ShareSphere (Web Forum) 🌐

Project Overview

The Open Social Communication Platform is a web-based forum designed to foster an enriching exchange of information and perspectives within virtual communities. This digital interaction platform enables the posting and replying of messages by users within thematic threads, featuring user profiles and moderation systems to promote a constructive and inclusive participation environment. The forum's design emphasizes accessibility and interaction, ensuring a seamless user experience for all community members.

This project is aligned with the UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 🌎, focusing on:

• Clean Water and Sanitation
• Affordable and Clean Energy
• Life Below Water

These themes guide the forum's content and discussions, encouraging users to engage in meaningful dialogues about these critical global challenges.

Technologies Utilized

The platform is built using a robust stack of web technologies to ensure a dynamic, responsive, and secure user experience. The key technologies include:

• HTML: Structuring the web content and layout.
• CSS: Styling the application to provide a visually appealing and intuitive user interface.
• JavaScript (JS): Enhancing interactivity and ensuring dynamic content delivery.
• PHP: Server-side scripting to handle application logic, user authentication, and interaction with the MySQL database.
• MySQL: Storing user data, forum threads, and posts securely and efficiently, ensuring data integrity and availability.

Functionalities and Features

Core Functionalities

1. Web Application Development: A highly interactive and accessible web forum service.
2. Data Storage System: Utilizes a local database for secure and reliable information storage.
3. Role-Based Access Control: Precise definition of roles, permissions, and interface visualization tailored to user needs.

Database Design

The database is structured to efficiently store and manage data related to users, posts, comments, and responses. It includes tables for user information, post content, comment details, and responses to comments. Each table is designed with appropriate primary and foreign keys to ensure data integrity and facilitate complex queries. More detailed information about each table and its elements will be provided in subsequent documentation.

The following descriptions provide detailed information about the structure and elements of the database tables:

• The User table is designed to store information about the users of the application. Each user has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The name, email, and username fields store the user's name, email address, and username, respectively. The email and username fields are unique to prevent duplicate entries. The emailVerified field stores the date and time when the user's email address was verified. The passwordHash field stores a hashed version of the user's password for security purposes. The image field can store a URL to the user's profile picture.

• The Account table is designed to store information about the user's account, particularly for third-party authentication providers. Each account also has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The userId field is a foreign key that links to the id of the User table, establishing a relationship between the two tables. The type, provider, and providerAccountId fields store information about the type of account, the name of the provider (e.g., Google, Facebook), and the account ID from the provider. The refresh_token, access_token, expires_at, token_type, scope, id_token, and session_state fields store information related to Auth tokens and sessions. The combination of provider and providerAccountId is unique to prevent duplicate entries. If a user is deleted, the corresponding account entries will also be deleted due to the ON DELETE CASCADE clause.

• Session table stores information about user sessions. Each session has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The userId field is a foreign key that links to the id of the User table, establishing a relationship between the two tables. The expires field stores the expiration date and time of the session. The sessionToken and accessToken fields store the session and access tokens, respectively. The createdAt and updatedAt fields store the date and time when the session was created and last updated, respectively. If a user is deleted, the corresponding session entries will also be deleted due to the ON DELETE CASCADE clause.

• The Subgroup table is designed to store information about subgroups within the application. Each subgroup also has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The name field stores the name of the subgroup, and the description field stores a description of the subgroup. The image field can store a URL to an image representing the subgroup. The createdAt and updatedAt fields store the date and time when the subgroup was created and last updated, respectively. The creatorId field is a foreign key that links to the id of the User table, indicating the user who created the subgroup.

• The Subscription table is designed to store information about user subscriptions to subgroups. The userId and SubgroupId fields are foreign keys that link to the id of the User and Subgroup tables, respectively, establishing a relationship between the tables. These two fields together form the primary key of the Subscription table, meaning that each combination of userId and SubgroupId must be unique. The createdAt and updatedAt fields store the date and time when the subscription was created and last updated, respectively.

• The Post table stores information about posts made within subgroups. Each post has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The title field stores the title of the post, and the content field stores the content of the post. The image field can store a URL to an image associated with the post. The createdAt and updatedAt fields store the date and time when the post was created and last updated, respectively. The creatorId and SubgroupId fields are foreign keys that link to the id of the User and Subgroup tables, respectively, indicating the user who created the post and the subgroup in which the post was made.

• Comment table stores comments made on posts. Each comment has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The content field stores the content of the comment, and the image field can store a URL to an image associated with the comment. The createdAt and updatedAt fields store the date and time when the comment was created and last updated, respectively. The creatorId and postId fields are foreign keys that link to the id of the User and Post tables, respectively, indicating the user who created the comment and the post on which the comment was made. The replyToId field can store the id of another comment to which this comment is a reply.

• Response table stores responses to comments. Each response has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The content field stores the content of the response, and the image field can store a URL to an image associated with the response. The createdAt and updatedAt fields store the date and time when the response was created and last updated, respectively. The creatorId and commentId fields are foreign keys that link to the id of the User and Comment tables, respectively, indicating the user who created the response and the comment to which the response was made.

• The Vote table is designed to store votes on posts and comments. Each vote has a unique id that auto-increments and serves as the primary key. The type field stores the type of vote, which can be either 'UPVOTE' or 'DOWNVOTE'. The userId, postId, and commentId fields are foreign keys that link to the id of the User, Post, and Comment tables, respectively, indicating the user who made the vote and the post or comment on which the vote was made. Each combination of userId, postId, and commentId must be unique.

• Specifically for votes on comments, the CommentVote table stores the vote type and foreign keys linking to the user and comment ids, similar to the Vote table.

Specific Roles

• Site Administrator: Acts as the general moderator, author, and editor. Post-authentication, they access an admin panel for managing posts, users, and topics with capabilities to create, update, and delete entries. Additional functionalities include reviewing, approving, or rejecting posts.
• Registered User: Can draft new posts, comment on existing ones, and interact with other users' content. They have a personal module for managing their posts.
• Visitor: Access is limited to viewing posts. They see the most recent post in full and the titles of the next five posts chronologically.

Getting Started

Instructions for setting up the project locally include:

1. Cloning the repository.
2. Setting up a local server environment (e.g., XAMPP for PHP and MySQL).
3. Configuring the database using the provided schema.
4. Running the application through a local server.
5. Contribution Guidelines

Contributors are encouraged to participate in the project by following the guidelines for submitting pull requests, reporting bugs, and suggesting enhancements. Contributions should aim to improve discussions around the selected SDGs and enhance the platform's functionality and user experience .

License

The project is licensed under [NO LICENSE], offering open-source accessibility while ensuring credit and legal protection for contributors and maintainers.

Contact and Team Members 👥

The development and maintenance of the Open Social Communication Platform are the results of collaborative efforts by a dedicated team of developers and contributors. For inquiries, support, or contributions, please feel free to reach out to any of our team members via their GitHub profiles.

• Ambriz Chávez José Alberto - GitHub: AmbrizAlberto
• Aguilar Ávalos José David - GitHub: JDAA4
• Casillas Sánchez Ramón Dalai - GitHub: rcasillas2
• García Gámez Marco Antonio - GitHub: mggmz
• García Rea Ulises Gerardo - GitHub: Uli19
• San Millan Ramos Alan Adolfo - GitHub: Alan-San-Millan

Our team is committed to fostering an open and collaborative environment. We welcome feedback, suggestions, and contributions to improve the platform and better serve our community's needs. For more detailed discussions, feature requests, or to report issues, please use the Issues and Discussions sections on our GitHub repository.