Project ProfPoll

NOTE: This project was made as a submission prototype for SPEC-NITH's national hackathon ELECTROTHON-3.0. This is just the backend part of the project, still under development. To visit the frontend of the project by @rv60231023 visit his repo.

This project aims at providing an anonymous yet, authenticated platform for students of NITH to rate and review their professors free of any undue repurcussions that may be levied if they were to speak out in the open. Thus, the main aim of the project is to provide a platform for unbiased and unadulterated constructive reviews about professors and, in future, various other aspects of the college across the spectrum ranging from administration, accomodation etc.

Docs at

https://profpoll.readthedocs.io/en/latest

Project Tree

    profpoll
    ├─ .gitignore
    ├─ README.md
    ├─ README2.md
    ├─ api
    │  ├─ __init__.py
    │  ├─ admin.py
    │  ├─ apps.py
    │  ├─ migrations
    │  │  ├─
    │  ├─ models.py
    │  ├─ serializers.py
    │  ├─ tests.py
    │  ├─ urls.py
    │  ├─ views.py
    │  └─ webscraper.py
    ├─ manage.py
    ├─ profpoll
    │  ├─ __init__.py
    │  ├─ asgi.py
    │  ├─ settings.py
    │  ├─ urls.py
    │  └─ wsgi.py
    └─ requirements.txt

How to get Started With the Project?

NOTE: if you want to just modify the project for personal use, you can go right ahead and clone it. However, if you aim at collaborating and making PRs, it is recommended that you first fork your own copy of the project and then clone.

This documentation is oriented to setting up the project in vscode using a virtual enviornment.

Clone the project:

    git clone https://www.github.com/verma16Ayush/profpoll.git

cd into the project directory:

    cd profpoll

create a virtual enviornment and activate it, This document uses python3's venv tool. Feel free to use any other that you like.

    python3 -m venv .venv
    ./.venv/bin/activate

First we will need to install dependencies. All the dependencies are neatly frozen using pip freeze into the requirements.txt file. In case any new dependencies are installed, make sure to add them to requirements.txt file To install the dependencies:

    pip install -r requirements.txt

To list any new dependencies that were installed

    pip freeze > requirements.txt

migrate the database changes.

    python manage.py makemigrations
    python manage.py migrate

Once all the migrations are setup, a superuser must be created to acquire administrative privileges.

    python manage.py createsuperuser

and follow prompted instructions.

Once all the above steps are completed successfully, the project is ready to be served over a localhost. To do that:

    python manage.py runserver

[OPTIONAL:] To serve the project over a LAN.

To serve the project over a local area network such as your wifi, you will need to first add the IP of your network to the list of allowed hosts in settings. py file.

To obtain your LAN's IP, in the terminal, write:

    ifconfig | grep inet

and grab your wifi's or your desired LAN's ip. for e.g. An example output of the above command:

    inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
    inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
    inet 192.168.43.189  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.43.255
    inet6 fe80::6f44:2dcb:d1fe:20d9  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

so in this case the wifi's ip is 192.168.43.189. Then go edit settings.py and in the list of ALLOWED_HOSTS add one more element that is your wifi's IP suffixed with a port number. for e.g. I would write:

ALLOWED_HOSTS=[..., 192.168.43.189:8000]

where the ellipses indicate already present allowed hosts && :8000 is the port number.

Alternatively, you could also do ALLOWED_HOSTS=['*'] which would allow to serve the project over any host but this should be used at your own discretion

then while running the server, we must:

    python manage.py runserver $(IP)

where $(IP) should be replaced with the IP of the LAN over which you want to serve your project.

The djnago-admin panel must now be accessible. Simply go the your browser and type into the address bar:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/

where 127.0.0.1:8000 should be replaced with with the LAN's IP if the project is being over it as described in the OPTIONAL section. This should be followed all through the rest of this README.md file.

The API

The project implements a REST API that could later be consumed by a frontend built over any desired tech stack. Therefore, all GET requests return a JSON response whereas all POST requests should be made with an appropriate JSON object as well.

Overview

To get an overview of all available API endpoints, go to:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/

this would return a json response that will look like:

    {
        "api/":"api end-points overview",
        "api/list/":"list all professors in database",
        "api/list_dept/<str:dept>/":"list all professors of 'dept' department",
        "rate_prof/<str:pk>/":"rate professor with 'pk' primary key",
        "prof_id/<str:pk>/":"get a professor's data, including ratings but not 
        comments with 'pk' primary key",
        "prof_comment_id/<str:pk>/":"get comments on a professor with 'pk' 
        primary key",
        "review/<str:pk>/":"write a review/comment for a professor with 'pk' 
        primary key",
        "register/":"register a new user",
        "login_user/":"login an existing user",
        "logout_user/":"log out an already logged-in user"
    }

this list signifies all the available endpoints we can make requests to.

Contributions/Collaborations

Contribution are always welcome however if you want to collaborate on the project with me, it would be preferable if you are a student of NITH. feel free to mail me at verma16.ayush@gmail.com