Eduforum

Eduforum is a web forum designed for university students to share thoughts, resources, and engage in discussions. It provides a platform for students to connect with each other and foster a collaborative learning environment.

You can include the deployed URL for your app in your README.md file using markdown. Here's an example:

Live Demo

You can access the live demo of the application at https://eduforum-95bce.web.app/

Note: No longer active. Shut down due to database costs.

Technologies Used

Frontend

• React: Including React Router
• TypeScript
• Vite
• Joy UI: A React UI library that provides a set of high-quality components out of the box.

Backend

• Go: Using the Gin framework to build a RESTful API.

Database

• MySQL: A relational database management system that stores data in tables.

Deployment & Hosting

• AWS RDS: A relational database service that provides an easy way to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. Used to host the MySQL database.
• Render: A cloud platform that provides a simple and flexible way to host web applications and microservices. Used to deploy the backend API.
• Firebase: A mobile and web application development platform developed by Google. Used to deploy the frontend application.

Features

• User Registration and Authentication: Users can create accounts and log in to the forum, powered by Firebase Authentication.
• Post Creation and Commenting: Users can create posts and engage in discussions by commenting on posts.
• Sorting and Filtering: Users can sort posts by date or popularity (number of comments) and filter posts by category.
• Intuitive UI: The forum is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, with a clean and modern UI. Also have dark and light mode support.

Setup

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following software installed on your machine:

• Git: Download Git

• Node.js: Download Node.js

• Go: Download Go

• MySQL: Download MySQL

• MySQL Workbench: Download MySQL Workbench

• Vite: Install Vite globally using npm:

  npm install -g create-vite

Clone the Repository

First, clone the repository to your local machine. Open your terminal and run the following command:

git clone https://github.com/shayaansultan/eduforum.git

Database Setup

We are using MySQL for our database. Follow the steps below to set up the database:

Using MySQL Workbench (Recommended)

1. Open MySQL Workbench and connect to your MySQL server.

2. Create a new database schema: If you want to create a new database schema, you can use the CVWO_Schema_Dump.sql script. To do this, open the script in MySQL Workbench and execute it.

   If you want to use an existing database schema, use the CVWO_Schema_Dump_Without_Create.sql script instead.

3. Populate the Categories table: After setting up the database schema, open the Categories.sql script in MySQL Workbench and execute it. This will populate the Categories table with some necessary data.

Database Setup using MySQL CLI

1. Open your terminal.

2. Log in to your MySQL server. Replace <your-username> with your MySQL username:

   mysql -u <your-username> -p

   You'll be prompted to enter your password.

3. Create a new database schema (optional): If you want to create a new database schema, you can use the CVWO_Schema_Dump.sql script. To do this, run the following command in your terminal (replace <path-to-sql> with the path to the CVWO_Schema_Dump.sql file):

   source <path-to-file>/CVWO_Schema_Dump.sql

   If you want to use an existing database schema, use the CVWO_Schema_Dump_Without_Create.sql script instead.

4. Populate the Categories table: After setting up the database schema, run the Categories.sql script. This will populate the Categories table with some necessary data. Replace <path-to-sql> with the path to the Categories.sql file:

   source <path-to-sql>/Categories.sql

Backend Setup using Go (Gin)

1. Navigate to the /server folder:

   cd /path-to-your-project/server

   Replace /path-to-your-project/ with the actual path to your project.

2. Download the relevant libraries and dependencies:

   The go.mod and go.sum files list the required libraries and dependencies. You can download them using the following command:

   go mod download

3. Set up the .env file:

   Create a .env file in the /server directory. This file should contain the DB_CONNECTION_STRING in the format needed to run the MySQL database. Here's an example:

   DB_CONNECTION_STRING=username:password@protocol(address)/dbname?param=value

   Replace username:password@protocol(address)/dbname?param=value with your actual database connection string.

4. Run the server:

   You can start the server using the main.go file:

   go run main.go

   If everything is set up correctly, you should see the server running on your specified port.

Frontend Setup using Vite, React, and TypeScript

1. Navigate to the /frontend-client folder:

   cd /path-to-your-project/frontend-client

   Replace /path-to-your-project/ with the actual path to your project.

2. Install the necessary dependencies:

   npm install

   This command installs the necessary dependencies listed in your package.json file.

3. Update the API_STRING.ts file:

   Open the API_STRING.ts file and replace the BASE_API_STRING with your localhost URL where your Go server is running:

   const BASE_API_STRING = "http://localhost:8080";
   export default BASE_API_STRING;

   Replace http://localhost:8080 with the actual localhost URL and port where your Go server is running.

4. Run the development server:

   npm run dev

   This command starts the development server. If everything is set up correctly, you should see the server running on your specified port.

You should now have a fully functioning full-stack web forum running on your local environment.