Virtual Plant Care Assistant

A Node.js package to help you manage and track your plants' care needs.

Features

• 🌿 Add, update, and delete plants in your collection
• 💧 Track watering schedules and get reminders for plants that need watering
• 📝 Store plant-specific care tips
• 💾 Save and load your plant data for persistence
• 🖥️ Command-line interface for easy management
• 📦 Can be used as a module in your own applications

Installation

Global Installation (for CLI usage)

npm install -g virtual-plant-care-assistant

Local Installation (for use in your project)

npm install virtual-plant-care-assistant

Usage

As a Command-Line Tool

If installed globally, simply run:

plant-care

This will start an interactive CLI where you can:

• Add new plants
• Get information about your plants
• Water your plants
• Get care tips
• List all your plants
• Delete plants
• Update plant information
• Check which plants need watering
• Save/load your plant data

Using Nodemon

If you're using nodemon for development, you may encounter an infinite restart loop when the package saves data to JSON files. This happens because nodemon detects the file changes and restarts your application.

Solution:

Create a nodemon.json configuration file in your project root with the following content:

{
  "ignore": ["*.json", "node_modules/*"]
}

This will tell nodemon to ignore changes to JSON files, preventing the infinite restart loop.

Alternatively, you can run your tests with regular Node instead of nodemon:

node test-app.js

API Reference

Plant Management

addPlant(name, type, wateringFrequency, careTips)

Adds a new plant to your collection.

• Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the plant

• type (string): The type/category of the plant

• wateringFrequency (number): How often to water the plant (in days)

• careTips (string): Care instructions for the plant

• Returns: Object containing the plant information

getPlantInfo(name)

Returns detailed information about a specific plant.

• Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the plant

• Returns: Object containing the plant information

waterPlant(name)

Records that you've watered a plant and updates the last watered date.

• Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the plant

• Returns: Object with a success message and updated plant information

getCareTips(name)

Returns care tips for a specific plant.

• Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the plant

• Returns: Object with the plant name and care tips

listPlants()

Returns a list of all plants in your collection.

• Returns: Array of plant objects

deletePlant(name)

Removes a plant from your collection.

• Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the plant

• Returns: Object with a success message and the deleted plant information

updatePlant(name, updates)

Updates information for an existing plant.

• Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the plant

• updates (object): Object containing the fields to update

• Returns: Object with the updated plant information

Watering Management

checkWateringNeeds()

Returns a list of plants that need watering based on their watering frequency.

• Returns: Array of plants that need watering

Data Persistence

savePlantsToJSON(filePath)

Saves your plant data to a JSON file.

• Parameters:

• filePath (string): Path where the JSON file should be saved

• Returns: Object with a success message

loadPlantsFromJSON(filePath)

Loads plant data from a JSON file.

• Parameters:

• filePath (string): Path to the JSON file

• Returns: Object with a success message and count of loaded plants

Example for testing (As a Module in Your Project) :

import { 
    addPlant, 
    getPlantInfo, 
    waterPlant, 
    getCareTips, 
    listPlants,
    deletePlant,
    updatePlant,
    checkWateringNeeds,
    loadPlantsFromJSON,
    savePlantsToJSON
  } from 'virtual-plant-care-assistant';
  
  const logSection = (title) => {
    console.log(`\n${title}`);
    console.log('='.repeat(title.length));
  };
  
  const runTests = async () => {
    console.log('===== VIRTUAL PLANT CARE ASSISTANT DEMO =====\n');
  
    // 1. Add some plants
    logSection('1. ADDING PLANTS');
    try {
      console.log(addPlant('Monstera', 'Tropical', 7, 'Keep soil moist but not soggy'));
      console.log(addPlant('Snake Plant', 'Succulent', 14, 'Allow soil to dry completely between waterings'));
      console.log(addPlant('Pothos', 'Vine', 10, 'Tolerates low light, water when top inch of soil is dry'));
      console.log('✅ Plants added successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error adding plants:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 2. List all plants
    logSection('2. LISTING ALL PLANTS');
    try {
      const plants = listPlants();
      console.log(plants);
      console.log('✅ Plants listed successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error listing plants:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 3. Get info for a specific plant
    logSection('3. GETTING PLANT INFO');
    try {
      const monsteraInfo = getPlantInfo('Monstera');
      console.log(monsteraInfo);
      console.log('✅ Plant info retrieved successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error getting plant info:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 4. Water a plant
    logSection('4. WATERING A PLANT');
    try {
      const waterResult = waterPlant('Snake Plant');
      console.log(waterResult);
      console.log('✅ Plant watered successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error watering plant:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 5. Get care tips
    logSection('5. GETTING CARE TIPS');
    try {
      const careTips = getCareTips('Pothos');
      console.log(careTips);
      console.log('✅ Care tips retrieved successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error getting care tips:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 6. Update a plant
    logSection('6. UPDATING A PLANT');
    try {
      const updateResult = updatePlant('Monstera', {
        wateringFrequency: 5,
        careTips: 'Keep in bright indirect light and mist leaves regularly for humidity'
      });
      console.log(updateResult);
      console.log('✅ Plant updated successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error updating plant:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 7. Check watering needs
    logSection('7. CHECKING WATERING NEEDS');
    try {
      const needsWatering = checkWateringNeeds();
      console.log(needsWatering);
      console.log('✅ Watering needs checked successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error checking watering needs:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 8. Save plants data to file
    logSection('8. SAVING PLANTS DATA');
    try {
      const saveResult = await savePlantsToJSON('./my-plants-data.json');
      console.log(saveResult);
      console.log('✅ Plants data saved successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error saving plants data:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 9. Load plants from file
    logSection('9. LOADING PLANTS DATA');
    try {
      const loadResult = await loadPlantsFromJSON('./my-plants-data.json');
      console.log(loadResult);
      console.log('✅ Plants data loaded successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error loading plants data:', error.message);
    }
  
    // 10. Delete a plant
    logSection('10. DELETING A PLANT');
    try {
      const deleteResult = deletePlant('Pothos');
      console.log(deleteResult);
      
      // Verify deletion by listing remaining plants
      console.log('Remaining plants:');
      console.log(listPlants());
      console.log('✅ Plant deleted successfully\n');
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('❌ Error deleting plant:', error.message);
    }
  
    console.log('===== DEMO COMPLETED =====');
  };
  
  runTests().catch(error => {
    console.error('Test failed with error:', error);
  });

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Hridesh Srivastava