CityPulse - Travel Social Network Platform

Notes to remember

• As database schema is huge, try to add table as you need not all at once (Suggestion: Prof. Karen)

🌍 Project Tasks

Milestone 1:

Week 1 (Sept 8)

• Setup Project Repo
• configure development environment
• Set up Git repository with initial commit
• Setup PostgreSQL database connection
• Create basic project structure (routes, controllers, models folders)
• Implement basic user authentication (JWT, bcrypt, sessions, Google OAuth2)
• complete frontend with auth forms (login/reset/signup)
• Mobile-first responsive design setup with TailwindCSS
• complete backend with auth api
• complete unit tests for auth module using Jest
• Basic user registration API endpoint with email validation
• Begin accessibility tags (ARIA, alt text)

Week 2 (Sept 15)

• User Profile Management (Basic profile setup, photo upload)
• Image upload functionality with Multer
• Image optimization and compression implementation
• Add password reset & validation (regex, strong password)
• Secure routes with JWT middleware
• Parameterized SQL queries to prevent SQLi
• Frontend validation and form accessibility
• Security tests: SQLi, XSS (OWASP ZAP)
• Profile photo and cover photo management
• Social media linking functionality
• API endpoints for profile CRUD operations
• Frontend React components for user registration and login

Week 3 (Sept 22)

• Create and submit progress report and demo video
• City and Category Management (Cities, Recommendation_Categories tables)
• Basic recommendation creation functionality
• Recommendation CRUD API endpoints
• photo upload for recommendations
• Frontend forms for recommendation creation
• Basic search functionality implementation
• Integration tests for recommendation endpoints and E2E Test

Milestone 2

Week 4 (Sept 29)

• Advanced Search Implementation (multi-filter capability)
• Search by location, category, price range, difficulty level
• Tag system implementation (Recommendation_Tags, Tag_Links tables)
• Search results pagination and infinite scroll
• Frontend search interface with filter components
• Database indexing for search optimization
• Search performance testing and optimization

Week 5 (Oct 6)

• Rating and Review System (Recommendation_Ratings table)
• Like/Unlike functionality (Recommendation_Likes table)
• User interaction tracking and analytics
• Recommendation browsing and discovery feeds (Implemented personalized feed algorithm)
• Content validation and sanitization (XSS protection)
• SQL injection prevention testing
• Frontend components for rating and reviewing

Week 6 (Oct 13)

• Break Week: Catch-up, bug fixes, and refactoring
• CI: GitHub Actions auto-run unit + integration + E2E tests (Note: Pipeline configured but test execution needs to be added to workflow)
• Add E2E test and Unit Test suite for remaining Test Cases (Social features, Feed, Comprehensive E2E)

Week 7 (Oct 20)

• Submit progress report + demo video
• Deploy initial progress to hosting platform
• Production environment setup
• Database deployment and migration
• Environment variables configuration
• SSL certificate setup
• Production testing and bug fixes

Milestone 3

Week 8 (Oct 27)

• Begin implementing Travel Buddy System (Travel_Buddy_Connections table)
• Connection request functionality
• Accept/decline buddy requests
• Privacy controls for social media sharing
• User blocking and reporting system
• Real-time notifications implementation (WebSocket with Socket.IO)
• Frontend components for buddy management
• Security testing for user connections with Unit Test and E2E test

Week 9

• Trip Planning System (Trips, Trip_Cities, Trip_Companions tables)
• Collaborative trip creation and management
• Trip itinerary planning (Trip_Itinerary table)
• Travel companion finder functionality
• Trip sharing and privacy controls
• Integration with recommendation system
• Frontend trip planning interface

Week 10

• Submit progress report + demo video
• Achievement System (Achievements, User_Achievements tables)
• Badge creation and tracking
• Travel history tracking (User_City_Visits table)
• User engagement metrics
• Achievement notification system
• Frontend achievement display components

Week 11 (Nov 17)

• Milestone 4: Moderation System (Moderator_Actions, Content_Reports tables)
• Content reporting functionality
• Moderator dashboard for content review
• User warning system (User_Warnings table)
• Content removal and user management
• Moderation queue and workflow
• Admin analytics and reporting
• Security audit and penetration testing

Week 12 (Nov 17)

• Final polish: responsive layout, accessibility checks (Lighthouse/Axe)
• Recommendation algorithm optimization
• Search history and saved searches (Search_History, Saved_Searches tables) - Backend API and Frontend UI implemented
• Search history dropdown with auto-complete suggestions (shows matching history items while typing)
• Full search history sidebar with date grouping (Today, Yesterday, This Week, Older)
• Click history items to re-run searches with saved filters
• Delete individual history items or clear all history
• Keyboard navigation support (arrow keys, Enter, Escape)
• Integrated into SearchInput, SearchBar, and AdvancedSearch components
• Custom useSearchHistory hook for state management
• User favorites system (User_Favourites table) - Implemented via recommendation_saves
• GitHub Actions: final test automation
• critical bug fixes
• Test E2E and Unit Test of all the features - Comprehensive test suites added
• Run final CI/CD, test coverage reports, accessibility scan
• Accessibility compliance testing (WAVE, axe DevTools)
• Production deployment finalization
• Final deployment and tag release version

Week 13 (Dec 1)

• Write final report (include test, deployment, screenshots)
• Record and submit final demo video
• Showcase all major features + CI/CD, testing, accessibility

NOTE: I will add as I go.

🛠 Technical Architecture

Technology Stack

• Frontend: React.js with TailwindCSS
• Backend: Node.js with Express.js framework
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Authentication: JWT with bcrypt password hashing
• Containerization: Docker
• File Upload: Multer with image optimization
• Testing: Jest for API testing, React Testing Library for frontend
• Deployment: DigitalOcean

Security Features

• SQL Injection Protection: Parameterized queries
• XSS Prevention: Input sanitization and validation
• Session Security: 15-minute timeout with secure JWT tokens
• Password Security: bcrypt hashing with strength validation
• Data Protection: Secure storage for personal information

🎨 User Interface

Key Pages & URLs

• / - Landing page introduction
• /signup - New user registration
• /login - User authentication
• /reset-password - Reset Password
• /dashboard - Primary landing page after login

Development URLs

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend API: http://localhost:5001
• PostgreSQL: localhost:8080

Production URLs

• Website: https://city-pulse.app
• API: https://api.city-pulse.app
• Health Check: https://api.city-pulse.app/health

CityPulse - Connecting Travelers, Sharing Experiences, Building Communities 🌍✈️

📊 Test Coverage

Run coverage reports locally:

• Backend: cd backend && pnpm test:coverage
• Frontend: cd frontend && pnpm test:coverage
• View HTML Reports: cd backend && pnpm test:coverage:html (opens in browser)

Coverage reports are generated in:

• Backend: backend/coverage/
• Frontend: frontend/coverage/