Mini Message Board

A simple full‑stack web application where users can set a username and post messages to a shared message board. Messages are persisted in a PostgreSQL database and usernames are stored per session using express‑session.

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Features

• Set and update a username per session
• Post messages to a public message board
• Messages are stored permanently in PostgreSQL
• Server‑side rendering with EJS
• Session management using express‑session
• Timestamped messages (localized to Toronto time)

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Demo

Live demo:
👉 https://mini-message-board-oybc.onrender.com/

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Tech Stack

• Node.js
• Express.js
• EJS
• PostgreSQL
• pg
• express-session
• HTML & CSS

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Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/mini-message-board.git
cd mini-message-board

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Environment variables

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following values:

POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
POSTGRES_DB=mini_message_board
POSTGRES_USERNAME=your_username
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_password
POSTGRES_PORT=5432

4. Initialize the database

Run the database seed script to create the table and insert sample data:

node db/populatedb.js

5. Start the server

npm start

Visit the app at:

http://localhost:3000

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Usage

1. Open the homepage.
2. Set a username (stored in session).
3. Click New Message to post a message.
4. Messages appear instantly and persist across server restarts.
5. You can update your username at any time.

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Project Structure

mini-message-board/
├── server.js                 # App entry point
├── routes/
│   └── indexRouter.js        # Express routes
├── controllers/
│   └── indexController.js    # Route logic
├── db/
│   ├── pool.js               # PostgreSQL connection pool
│   ├── queries.js            # SQL queries
│   └── populatedb.js         # DB initialization script
├── views/                    # EJS templates
│   ├── index.ejs
│   ├── newMessage.ejs
│   ├── newMessageForm.ejs
│   ├── setUserNameForm.ejs
│   └── updateUserNameForm.ejs
├── public/
│   └── styles/               # CSS files
└── README.md

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Database Schema

CREATE TABLE messages (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY,
  username VARCHAR(225),
  message VARCHAR(10000),
  added TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

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Author

Aryan Parmar
Computer Science student @ University of Windsor

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryan-parmar-a0634b299/