

   dotnet run --project src/BadgeBox.Api --urls http://localhost:5080
   # Health check: curl -s http://localhost:5080/health

3. Generate the badges JSON with the CLI

   export BADGEBOX_API=http://localhost:5080
   export USER_ID=02999b05-9f6e-4eb8-9c6b-556b7ec90f54   # your Credly user GUID
   export OUT_FILE=website/_data/credly-badges.json
   export STATUS_FILE=status.json
   dotnet run --project src/BadgeBox.Cli

4. Run the website locally (optional)

   cd website
   bundle install
   bundle exec jekyll serve
   # open http://127.0.0.1:4000

---

API

Base URL (local): http://localhost:5080

• GET /health
  Returns { "status": "ok" }.

• GET /api/badges?userId={credlyUserId}
  Returns normalized badge DTOs:

  {
    "id": "uuid",
    "name": "Badge Name",
    "issuer": "Issuer",
    "issuedAt": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "expiresAt": "2029-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "isExpired": false,
    "daysUntilExpiry": 1234,
    "url": "https://www.credly.com/badges/.../public_url",
    "imageUrl": "https://images.credly.com/images/.../image.png",
    "description": "…",
    "skills": ["…"]
  }

• GET /api/status?userId={credlyUserId}&soonDays=30
  Returns summary counts { total, expired, expiringSoon }.

---

CLI

Environment variables:

• BADGEBOX_API (default http://localhost:5080)
• USER_ID (required) - Credly user GUID
• OUT_FILE (default website/_data/credly-badges.json)
• STATUS_FILE (default status.json)
• STRICT (optional; "1" fails if any expired certifications)

Example:

BADGEBOX_API=http://localhost:5080 USER_ID=02999b05-9f6e-4eb8-9c6b-556b7ec90f54 dotnet run --project src/BadgeBox.Cli

Exit codes:

• 0 success
• 1 strict mode failed (expired certs)
• 2 missing USER_ID

---

Tests

dotnet test -c Release

• Unit tests in tests/BadgeBox.Tests cover the normalization logic.
• Add more tests for edge cases (missing fields, alternate Credly shapes, expiration math).

---

CI / CD

• .github/workflows/api-ci.yml
  Builds and tests API & tests on pushes/PRs.

• .github/workflows/website-build.yml

  • Restores, builds, and runs the API locally in the job
  • Runs the CLI to generate website/_data/credly-badges.json
  • Builds the Jekyll site and deploys to GitHub Pages
  • Also scheduled weekly (cron) to refresh badge data

Configuration:

• Make sure GitHub Pages is set to “GitHub Actions” as the source.
• If you want to fail on expired certs in CI, set STRICT: "1" in the website workflow’s env.

---

Project Structure

src/
  BadgeBox.Api/        # Minimal API (Swagger, Credly client, normalizer)
  BadgeBox.Cli/        # Console app (fetch -> write JSON)
tests/
  BadgeBox.Tests/      # xUnit tests
website/
  _data/credly-badges.json  # generated by CLI (ignored by git)
  _includes/badge-grid.html # Liquid to render badges
  assets/css/badges.css
  index.md, badges.md
BadgeBox.sln
Directory.Build.props  # shared .NET settings (net9.0, nullable, etc.)

---

Notes / Future Enhancements

• Add disk or distributed caching layer for API.
• Optional: proxy images via a small CDN/cache.
• Add E2E site tests (e.g., Playwright) to verify the badges page renders in CI.
• Add a resume “badge section” that can be toggled or filtered by issuer/skill.

---

License

TBD.