An Ethereum dApp for aggregating peer review data.
- node > 12.0 & npm 6.0
- truffle suite
- ganache-cli
- mongodb
- Metamask
Dowload and install node.js and npm via here. Use a package manager for easier installation.
If not available, install truffle globally by:
npm install -g truffle
Also install ganache-cli by:
npm install -g ganache-cli
Install mongoDB for the server database.
Install the Metamask browser extension at to be able to interact with the blockchain on the browser.
Finally install all node dependencies by:
npm install
Note that you can encounter numerous errors. This should not be a problem for running the app. Also you'll see some vulnerability warnings, please ignore them at this stage.
First we need to get the ganache-cli running. ganache-cli will be our local blockchain network for testing purposes.
Create the db folder for our blockchain:
mkdir ganache
Run ganache by:
ganache-cli --db ganache/ --networkId 5777
Take note of the 12 word mnemonic phrase after launching ganache. Use this mnemonic as below if you want to use same accounts each time you run ganache:
ganache-cli --db ganache/ --networkId 5777 --mnemonic '<12-word-mnemonic>'
Use --quiet flag if you don't wan't ganache to constantly log on the terminal.
In a new terminal compile and migrate contracts by:
truffle migrate --network develop
Now the contracts are deployed to our local blockchain and will be accessible by the app.
Copy template configuration from server/config-template.js to server/config.js:
cp server/config-template.js server/config.js
And fill the appropiate fields with your config. Use the default config URI in the file if you don't have any specific configurations.
Check if mongo is running. Note the service name vary as mongo/mongod/mongodb.
service mongodb status
Run mongodb if not running by:
sudo service mongodb start
In server/config.js we need another field. To import reviews from Publons you need to have an auth token. Login and find the token here.
In a new terminal, run the backend in development mode to watch changes with nodemon:
npm run dev
If you encounter any file watcher errors you can stop using nodemon and run the server normally by
cd server/ && npm start
Open a new terminal an start the client with:
npm run client
This will open a new browser window at localhost:3001
To be able to interact with blockchain we need Metamask. By default you can use the wallet generated at ganache launch. Import this wallet using the mnemonic you saved.
You should see around 100 ETH in your account in Metamask. If not check the network you are connected. Click top right to add Custom RPC and enter http://localhost:8545 in RPC URL.
As the application currently does not have account management, we will add a user to our database with the current account in Metamask.
Find the account address in Metamask starting with 0x and copy it.
Open mongo-cli in a terminal with
mongo
In mongo use the test database or the db name you've given with:
use test
then execute:
db.scholars.insert({ "_id" : "<Account-address>", "firstName" : "<FIRSTNAME>", "lastName" : "<SURNAME>", "email" : "<EMAIL>", "reviews" : []})
Now you should see the dashboard after refreshing and be able to interact with the application.
You can run the complete dev environment (mongo, truffle, frontend, backend) by running the shell script.
This requires VSCode and tmux to be installed.
Also add the mnemonic to the ganache config at dev/scripts/secret-template.sh and rename the file to secret.sh to use same addresses each time. You can use the mnemonic output of ganache-cli above, or your preferred wallet phrase.
Launch the dev environment with:
bash dev/bloxberg-dev.sh
You can change windows at tmux by Ctrl+B and window number. E.g. Ctrl+B then 0 opens mongo window.
You can send the session to background by Ctrl+B and D.
Launch the session back with tmux attach -t peer. Kill the session by tmux kill-session -t peer.
When launching with the dev script, mongod starting command may be different and output a warning "mongod.service: Unit mongod.service not found.". Change the command appropiately to how you start the mongo service.
If you get a 'EADDRINUSE' error at the backend server stop running node daemons with pkill node. This happens when you kill the tmux window but the node keeps running.