iGotha: A Simple and Scalable Chat Application

iGotha is an open-source chat application designed for seamless communication. It supports user registration, authentication, and chat functionality, making it ideal for personal or collaborative use. Whether you're a developer looking to contribute or a user exploring its features, iGotha is easy to set up and use.

Objective

The objective of this project is to provide developers and engineers experience working with an open source project and also allow experience developers and engineers who hasnt work with node.js and it related technologies to be able contribute easily as the project is structured in a way that allows for easy integrations of news contributors. The project will also act as go to project to allow contributors to be able to show case it to there respected employer as soloproject they have contributed to in the past.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Objective
• Table of Contents
• Structure
• Key features
• Frontend
  • Component
  • Frontend Installation
• Backend

  • Structure

  • Route Overview

  • Routes Test

  • Authentication Routes (auth.route.js)

  • User Routes (user.route.js)

• License

Structure

iGotcha/
  └── frontend/
  └── backend/
  └── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
  └── CONTRIBUTING.md
  └── LICENSE
  └── README.md
  └── .gitignore
  └── .github/

Key Features

• Real-time Messaging: Chat with users or groups in real-time.
• User Authentication: Secure login and registration system.
• Group Chats: Create and manage group conversations effortlessly.
• Scalability: Built using modern technologies like React, Redux, Node.js, and Sequelize for scalability and performance.

Frontend

The frontend is built using React and Redux. It provides a user interface for user registration, login, and chat functionality. The frontend is organized into the following components:

Components

The frontend components are organized as follows:

iGotcha/
  └── frontend/
  ├── src/
  │   ├── components/
  │   │   ├── Chat.js
  │   │   ├── ChatInput.js
  │   │   ├── ChatList.js
  │   │   ├── LoginForm.js
  │   │   ├── RegisterForm.js

Frontend Installation

1. Clone the repository and Navigate to directory:

   git clone <https://github.com/rohteemie/iGotha.git>
   
   cd <frontend>

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env file in the root directory and add the following environment variables:

API_ENDPOINT=localhost:3000

# Run the command below in terminal

~/iGotha/frontend: npx dev start

You can now access the iGotha page at http://localhost:8000

Backend

This backend is built using node.js. It provides a user interface for user registration, login, and chat functionality. The frontend is organized into the following components:

Backend Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <https://github.com/rohteemie/iGotha.git>
   
   cd <backend>

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start MySQL:

# First check to see if mysql is installed on your local machine.

  mysql --version

If mysql is not installed, Kindly reference the following link to install mysql on your local machine: Install MySQL

# If mysql is installed,
# Start MySQL on your local machine using the following command:

sudo service mysql start

# sign in to mysql

mysql -u root -p

# Enter your MySQL password when prompted.

mysql> SHOW DATABASES;

You should see a list of databases and select the preferable one to use, otherwise you will have to create a new one using the command below assuming you want to name the database testDB

/* Command to create the database. */

CREATE DATABASE testDB;

 /* Exit the MySQL shell. */

 mysql> exit;

---

1. Set the environment variables:

Create a .env file in the iGotha/backend directory and add the following environment variables:

DB, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST, and DB_DIALECT environment variables in the .env file.

DB=testDB
DB_USER=dbUser
DB_PASSWORD=dbPassword
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_DIALECT=mysql

JWT_SECRET=secret
EXPIRE_IN=1h

Replace testDB, dbUser, and dbPassword with your MySQL database name, username, and password respectively.

2. Run the migrations:

   Run the migrations to create the necessary tables in the database.

   npx sequelize-cli db:migrate

3. Start the server:

   npm start

4. Access the API:

   You can now access the API at http://localhost:3000.

---

Structure

The backend routes are organized as follows:

iGotcha/
    └── backend/
        ├── models/
        ├── services/
        ├── routes/
        ├── middleware/
        ├── config/
        ├── helper/
        ├── tests/
        ├── websocket/

Route Overview

This backend provides the following routes:

Route Path	HTTP Method	Description
/auth/login	POST	Logs in a user
/user	GET	Fetches all users
/user/create	POST	Registers a new user
/user/:username	GET	Fetches a user by username
/user/:username	PUT	Updates a user by username
/chat/	GET	Fetches all chats by users
/chat/create	POST	Create a new chat
/chat/:chatId	GET	Fetches a chat using it ID
/group/	POST	Create a new group
/group/	GET	Fetches all the group info
/group/:groupId	GET	Fetches group info using it ID
/group/:groupId	POST	Post messages to a group by ID
/group/add	PUT	Use to add a user to a group

Routes Test

Authentication Routes (auth.route.js) File Path: /home/fin/backend/routes/auth.route.js

Description: This file contains routes for user authentication. Endpoints

Login User URL: /auth/login Method: POST Description: Authenticates a user and returns an access token upon successful login. Controller Function: auth.login Example: json Copy code { "email": [email protected], "password": "password123" }

User Routes (user.route.js) File Path: /home/fin/backend/routes/user.route.js Description: This file contains routes for user operations such as fetching, creating, and updating user information. Endpoints

Get All Users URL: /user Method: GET Description: Retrieves a list of all registered users. Controller Function: user_service.getAllUsers

Create a New User URL: /user/create Method: POST Description: Registers a new user in the system. Controller Function: user_service.registerUser Example: json Copy code

{
"username": "newuser",
"email": <[email protected]>,
"password": "securePassword123"
}

Get User by Username URL: /user/:username Method: GET Description: Fetches a specific user's details using their username. Controller Function: user_service.getUserName

Update User by Username URL: /user/:username Method: PUT Description: Updates information for a specific user identified by their username. Controller Function: user_service.updateUser Example: json Copy code

{
"email": <[email protected]>
}

Notes Middleware: Authentication and validation middlewares should be implemented as needed. Error Handling: All routes should have error handling to manage invalid input and server errors. License This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

LICENSE

Kinldy refer to the license page here: LICENSE

CONTRIBUTION