Managr

MANAGR is a tool to simplify the management process for ALL project stakeholders: the project managers, the clients, and the construction workers.

Frontend React Application Setup

NPM

We'll use npm and webpack to handle module dependencies -- React, Webpack, loaders, and other stuff. While in the base directory of our project run npm install to install all necessary dependencies.

Webpack

Webpack handles bundling and compiling (or rather transpiling) all of our React code into plain old Javascript. It takes all of our React code and simply reduces this down to a single file called bundle.js which is what the browser uses to display the React app itself.

Running the Express Server

In order to build and run the React app, simply type npm run start and the application will be built and served on localhost:8080 (for now, it must run on 8080, there is no option to change this). If you encounter a build error that says (somewhere in the error message) some about resolve.extensions[0], run npm uninstall webpack --save-dev followed by npm install webpack@2.1.0-beta.22 --save-dev

Backend Django Application Setup

Setting up the the development environment works best in Mac OS/Linux because running and connecting a local PostgreSQL server is more friendly to these operating systems (for Windows setup see PostgreSQL for Windows).

Initial Environment Setup

• Install latest version of Python (should be 3.5.2+)
• Install Python package manager "pip" (Linux users install "pip3")
• Install Django with pip install Django==<latest_django-version> djangorestframework django-cors-headers (May need to use pip3)

Clone this repository, open a terminal, and navigate to the directory where you cloned it.

In order to make sure everything is running properly, navigate inside the outer project folder to see the 'manage.py' file. Run "python3 manage.py runserver", open a browser, and go to http://127.0.0.1:8000. A confirmation message should be presented (to run the server on a different port, specify the port number after "runserver").

Note: This may create a SQLite3.db file in the Django project. Delete this file and make sure to not commit the file.

PostgreSQL Database Setup

Managr uses a PostgreSQL relational database to store data.

Fedora/RHEL users should follow the Fedora/RHEL Postgresql Setup instructions below.

In order to install PostgreSQL, use a package manager (e.g. apt-get for Ubuntu, homebrew for Mac OS) and follow the instructions below:

• sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib libpq-dev
• sudo apt-get install python-psycopg2 (Mac users may need to run pip install django psycopg2 if previous command fails)

Once Postgres is installed, create a local Postgres database for development

• sudo -u postgres createdb <db_name>
• Example: sudo -u postgres createdb managr_local_dev

Fedora/RHEL Postgresql Setup

Fedora/RHEL and some other linux distributions have different packages for postgres, which are mentioned below. The following link may be useful: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PostgreSQL

Install the following packages using dnf:

• sudo dnf install postgresql-server postgresql-contrib postgresql-devel

After installing these packages, you may (should) have to start and initialize the database:

• sudo postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql
• sudo systemctl enable postgresql
• sudo systemctl start postgresql

Next, create a database and

• sudo -u postgres psql
• \password postgres
  • Sets a password for the postgres user
• create user <user_name> with password '<password>';
• create database <db_name> owner <user_name>;

Follow the next steps to finish setup (skip user creation).

Finishing Postgresql Setup (All operating systems)

PostgreSQL allows for multiple database creation. One machine can have many databases on it. To switch between databases:

• sudo -u postgres psql
• \connect <name_of_db_to_connect_to>

Django requires a special admin user in the PostgreSQL database and specifies certain properties for the user to have in order for optimal interaction between the middleware and database (see below).

• Open a Postgres shell - sudo -u postgres psql
• Connect to the newly created local database
• Issue the following commands:
  • CREATE USER <desired_username> WITH PASSWORD '<desired_password>'; (this password need not be secure)
  • ALTER ROLE <username> SET client_encoding TO 'utf8'; (username = desired_username from above)
  • ALTER ROLE <username> SET default_transaction_isolation TO 'read committed';
  • ALTER ROLE <username> SET timezone TO 'UTC';
  • CREATE EXTENSION hstore;
  • GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE <db_name> TO <username>;

Note: If you're getting an "Ident authentication failed for user" error when attempting to run the development server, edit the file either in /etc/postgresql//main/pg_hba.conf or /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf and set all instances of "ident" to "md5".

Next, navigate to settings.py inside the the Django project (project_name_folder/project_name_folder/(settings.py will be sitting here)). In this same directory, create a file named "local_settings.py". The contents of this file will contain all local settings necessary for development on a local machine. This allows for the project to be connected to a production database when it's in its production environment (i.e. AWS) but connected to a local database when it's in a local environment.

NOTE: DO NOT mistake __local_settings.py for local_settings.py. They are two different files!

Inside of the created local_settings.py, configure the database dictionary to connect to the PostgreSQL database that was just created on a local machine.

Example: (NAME = name of local db, USER = username of created user)

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
        'NAME': 'managr_local_dev',
        'USER': 'bdavidson',
        'PASSWORD': 'admin',
        'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
        'PORT': '',
    }
}

After local_settings.py is configured, open a terminal to where the manage.py file is located for the project.

Run:

• python manage.py migrate managr_entities
• python manage.py migrate

Finally, a superuser needs to be added through Django

Run:

• python manage.py createsuperuser
• fill out the information (can leave email blank)

Configuring your hosts file on your local machine

In order for requests to be made from the React App to the Django Server, you'll need to edit your /etc/hosts file so that 127.0.0.1 is recognized as managr.dev.biz. This is for development purposes, as some browsers have issues with using the string 'localhost' in url requests or responses. To do this you can simply add the following line to your /etc/hosts file: 127.0.0.1 managr.dev.biz (the space in the middle is a tab).

.Gitignore

The .gitignore currently ignores local_settings.py in order for everyone to maintain their own local development settings. It also ignores files ending with .pyc which are compiled files that are generated on the fly (NOTE: Do NOT commit any files ending with .pyc). These will always be changing with no relevant impact to source code of the project so they are ignored (more to come).

Running the Application

In order to start both servers (react & django) and see the application work, run the following commands in separate terminals:

• python manage.py runserver
• npm run start

You can now navigate to managr.dev.biz:8080 and see the application!