NetProg-Project
Our project has two parts:
- A server that hosts a mock e-commerce website
- A client that can monitor that site for items and automatically buy the items as they come into stock
Together, these components form a demonstration of how an e-commerce purchases can be automated.
Running this Project
Dependencies for this project are listed in the file, "dependencies." We
recommend installing them using pip: pip install -r dependencies.
The server needs to be running for the client to interact with it. Before
running the server, the databases need to be created. Navigate to the
"src/server" folder, then run python manage.py migrate. After making
migrations, start the server by running python manage.py runserver. This
will host a server on "localhost:8000" which can be shut down with "Ctrl+C."
Now that the server is running, a Selenium server with the Gecko backend needs be run in the background. The client will interface with this server to remotely control Mozilla Firefox. Download Selenium Standalone Server from https://www.seleniumhq.org/download/, then download geckodriver from https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases. Put both files in the same folder, then run the Selenium server.
Note: If the account you create on the server uses a username/password combination other than "iamausername"/"iamapassword," please update the dummy username and password stored in src/client/main.py
Finally, the client can be run from "src/client/main.py" like a typical Python program. To begin with, it will run in a loop and wait for any product named "Cat food" to show up on the server website. Once you create a product named "Cat food" using the website's interface, the client will go through the complete process of buying the product within 3-5 seconds.