How To Setup A MongoDB App Using Golang On MacOS

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Introduction

The Go programming language (Golang) helps developers, just like you, automate tasks more proficiently. Matter of fact, easier tasking could be one of the main reasons why it’s a popular and preferred language for many coders. Add to the mix, MongoDB, the database that’s document-based, and you’ve also streamlined your productivity in managing your documents.

Lastly, install Golang macOS, then install MongoDB driver macOS, and finally connect MongoDB Golang. That’s it. You’ve placed yourself in a consistent code working environment that’s likely to be reliable day after day. To get there, it’s vital to install MongoDB Golang driver and complete all of the other requirements correctly so they’ll work together seamlessly for you.

Find out more with this tutorial that explains how to setup a MongoDB app using Golang on macOS. If you’re already familiar with how to do this and want to bypass the steps in this lesson, skip to Just the Code.

Prerequisites

  • Install the Golang amd64.pkg installer version for Apple macOS versions 10.0 or later.
  • Complete the installation by first going to the directory of ~/Downloads from a new Finder window.
  • Next, click the Golang package installer icon twice.
  • Follow the prompts to finish the Golang installation. Screenshot of the Golang package .pkg installer for macOS

Edit the shell script Bash profile

  • Modify the .bash_profile with the gedit or nano text editor. A UNIX shell will show the root directory of the user as is indicated by the private directory ~/ or $HOME.
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nano ~/.bash_profile
  • Setup Golang’s location and workspace path’s aliases.
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# GOPATH is for the location of Golang projects  
export GOPATH=/custom/path/to/workspace  
# GOROOT is for the location of the Golang installation  
export GOROOT=/usr/local/go  
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin  
export PATH=$PATH:$GOROOT/bin

Confirm your Golang installation and environment setup

  • Check that Golang is ready to use before you continue. Read on to find out how to reload the shell and check the settings for the environment.

Reload the configuration with source command

  • After you use the source command, use ~/ then . and indicate the name of the shell file including its path as shown in the example below.
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source ~/.bash_profile

Obtain the variables and settings for Golang environment

  • Confirm the changes with the command go env. Every setting will be returned for you to check the .bash_profile.

Get the version number for Golang

  • Substantiate the installation version of Golang by going to the terminal window and typing go version. You should see a response similar to this one below:
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go version go1.12.6 darwin/amd64

Screenshot of a terminal in macOS getting Golang's version and environmental variables

Get the MongoDB driver Golang

  • The GOPATH variable has the project directory specification. Change the (cd) directory based on that. Next, install the MongoDB Golang driver with the go get command like this:
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go get go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver

Make a new Golang document and connect it to MongoDB

  • Construct a new file with that extension .go extension at the end.

  • At the beginning of the file, import the required packages and libraries for a successful MongoDB connection.

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package main  
import (  
// built-in Golang packages  
"context" // for context.WithTimeout  
"fmt" // for the Println() function  
"time" // for the timeout method  
// importing the required dependencies  
"go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo"  
"go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo/options"  
)
  • Create a URI string with the function main(). Take note of URI port domain and host and verify that they’re right.
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func main() {  
// create a URI string to pass to the Mongo Client  
uri := "mongodb://localhost:27017"
  • Take the URI string you just created and make a new client instance. You’d do this by passing it to the NewClient() method of the Mongo Client. Then you can make a MongoDB server connection for that client instance.
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// create a URI string to pass to the Mongo Client  
uri := "mongodb://localhost:27017"  
// to release API sources after a specified time  
ctx, _ := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 15*time.Second)
  • When there’s no response within a certain period of time after you make an API call, the context library furnishes the context for cancelling MongoDB inside Golang.

  • Analzye the object err to see if there were any error responses from the API call. Seeing nil is a good thing because it indicates a successful connection was made and there no errors showed up from the MongoDB API or Golang.

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// check if the API call returned any errors  
if err != nil {  
fmt.Println("ERROR:", err)  
} else {  
// connection was a success  
fmt.Println("ctx:", ctx, "\n")  
fmt.Println("client:", client, "\n")  
fmt.Println("Connected to MongoDB!")  
}  
} // end of main() func

Put together the Golang file and execute it and connect it to MongoDB

  • First, save the Golang file.
  • Next, assemble it.
  • Finally, run the code with the go run command.
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go run mongo-test.go

>NOTE: Remember to rename the .go file’s name from mongo-test to something else. Screenshot of terminal in macOS compiling and executing Golang code to connect to MongoDB

Conclusion

A most proficient day of code development is possible with the Go programming language (Golang). In this tutorial, you learned how to install Golang macOS, how to install MongoDB driver macOS, and how to connect MongoDB Golang. In other words, you found out how to setup a MongoDB app using Golang on macOs in a straightforward way. As a result, you can now manage tasks more efficiently when you code.

You’ll take advantage of many more benefits as you continue to work with Golang, the MongoDB, the MongoDB driver Golang, and the macOS environment. Now that you’ve started, commence to coding brilliantly today.

Just the Code

Here’s the complete sample code for connecting MongoDB using Golang in macOS.

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package main  
import (  
// built-in Golang packages  
"context"  
"fmt"  
"time"  
// importing the required dependencies  
"go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo"  
"go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo/options"  
)  
func main() {  
// declare a URI string to pass to the Mongo Client  
uri := "mongodb://localhost:27017"  
// create a new client instance and error object (if necessary)  
client, err := mongo.NewClient(options.Client().ApplyURI(uri))  
// use 'context' to release API sources after a specified time  
ctx, _ := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 15*time.Second)  
// check if the API call returned any errors  
if err != nil {  
fmt.Println("ERROR:", err)  
} else {  
// connection was a success  
fmt.Println("ctx:", ctx, "\n")  
fmt.Println("client:", client, "\n")  
fmt.Println("Connected to MongoDB!")  
}  
}

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