Chitter Challenge by Pablo Joyce

Getting Started | Using the application | Running the tests | Design | Screenshots | Technologies used | Notes on test coverage

• This project is a solo Ruby project completed at the end of the web applications module of the Makers Academy bootcamp.
• The application is built with the Sinatra web framework, rendering view files using ERB
• The application uses a PostgresSQL database
• The database connection is established in lib/database_connection.rb using the pg gem
• Seed data for tests is included in spec/seeds.sql

The Brief

To create a basic Twitter clone that will allow the users to post messages. We were given the following user stories as a starting point:

STRAIGHT UP

As a Maker
So that I can let people know what I am doing  
I want to post a message (peep) to chitter

As a maker
So that I can see what others are saying  
I want to see all peeps in reverse chronological order

As a Maker
So that I can better appreciate the context of a peep
I want to see the time at which it was made

As a Maker
So that I can post messages on Chitter as me
I want to sign up for Chitter

HARDER

As a Maker
So that only I can post messages on Chitter as me
I want to log in to Chitter

As a Maker
So that I can avoid others posting messages on Chitter as me
I want to log out of Chitter

ADVANCED

As a Maker
So that I can stay constantly tapped in to the shouty box of Chitter
I want to receive an email if I am tagged in a Peep

We were given the following notes on functionality:

• You don't have to be logged in to see the peeps.
• Makers sign up to chitter with their email, password, name and a username (e.g. [email protected], password123, Sam Morgan, sjmog).
• The username and email are unique.
• Peeps (posts to chitter) have the name of the maker and their user handle.

Getting Started

Top | Use | Tests | Design | Screenshots | Tech | Coverage

At time of writing, this project has a version deployed on Render at https://chitter-7pam.onrender.com/. Please note that this may take 30 seconds or longer to 'spin up' as it is deployed on a free tier of Render. At some point in the future, this version may be taken down as Render only allows a single database instance on the free tier.

For the local version, clone this repository to your local machine: git clone https://github.com/pablisch/chitter-challenge.git

Switch to the local-server branch: git switch local-server

cd to the project and install dependencies: bundle install

Ensure that your postgres server is accessable at the IP address 127.0.0.1. Create the postgreSQL databases for running and testing the project:

createdb chitter
createdb chitter_test

Create the tables in the databases:

psql -h 127.0.0.1 chitter < spec/tables.sql
psql -h 127.0.0.1 chitter_test < spec/tables.sql

Populate the test database with seed data:

psql -h 127.0.0.1 chitter < spec/seeds.sql
psql -h 127.0.0.1 chitter_test < spec/seeds.sql

Start the development server:

rackup

Access the website in your browser at localhost:9292.

Using the application

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Be default uses can see all messages posted by all users, but cannot post messages.

Follow the link to register as a user, you will then be prompted to redirect to login.

After login, you will be redirected to the home page where you can post a new message. messages posted by all users will appear here in reverse chronological order.

Running the tests

rspec

All tests should pass with a total code coverage of 99.41%.

Screenshots of the tests and coverage can be found in the Coverage section of this readme.

Design

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The design planning used at the time of making can be seen in recipes/chitter_plan.md.

I started by creating a diagram of the user experience and incorporated the routes and validations into this diagram:

The design itself changed a lot during the design process as the diagramming revealed issues and solved many problems before I started coding. This gave me a good roadmap from which to build the app.

• The application is built with the Sinatra web framework, rendering view files using ERB
• Each database table has a corresponding Ruby class defined with a singular version of the name of the table.
• Each table has an additional 'TABLENAME_repository' class with methods that allow for CRUD operations on the DB.
• The database connection is established in lib/database_connection.rb using the pg gem
• The database tables have a one-to-many relationship with the users table. This is implemented by storing the user_id in the peeps table.
• Route handling occurs in the Application class defined in ./app.rb. ./config.ru executes the code inside of Application when rackup is run at the command line.
• Passwords are hashed using the BCrypt gem.

Screenshots

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Register a new user:

Main screen when logged in:

Create a new peep:

Display new peep:

Technologies used

Top | Getting Started | Use | Tests | Design | Screenshots | Coverage

This project uses:

• Ruby
• PostgreSQL
• ERB
• Rackup
• Sinatra
• Webrick
• Git
• GitHub
• Bcrypt

In development, this project also used:

• Postman
• TablePlus
• RSpec

Notes on test coverage

Top | Getting Started | Use | Tests | Design | Screenshots | Tech

The following code at the top of spec_helper.rb causes test coverage stats to be generated on pull request:

require 'simplecov'
require 'simplecov-console'

SimpleCov.formatter = SimpleCov::Formatter::MultiFormatter.new([
  SimpleCov::Formatter::Console,
  # Want a nice code coverage website? Uncomment this next line!
  # SimpleCov::Formatter::HTMLFormatter
])
SimpleCov.start

Coverage:

Test results: