GTIA Website

Live webiste - gtia.gtorg.gatech.edu

Installation Guide

Pre-requisites

The following tools, software, and technologies are needed to run the application:

1. Install Node.js

   Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows us to run JavaScript code outside of browser.
   For this project, please download 14.x LTS version from here and perform the installation.
   To verify the installation, run the following command:

   $ node -v
     v14.16.1
   

   If successful, it should display the version number (eg: v14.16.1 shown above). If there are errors performing installation, some helpful guides are listed below:

   • Installing Node.js on Windows 10
   • Installing Node.js on Mac
2. Install npm (Node Package manager)

   We are using npm to install and manage "packages" (dependencies).
   Node.js installs NPM by default. To verify if NPM is already installed, run the following command:

   $ npm -v
   7.22.0
   

   If successful, it should display the version (example above).

   Make sure you are running npm version 7.x. To update npm, run the following command:

   $ npm install -g npm@latest
   

   However, if npm is missing, download npm from here (this includes all the installation guide).

3. MongoDB

   We are using MongoDB to store data for our backend features.
   If you do not have a MongoDB database, MongoDB provides a free cloud database service here.

   Note: This step is optional if you are only working on Sun components.

Download Instructions

The source code can be downloaded any one of the steps:

1. Cloning the repository

   To clone the repository using HTTPS, run the following command from the desired directory:

   $ git clone https://github.com/JIA-0302/TipTracker.git
   

   This will download all the source code from the repository.

2. Download the ZIP file from here

Installing Dependent Libraries

NOTE: Make sure you have Node.js and npm installed. See pre-requisites for installation instructions.

From the root directory of the project, run the following command:

$ npm install

All of the required dependent libraries are listed in package.json file. Running this command will automatically install all of these libraries. A new directory called node_modules will be created with all of these libraries.

Environment Variables

To setup the environment variables

- Create a new file `.env` in the root directory
- Copy all the contents of `.env.example` into `.env`
- Replace all the required fields (`xxxxxxx`) specific to your configurations.

```
# These variables can be accessed in the app from `process.env.`
# Example, to retreive DB CONNECTION Url, use `process.env.DB_CONNECTION`

# MongDB connection string
DB_CONNECTION=xxxxxxxx

# Authentication
SESSION_SECRET=xxxxxxxx

# Facebook
FB_APP_ID=xxxxxxxx
FB_APP_SECRET=xxxxxxxx
FB_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN=xxxxxxxx
FB_PAGE_ID=xxxxxxxx

# Configurations
PORT=8080
```

Note, these variables can be set directly. However, by using .env, these variables are only available during the runtime of the application and are easier to manage.

The following environment variables are required for Moon component:

• DB_CONNECTION: This is used to specify connection string the to database.
• SESSION_SECRET: This is used to encrypt the session data for a user.
• Facebook: This is required to show upcoming/past events in the home page.
  • FB_APP_ID: This is used to specify the application to access the GTIA Facebook page on behalf of the admin.
  • FB_APP_SECRET: This is used to authenticate the application.
  • FB_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN: This is a long-term token used to access the GTIA Facebook page on behalf of the admin user. If new token needs to be generated, see instructions here.
  • FB_PAGE_ID: This is the ID for the GTIA Facebook page.

Run Instructions

Run the following command from the root directory:

$ npm run start

This will start the application at http://localhost:8080 by default. Simply visit this URL on your browser to view the application.

If you want to use a different port, update it in .env file.

Deployments

The website is currently deployed to and hosted from hosting.gatech.edu.

It uses Plesk Hosting on the backend. It maintains its own copy of the repo and deploys the website through that. To deploy new changes to the live website:

• Visit hosting.gatech.edu
• Click on Plesk Web Admin on the navbar. If you do not see this option, it means you do not have permissions to access the website hosting. Please talk to EVP to request permissions.
• Open plesk21 for gtia.gtorg.gatech.edu under the Plesk Control Panel.
• Click Pull Updates for gt-website-backend.
• Restart the Node.js application
• The new changes should be live after the first request is made.

The hosting service has been setup to automatically restart the node application on new pull updates from the repo. However, due to network policies, we cannot use the provided webhook to trigger automated pull updates 😞.

Therefore, even after the changes are merged to the main branch, please follow the steps above to deploy the new changes to the live website.