Prizes & Transactions

Two small backend services that support the companion app's gamification system: a prize catalog and a credit transaction ledger.

Prizes Service

A CRUD service for managing prizes that attendees can redeem with points earned through quests and interactions.

Service: services/prizes/ (biztechApi-prizes)

Endpoints

All endpoints require Cognito authentication:

Prize Data Model

Table: biztechPrizes (primary key: id)

How It Works

• create validates required fields (id, name, price), checks for duplicate id, and inserts with createdAt/updatedAt timestamps
• update validates the prize exists, then applies a partial update (only fields present in the body)
• del validates the prize exists, then deletes it
• getAll does a full table scan — there's no pagination since the prize catalog is always small

Transactions Service

A credit transaction ledger that tracks points earned and spent through companion app activities.

Service: services/transactions/ (biztechApi-transactions)

Endpoints

Both endpoints require Cognito authentication:

Transaction Data Model

Table: biztechTransactions (primary key: id)

How It Works

Creating a transaction:

1. Validates required fields (userId, reason, credits)
2. Checks the user exists in biztechUsers — returns 404 if not found
3. Generates a UUID (retries until unique — collision check against existing records)
4. If credits < 0 (spending): checks the user has sufficient balance by scanning all their transactions and summing credits. Returns 202 (insufficient funds) if balance would go negative
5. Inserts the transaction record

Querying transactions:

• Without userId query param: full table scan, returns raw array
• With ?userId=: filters transactions for that user, returns { count, transactions, totalCredits } where totalCredits is the sum of all credit values

How These Fit Into the Companion App

The prize and transaction services support the companion app's gamification loop:

Attend event → Check in → Complete quests → Earn credits → Browse prizes → Redeem
                                │                                    │
                                ▼                                    ▼
                    POST /transactions/              GET /prizes/
                    { credits: +100,                 (browse catalog)
                      reason: "quest-x" }
                                                     POST /transactions/
                                                     { credits: -500,
                                                       reason: "prize-y" }

Credits are earned through:

• Quest completion (scanning QR codes at booths, attending talks)
• Making connections (NFC taps)
• Other companion app activities

Credits are spent on prizes from the catalog.

DynamoDB Tables

Key Files

Related Pages

• Companion System — where prizes and transactions are used
• Quests — quest completion triggers credit transactions
• Database Guide — table reference