Chatwrite

A simple React-based chat app demo for Appwrite

This is a simple instant message chat app with persistent message storage. Users are able to send messages without having to make accounts. Just pick a name and join a room.

Screenshots

Running Chatwrite

1. Install Appwrite (https://appwrite.io/docs/installation)
2. Open the Appwrite console and make a new project.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the dashboard and add a new web app platform, typing in your local IP address (not localhost).
4. Click on "Database" and make a new collection called "chatMessages" (or something similar).
5. Go to the collection's settings and add these rules (with data types):
   • roomName (text)
   • sender (text)
   • messageData (text)
   • timestamp (numeric) For each rule, put "*" (wildcard) in both the read and write permissions list.
6. Clone this repo, cd into it, and run npm i to install dependencies
7. Edit config.js to include the relevant project's API endpoint and ID and the messages collection's ID.
8. Run npm start to build the web app and start the web server (on port 80 -- be sure to check your computer's firewall if it doesn't work).

Troubleshooting

• (As mentioned before) Your computer's firewall may block incoming connections to some or all network ports. Check your firewall settings if necessary.
• To work around a CORS issue, make sure you are accessing the web app on the same host name as the one entered as the apiEndpoint in config.js.
• If something is still broken, make an issue on this GitHub repo and I'll see if I can fix it.

How it works

• A user picks a name, types in a room name, joins the room and starts sending messages.
• In the database, each message is stored as a document in a collection. All messages, across all rooms, are stored in the same collection.
• When the user sends a message, the client app sends a request to the server, which creates a document that has these fields:
  • roomName - the room name the user typed in
  • sender - the name the user typed in
  • messageData - the message the user sent
  • timestamp - unix ms timestamp
• When a user joins a room, the client queries the server for all messages with the matching roomName field. Additionally, the client subscribes to updates to get other such messages.

To do

• When the user leaves a room, the username and room name they previously typed in should be kept in the input form.
• Trigger the CORS dialog as soon as CORS errors are detected, instead of only when "Start Chatting" is clicked