DBMS-2 (CS3550) : Assignment 2

Installation and execution instructions

• Rust: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
• Flutter: https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install/linux
• Diesel (SQL ORM library for Rust): cargo install diesel_cli --no-default-feature --features postgres (after installing rust)

One Time Setup

• Backend: Create a .env file in the Backend directory with the following contents:

  • Database does not need to be created beforehand

  DATABASE_URL=postgres://<username>:<password>@localhost/cqadb
  
  JWT_SECRET=<any random string>
  JWT_EXPIRED_IN=60m
  JWT_MAXAGE=60
  

• Database initialisation: copy the contents of the csv files generated into the database using the following command:

  • init.pgsql must be in the same directory as the csv files.
  • Note: Run this after running diesel migration run in the Backend, otherwise the tables will not exist.

  cd Backend
  diesel setup
  psql cqadb -f init.pgsql
  diesel migration run

• Frontend: Create a Frontend/.env file with the following contents:

BACKEND_URL='http://localhost:8080'

Running

• Backend

  cd Backend
  cargo run

• Frontend (in a separate terminal):

  cd Frontend
  flutter pub get
  flutter run -d web-server --web-port 3000 --web-renderer html

• The frontend will be available at http://localhost:3000

Summary

• The application is named STEX, an abbreviation of Stack Exchange - which it is based on.
• While not a complete replica of https://stackexchange.com, it contains some of the most important features, including
  • Token-based authentication with Sessions
  • Account creation with secure encryption for passwords.
  • To ask questions and answer them, and to update / delete the questions / answers you have posted.
  • Search for posts based on title, owner or tags, equipped with autocomplete.

Structure:

• Backend: API flowchart attached.
  • /me: User profile (R)
  • /bio: Edit user about-me (U)
  • /auth
    • /login
    • /logout
    • /register
  • /auto
    • /t: Tag-name autocomplete
    • /u: User display-name autcomplete
    • /p: Post title autocomplete
  • /search
    • /title: Search post by title
    • /tags: Search post by single/multiple tags
  • /user/{id}
    • /questions: All questions posed by user
    • /answers: All answers given by user
  • /qa
    • /question: Pose a question
    • /{id}: Gets a question with given id and its answers
      • /answer: Answer question with given id
      • /update: Update post with given id
      • /delete: Delete post with given id
• ORM: Support for the following
  • Prefix-based autocomplete for user display-names, post title, and tagnames : get_all_[d|p|tag]names.
  • Search for posts based on id, user, title or tags: question_search_[title|owner], answer_search_owner, post_search_many_tags, get_post_by_id.
  • CRUD for posts, including ability to answer previously posed questions: new_post, answer, update, delete, all_answers.
  • CRUD for accounts: make_me, iam, account_by_[id|unm]
• Frontend - There are the following main pages:
  • Sign in and sign up pages
  • Home page
  • Search page
  • Search results page (for search by title or tags)
  • User profile page - shows all questions posted by the user.
  • Question page - shows a question and all its answers.
    • Editing answers is done in the same page.
  • Create/Edit question pages - for creating/editing a question.

Software used:

• Database: PostgreSQL (https://www.postgresql.org/)
• ORM software: Diesel (https://diesel.rs) in Rust.
• Backend Web framework: Actix-web (https://actix.rs) in Rust.
• Frontend web framework: Flutter (https://flutter.dev) in Dart.

Members:

• Kartheek Tammana (cs21btech11028): Overall testing, Frontend architecture
• Abhay Shankar K (cs21btech11001): Backend architecture, Database setup