Getting Started ​

Preface ​

Depending on what operating system (Linux, Windows, etc.) you are running, your setup instructions will be slightly different. While using Linux is highly encouraged, it is not at all a requirement to work on this project.

We are excited to have you! 🤗

Some definitions ​

As a quick note, the frontend of our project is the React Native app we're developing, which individual clients (or users) will use. We may sometimes refer to this as the client-side portion of our app. The backend (sometimes referred to as the server) is what our frontend app uses to communicate to our database. It allows the creation, retrieval, and searching of data to be done via HTTP requests, as well as some other means you will learn about later.

Prerequisites ​

Although you do not need any prior experience to contribute to this open source project, a bit of experience with web development would help you greatly in contributing and understanding the code.

Here are some recommended simple tutorials to get you caught up:

• HTML/CSS: HTML & CSS Full Course - Beginner to Pro
• Javascript: JavaScript Full Course for Beginners
• ExpressJS: ExpressJS Tutorial
• React Native React Native Tutorial

However, the best way to learn (in Wang's experience) is to always read the code and ask questions. Contact a tech lead if you are having trouble, and we will be more than glad to help you learn the tech stack!

Prerequisites ​

First, ensure you have a stable version of Node.js and Git installed on your system (LTS or Long Term Release versions are preferred). If you use a package manager, check its wiki for any extra installation instructions.

Branching and Cloning the Repository ​

When contributing to this project, make sure to commit changes into your personal repository that is forked from the main one.

Travel to our Github repository and create a new fork into your personal repositories.

Then, copy your new forked repository's clone address and return to your terminal/bash.

In your terminal/bash, navigate to a folder/location you would like your repository to be in.

Then clone your repository and enter the directory it creates:

$ git clone <paste your repository's address>
$ cd <the newly created directory>

$ git clone <paste your repository's address>
$ cd <the newly created directory>

Setting up Firebase ​

Before we install the dependancies and run our client and server projects, we need to set up our database. For this part, we have chosen to use Google's Firebase to store our user information and messages. Our backend neatly allows us to search and send database information using a file format that is easy to read and parse called JSON.

1. Log into a Google account you wish to host the Firebase on.
2. Go to the Firebase website.
3. Click "Add a project" on the dashboard.
4. Choose whatever project name you see fit. Call it ProximityChatEchologatorEarshot if you're low on ideas (like us).
5. Disable Google Analytics when asked, and then create the project
6. After the project is done being created, click the settings icon and the "Project settings".
7. Underneath the "Your apps" section, click the Web Development option (Looks like </>).
8. Type in a name for your app (at your discretion), keep "Firebase Hosting" unchecked and click "Register App".

Setting up Firebase Database ​

Make sure you have already completed the previous steps in setting up firebase.

In order to allow our backend to access firebase's database and set everything up, we need to activate Firebase's Firestore Database.

1. Navigate to the Firestore Database tab on the left hand side of the Firebase console.
2. Click get started and select nam5 as the server. Then continue.
3. Select start in test mode.
4. Now, navigate back to the console screen. Select the cog wheel at the top left side. Next to Project Overview. Click Project Settings.
5. Navigate to the Service Accounts tab.
6. Click Generate a new private key. And then Generate key
7. It should start a download for a json file. Rename it firebase-secret.json and save into the /server folder in the project directory.

After you complete these steps, your backend should now be able to access your database and also authorize JWT tokens from the client.

Setting up Firebase Authentication ​

We also need to use Firebase's web modular API to handle authentication on the client side (the mobile app).

1. In your ./client folder you should see a file called config_example.md. Copy the contents of that file into a file you make called .env inside the ./client directory.
2. From your firebase project's main console, navigate to the cog on the top left next to Project Overview. Select Project Settings.
3. Navigate to the General tab (should be the default tab) and scroll down until you see app keys. Should look something like this:

4. Copy those keys (without the quotation marks) into their respective variables in the .env file you just created. After you are done it should look something like this:

4. Navigate to the Firebase console and click on the Authentication tab on the left sidebar. Then, click on the "Set up sign-in method" button.
5. Click on the "Email/Password" option and enable it.

Now we are all done setting up our database!!

Installing Dependencies ​

Frontend ​

Navigate into the client folder and install the required dependencies using Node.js:

$ cd client
$ npm install

$ cd client
$ npm install

Perfect 👍!

Now, run:

$ npm start

$ npm start

It should bundle the app and show you a QR code. Above the QR code there should be an ip that looks like http://xx.xx.xxx.xx:8080 or something similar. Copy the IP (not the :8000 or the http://) and paste the into EXPO_IP in your .env file. You will have to do this step everytime you launch between coding sessions (think 3-4 hours without coding).

Scan the QR code with your phone and you should be prompted to download Expo Go and follow the steps. Then it should run in your testing environemtn (your phone).

You are now done setting up the front end for development! 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

Backend ​

From the project root directory, navigate to the server folder and install the dependencies.

$ cd server
$ npm install

$ cd server
$ npm install

Navigate into the src directory. This is your working directory.

$ cd src

$ cd src

Running the backend server ​

Since we are writing in TypeScript that will need to be compiled into JavaScript, periodically run npx tsc in a second terminal during development. Additionally, npx tsc -w will do this much more quickly and recompile on file changes.

To start the server, run npm start.

For example:

$ npx tsc && npm start

$ npx tsc && npm start

Now you are ready to start developing!🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 ​

Next, feel free to read through other parts of the documentation and codebase that interest you, and assign yourself to an issue that you want to work on!