IdeaNebulae makes it easy for Web Devs to propose ideas and get feedback from their peers. In the modern world of Web Development many team members work remotely, often spread across many different geographic locations and timezones. Not working in the same locations as their peers makes communication hard and can foster a sense of isolation.
Although tools such as instant messaging, email, and teleconferencing address everyday interactions within a team they are not always the best tool for sharing and reviewing ideas. Instant messaging and email are to fragmented and discussions on a given topic are interspersed between other discussions making it difficult to follow a topic over time. Furthermore, neither provide adequate security to keep commercial idea secure from prying eyes. Teleconferencing is useful for discussion, but not every idea warrants using the team's time for yet-another-meeting.
IdeaNebulae seeks to address these gaps by provided Web Devs with the ability to propose ideas, designate an appropriate level of security and confidentiality, and to get critical feedback and suggestions on thier ideas from their peers. Furthermore, IdeaNebulae supports flexible searching so that over time it is a suitable starting point to determine whether an idea has already been proposed.
You can find IdeaNebulae at ideanebulae.herokuapp.com.
Features | Development | Runtime | Authors | License | Release Notes
- TBD
The main libraries used in the development of IdeaNebulae are shown in the
following table. For a complete list of libraries consult the package.json
file.
| Library | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Airbnb | Javascript dev. standards |
| Karma | Test Runner |
| Mocha | Test Framework |
| Nightwatch | Browser Testing Framework |
| Postgres | Server DBMS |
| Sequelize | SQL ORM |
| Stylus | CSS preprocessor |
| Vue | Frontend framework |
| Vue-Router | Renderer |
| Vuex | State mgt. pattern + library |
- master: Only updated from PR's from the development branch for release. This branch always reflects the current production release.
- development: Reflects the candidate code for the next release. Developers work in developer branches, which are then pulled into this branch. All code pulled into this branch must be tested and undergo peer review as part of the PR process.
- developer branches: Are individual branches created by each developer when they are working on changes and bug fixes. There are 4 basic types of branches: bug, feature, refactor and style, after the type comes the name, it should specify on top of the branch type. For example feature/course-review. Consult the wiki for more details and examples.
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
npm run start |
Start |
npm run build |
Build application |
npm run build:client |
Build client |
npm run build:server |
Build server |
npm run dev |
Start development client & server |
npm run dev:server |
Start development client |
npm run dev:client |
Start development server |
npm run analyzesize |
Analyze bundle sizes |
npm run initdb |
Create the database and seed with test data. |
npm run test |
Initiate tests and validations |
The IdeaNebulae project folder is organized in the following manner:
| Location | Purpose |
|---|---|
directory root |
License, readme, index, and package files |
/client |
Client Services component |
../build |
Build files including Webpack files |
../config |
Application configuration |
../src |
Application source files |
../../api |
App API interface to API Server (axios) |
../../assets |
App graphics - svg, png, etc. |
../../auth |
App authentication (Auth0) |
../../components |
App components (Vue) |
../../router |
App routes (Vue-router) |
../../store |
App store (Vuex) |
../../utils |
App utility functions |
../../static |
Static files |
../../test |
Test scripts |
/server |
API Server component |
../db |
Database components and support files |
../../methods |
Database access methods |
../../migrations |
Sequelize database migration files |
../../misc |
Miscellaneus database support files |
../../models |
Sequelize database table/view models |
../../seeders |
Sequelize test data seed files |
../documentation |
Documentation files including images |
../router |
API route definitions |
../services |
Common services files |
../utils |
Utility functions |
Before starting the server in your local development environment the following environment variables should be defined:
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|---|
DBUSERID |
User id of the MongoDB instance containing the application data |
DBPASSWD |
Associated password for the database user id |
DBNAME |
Postgres database name (e.g. ideanebulae_dev) |
DBHOST |
Postgres database host name (e.g. localhost) |
DBPORT |
Postgres database server port number (e.g. 5432) |
DBURL |
Postgres server URL (e.g. DBURL=postgres://<userid>:<password>@localhost:5432/ideanebulae_dev) |
This is accomplished by including the following in the .env files located in
the root of the server directory. The .env file must never be
uploaded to GitHub since it contains application sensitive information such
as user id's and passwords for service accounts.
The /server/.env file must contain the following:
# MongoDB Authentication
DBUSERID=userid
DBPASSWD=password
DBNAME=datbase-name
DBHOST=host-name
DBPORT=port
DBURL=postgres://<userid>:<password>@localhost:5432/ideanebulae_dev
Since the application consists of a single git repo, but two runtime
servers git subtree push is used to push one part of the repo to the Client
Services app (ideanebulae) on Heroku and a second part of the repo to the API
Server app (ideanebulaeas) also on Heroku. Doing this requires setting up two
separate git remote names for these two destinations and using the --prefix
option of the git subtree push command to identify specifically which two
parts of the repo are to be pushed.
These steps are to be executed once for each computer the app will be deployed from.
| Command | Comments |
|---|---|
cd local-repo-root-directory |
Navigate to your apps root directory, where your local git repo resides, on your PC |
| Setup Your Git Repo on Heroku | |
heroku login |
Remotely login to Heroku |
heroku git:remote -a ideanebulae |
Set up git repo in Heroku for the Client Services component |
| Link Your Local Git Repo to the Remote Repo on Heroku | |
git remote add ideanebulae https://git.heroku.com/ideanebulae.git |
Define a name in the local repo for the Client Services repo on Heroku |
heroku git:remote -a ideanebulaeas |
Set up git repo in Heroku for the API Server component |
git remote add ideanebulaeas https://git.heroku.com/ideanebulaeas.git |
Define a name in the local repo for the API Server repo on Heroku |
git remote -v |
Verify the remote names have been established |
| Setup NodeJS in your Heroku Dynos | |
heroku buildpacks:set https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-nodejs -a ideanebulae |
Define the Client Services component as a NodeJS app |
heroku buildpacks --app ideanebulae |
Verify ideanebulae is a NodeJS app |
heroku buildpacks:set https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-nodejs -a ideanebulaeas |
Define the API Server component as a NodeJS app |
heroku buildpacks --app ideanebulaeas |
Verify ideanebulaeas is a NodeJS app |
Configure Heroku Settings for the ideanebulae Dyno |
|
heroku config:set NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION=true --app ideanebulae |
|
heroku config:set NODE_ENV=production --app ideanebulae |
|
heroku config:set AUDIENCE=https://ideanebulae.auth0.com/api/v2/ --app ideanebulae |
Setup Heroku configuration variables for the Client Services component |
heroku config:set CLIENT_DOMAIN=ideanebulae.auth0.com --app ideanebulae |
|
heroku config:set CLIENT_ID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --app ideanebulae |
Replace with the AUTH0 client id |
heroku config:set REDIRECT=https://ideanebulae.herokuapp.com/callback --app ideanebulae |
|
heroku config:set SCOPE=openid --app ideanebulae |
|
heroku config:set API_HOST=http://ideanebulaeas.herokuapp.com/api --app ideanebulae |
|
heroku config --app ideanebulae |
Verify the config variables have been set |
Configure Heroku Settings for the ideanebulaeas Dyno |
|
heroku config:set NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION=true --app ideanebulaeas |
|
heroku config:set NODE_ENV=production --app ideanebulaeas |
|
heroku config:set DBUSERID=xxxxxxxx --app ideanebulaeas |
Use the ideanebulaedb user id |
heroku config:set DBPASSWD=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --app ideanebulaeas |
Use the ideanebulaedb password |
heroku config:set DBNAME=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx --app ideanebulaeas |
Use the ideanebulaedb database name |
heroku config:set DBPORT=5432 --app ideanebulaeas |
|
heroku config:set DATABASE_URL=postgres://<userid>:<password>@<postgres-instance>:5432/<dbname> --app ideanebulaeas |
Replace bracketed ('<...>') values with ideanebulaedb settings |
heroku config --app ideanebulaeas |
Verify the config variables have been set |
Configure Heroku ideanebulaeas Dyno for Sequelize |
From the Heroku Dashboard open a bash console |
npm i |
Install packages named in the package.json file |
npm install -g sequelize-cli |
Install the sequelize-cli package |
npm run createdb |
Create the database and run Sequelize migrate |
npm run loadprof |
Populate the profile table with test data |
npm run loadidea |
Populate the idea table with test data |
npm run loadagre |
Populate the agreement table with test data |
npm run loaddoc |
Populate the document table with test data |
npm run loadrev |
Populate the review table with test data |
Create Postgres views |
At this time creating Postgres views is a manual process. 1. Open a pgAdmin session that is connected to the Heroku ideanebulaedb dyno 2. Open a query window 3. Paste the contents of /server/db/models/postgres_views.sql 4. Change all occurrances of OWNER TO postgres; to OWNER TO wrirfbkaorsary; 5. Execute the CREATE VIEW DDL. |
Follow these steps each time you wish to deploy a new release of the application
to Heroku. It is assumed that you will be deploying from your development
branch in Github. If this is not the case then some modification will be
required to the steps below.
| Objective | Command | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare the Client Services | cd client |
Build the Client Services app component |
npm run-script build |
||
| Prepare the API Server | cd server |
Build the API Server app component |
npm run-script build |
||
| Commit changes to your local repo | cd local-repo-root-directory |
Ensure that you have the current app source for the branch you wish to deploy |
git checkout development |
Add any changes you have made and commit to your local branch | |
git pull origin development |
||
git add . |
||
git commit -m "Deploy to Heroku" |
||
| Deploy to Heroku | heroku login |
Login to establish a connection between your PC and your apps on Heroku |
git subtree push --prefix=client ideanebulae master |
Push the client and server portions of the app to the corresponding Heroku app | |
git subtree push --prefix=server ideanebulaeas master |