How to Use

Configure Environment

Install official release of Django with pip:
Install django-extensions: pip install django-extensions or pip3 install django-extensions

Setup database and start server:

git clone https://github.com/tyler-hitzeman/ping-puma.git
cd ping-puma
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver

Import data

Navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8000/pings/ to verify that the server is running. If so, import the default JSON data (from the pings/static directory):

# Open a separate terminal window (so as not to terminate the server)
# Navigate to the `ping-puma` directory and run the JSON import script (under scripts/init_database.py)

python -W ignore manage.py runscript init_database

# You should see the following terminal output:
#       Company models created
#       Guest models created
#       Ping models created

Follow on-screen instructions from http://127.0.0.1:8000/pings/

Now that the server is running and default data is imported, you should be able to start using the app!

Design Decisions

Stack

Django: I decided to use this framework primarily because I wanted to improve my skills with it. I had used it in a past role, but I never created a full app by myself with Django.
Python: Using Python was a result of deciding to use Django.
JavaScript, CSS, Bootstrap, jQuery, AJAX, HTML: I enjoy working on the frontend as much as the backend, so adding these technologies gave me a good excuse to learn how to incorporate them into a Django app. Some of the features were especially useful in accomplishing simple tasks that would've taken more work with Django (like sending a simple alert or creating a custom form)

Design

Templates for views to avoid hard-coded, tightly-coupled URLs
ModelForm to associate forms with models without duplicating code
Followed recommendations when organizing project structure (e.g. keeping middleware, static, templates separate)
Used ForeignKey to represent relationship between Pings and Guests/Company. This worked for this use-case, but I'd make those relationships more flexibile if this were a real application.

Other