This is a very small random, live giveaway drawing/contest application. It uses Node.js, Expressjs, and Socket.io to create a bi-directional system between the person ("admin") running the contest and the people entering it ("entrants"). There really isn't much "configuration" to do, you can clone this project, start up the app, and people can connect!
~$ git clone git@github.com:jakerella/random-draw.git
...
~$ cd random-draw
~/random-draw$ npm install
...
~/random-draw$ node server/app.js
Once you have the app running, just navigate to the URL (or localhost) and head to the /setup URL. Note that there is no "homepage", you must first go to the /setup page! For example, if you are running this locally and don't have a specific PORT set up in your environment variables you could go to: http://localhost:8686/setup
Once there, just fill our the three fields and click "Create Drawing". A link will appear to the newly created drawing admin page. The URL of the contest will be at the top of the admin page and you can have people go there to enter. Note that the page for people to enter the drawing is dynamically created, thus they cannot go there before you create the drawing!
You can "reset" a contest at any time from the link in the bottom right of the admin page. This simply "un-enters" all entrants. As soon as they refresh the page they're on they will be re-entered.
You can also "delete" a contest which "un-enters" everyone. Note that the Express route persists, but since the contest details are deleted (there is no permanent storage) any visitors will receive a message that there is not contest at that URL.
You should ALWAYS delete your contest when finished!
If you provide a "Base URL" for the contest the app will try to create a unique shortcode using the bit.ly API for the URL to join your contest. Thsi shortened URL will be displayed on the admin page and will also be in your bit.ly account. When you delete a contest this bit.ly short link will be archived in your bit.ly account, but there is no way to "delete" a bit.ly link!
NOTE If you want to use the bit.ly URL shortening feature you must provide a bit.ly API key using an environment variable. On most *nix based systems you can do this from the command line like so:
~$ export BITLY_KEY=[[your key here]]
To get your key, just head to your bit.ly account and generate one.
Well, I need a random drawing application and I was tired of using http://random.org (basically, one random number of the row, one for the seat in that row). Also, this is interactive! And it demonstrates a good use for websockets. And because I was bored one weekend.
Sure! Feel free to submit a pull request, I'm open to features and such. That said, I do want to keep this simple. Things you could do: make it prettier, make the animations ease in and out (?), make some of the interactivity optional for the admin, add interactivity (camera usage?, touch?), organize the code better, etc.
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