This tutorial shows you how to use the AWS SDK for JavaScript (V3) and the AWS Management Console to create and run a web application that inserts records into Amazon DynamoDB.

Services used

• Amazon Cognito
• AWS Lambda
• Amazon DynamoDB
• AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Cost to complete: The AWS services included in this document are included in the AWS Free Tier.

Note: Be sure to terminate all of the resources after you have completed this tutorial to ensure that you are not charged.

To build this cross-service example, you need the following:

• An AWS account. For more information, see the AWS SDKs and Tools Reference Guide.
• A NodeJS environment.

• We recommend that you grant this code least privilege, or at most the minimum permissions required to perform the task. For more information, see Grant Least Privilege in the AWS Identity and Access Management User Guide.
• This code has not been tested in all AWS Regions. Some AWS services are available only in specific Regions.
• Running this code might result in charges to your AWS account. We recommend you destroy the resources when you are finished.

Note: In the following sections, the links to the console take a best guess at your intended Region. Make sure to create the resources in the same Region.

1. Open Amazon Cognito in the AWS Management Console.
2. Select Identity pools in the sidebar.
3. Choose Create identity pool.
4. Select the Guest access check box.
5. Choose Next.
6. Select Create a new IAM role.
7. Enter a role name in the IAM role field.
8. Choose Next.
9. Enter a name for the identity pool.
10. Choose Next.
11. Review the information and choose Create identity pool.

1. Open IAM in the AWS Management Console.
2. Select Roles in the sidebar.
3. Search for the guest role created in the preceding section.
4. Choose the role link.
5. Expand the default permissions policy on the Permissions tab.
6. Choose the Edit button.
7. Replace the existing policy JSON with the following JSON. This allows a user with the guest role to invoke the Lambda.

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": "lambda:InvokeFunction",
      "Resource": "*",
      "Effect": "Allow"
    }
  ]
}

8. Choose Next.
9. Choose Save Changes.

1. Open DynamoDB in the AWS Management Console.
2. Choose Create table.
3. Enter lambda-for-browser in the Table name field. The name of the table must match with TableName in ./frontend/src/index.js.
4. For the Partition key, enter the key name Id and the type of Number.
5. Keep the Sort key blank. There are no queries in this example, so it's irrelevant.
6. Keep Default settings selected.
7. Choose Create table.

The backend will have access to the SDK through its runtime. Bundling is not necessary for the backend code, but it's done here to keep the code smaller and more organized.

Note: The AWS SDK packages are excluded from the bundle. This is configured in ./lambda/webpack.config.js.

1. Replace IDENTITY_POOL_ID in lambda/src/ddbClient.js with the ID of the identity pool created in Create an Identity pool and guest role.
2. cd lambda
3. npm i
4. npm run build
5. Create a compressed .zip file from lambda/dist/index.mjs.

1. Open Lambda in the AWS Management Console.
2. Choose Create function.
3. Enter the name examplePutItem in the Function name field. This name must match FunctionName in frontend/src/index.js.
4. Expand the Change default execution role section.
5. Select Create a new role from AWS policy templates.
6. Enter a name in the Role name field.
7. Select the Simple microservice permissions option to grant the Lambda function access to DynamoDB.
8. Choose Create function.
9. In the Code tab of the function page, choose Upload from and select .zip file.
10. Choose Upload and select the .zip file created in step 4 of Bundle the Lambda function.
11. Choose Save.
12. (Optional) Test the function in the console by choosing Test and providing the following Event JSON. If the test is successful, you will see the created record in the DynamoDB table.

{
  "Item": {
    "Id": 1001,
    "Color": "tangerine",
    "Pattern": "solid"
  },
  "TableName": "lambda-for-browser"
}

The frontend code must be bundled in order to include the browser-compatible AWS SDK for JavaScript.

1. Replace IDENTITY_POOL_ID in frontend/src/lambdaClient.js with the ID of the identity pool created in Create an Identity pool and guest role.
2. Replace REGION in frontend/src/lambdaClient.js with the Region that is hosting the resources for this example.
3. cd frontend
4. npm i
5. npm run build
6. Launch an HTTP server at dist. For example, npx http-server ./dist.
7. Navigate to the address of the server in your browser.
8. Choose a color and pattern.

9. Choose Submit.
10. If the insertion was successful, you should see a success message.