README File

Instructions on How To Run Gator Chat Application (FRONT END)

• In order to run this application, you first have to download and install angular. click here
• If you already have angular installed click here to see how to run Gator Chat

Installing Angular

• Steps include:
  • Install Node/npm on your machine Click here to see the steps/description
  • Use and install Angular CLI globally Click here to see the steps/description
  • Run Angular CLI commands Click here to see the steps/description
  • Create an initial workspace for the application Click here to see the steps/description
  • Run the Angular application in Browser Click here to see the steps/description

  NodeJS installation:

  • Go to the NodeJS website to download it Click here
    • You can install either version based on your needs
    • I have installed the LTS version
  • In order to check if nodeJS has been properly installed run this command in your CLI: node -v or node --version
  • NodeJS also automatically downloads npm for you. In order to check if npm has been installed run the command: npm -v

  Angular CLI installation:

  • To install the Angular CLI on your machine, open the terminal window and run the following command: npm install -g @angular/cli
  • You can verify if this was properly installed by running the command: ng version

  Creating a Test Project using Angular CLI

  • Open the terminal window and type the command: ng new hello-world
    • hello-world is the project name so you can replace it with any name
  • After it is done running, open the directory in any code editor that you like
    • I am using VS code as my IDE

  Running your Angular App

  • In order to run your application, first make sure you are in the correct file path.
    • My file path to run the application is: PS C:\Users\Ria Chacko\chatG-app
  • Then run the command *ng serve
    • This will run the application on the default 4200 port number
    • If you want to run the application on a different port number then the command is: ng serve --portnumber
      • The command I use to run the application is: ng serve --1655
    • Once everything is compiled, the terminal will give you a url to access the application. You can either click it or copy it and paste into any browser of your choice
      • The preferred browser for this app is Google Chrome
    • Also adding the CORS policy blocker prevents any CORS errors from occuring
      • This is a Google Chrome extension that can be downloaded

Information About The API File

• The file path that I have for the API.go file when running it is C:\Users\Ria Chacko\go\src\github.com\RiaChacko2\API
• Inside this folder is the API.go file.
• When running it from the terminal, the command is go run API.go

Running the Gator Chat Application

• First create an angular project with the command: ng new project-name
• In order to run our application, navigate to the main branch App contents folder, then to the Front-End folder. Click Here
  • Copy all of the files and folders excluding the Cypress Tests folder and place them into the newly created angular project
  • NOTE: Before running the application make sure to run the API file Click here to see the steps
  • To see information on how to set up the backend API file click here
  • Then go to the terminal and run the ng serve command to run the application
  • This should take the user to the home page initially.
    • From this point, you have successfully run Gator Chat

Instructions on How To Run API for Gator Chat (BACK END)

➜ Setting Up Golang

Please refer to the instructions linked below to properly install Go.

• You can download and install Golang by following the link here.

  • Once Go has been downloaded and installed, open a terminal and type the command go env GOPATH to find the installation directory for Go.

  • Copy the output path from the command and use the cd command to change to that directory.

  • Within the Go directory, navigate to the src directory.

  • Next, go to the github.com directory within src.

  • Create a folder with the name of your GitHub username.

  • This will be the directory where your project will live. However, note that your code can exist anywhere as long as the GOPATH variable is set correctly.

  • NOTE: If this folder structure is not found, you can manually create it.

  • Next, open a terminal and call the cd command until you get to the directory that you want the project to be in (e.g. the folder with your GitHub username).

  • From here, run go mod init. This will make a default go.mod file.

  • In this terminal, you can then install packages into your Go projects.

    • NOTE: Remember to place your Go projects in a valid directory, for example:
      • C:\Users\[USER]\go\src\github.com\kevinc3n\API
        • This ensures that Golang can find all the packages and can properly run.

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➜ Installing Packages

• IMPORTANT: It is important to install the dependencies/packages required to use the GatorChat API.

• These include:

  • GORM
    • GORM is needed for the "gorm.io/driver/mysql" and "gorm.io/gorm" packages.
  • Gorilla Mux
    • Gorilla Mux is needed for the "github.com/gorilla/mux" package.
  • CORS
    • CORS is needed for the ""github.com/rs/cors" package.
  • azblob
    • azblob is a package used for handling images by storing them in a container on the Microsoft Azure account. It is for the "github.com/Azure/azure-storage-blob-go/azblob" package.

• Quick Reference: Use go get -u <package> in your command line to install a certain package.

• For more information, visit this setup guide.

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➜ Accessing the GatorChat API

• Once Golang has been setup and the necessary packages have been installed, the GatorChat API can now be opened and run.

• In the API folder located in the Backend folder of the Main branch, there is a file named GatorChat_Rest_API.go.

• This file contains the API file that must be run in order to make requests to the API.

• Pull the Back-End-Branch into your repository folder (or manually download the file) to access the API.

  • To pull the branch into your folder through the command line, use the following commands:
    • This assumes that the project has already been forked into a folder on your computer.
    • Open the command line/terminal and navigate to your repository folder using the cd command.
      • For example: cd C:\Users\[USER]\Desktop\SWE\GatorChatApp
    • Next, run the following command to have all the branch's files be placed into your repository folder.
      • git pull origin [BRANCH_NAME]
      • In this case, it is git pull origin main .
    • The folder should now contain the main branche's files.
    • The API file will be in the directory path: App_Contents/BackEnd/API

• To run the file, open the terminal in your respective IDE and run the following commands:

  • go build
    • Once it has finished, run the command go run GatorChat_Rest_API.go.
    • If running the code in VSCode you can run the command ./(put the name of the .exe file that was made by go build here) instead

• The API should now be running. The localhost port should be active and able to receive requests.

  • In the scenario where the program cannot connect to the database, an error message will appear in the terminal:
    • If the user_messages database cannot be opened, then "Error: Failed to connect to messages database." will be displayed.
    • If the user_accounts database cannot be opened, then "Error: Failed to connect to users database." will be displayed.

• NOTE: By default, the API is hosted on port 8080. This can be changed if the port is already being used.