General Instructions

For this project, you are provided a starting code for a messenger application and are to build on this starting code by adding new features. The starting code is for the application described in the section below, and you can find your assigned work on the Issues tab of this repository. Please open a single pull request with all of the changes needed to implement the features described in the issue, then return to the Hatchways dashboard to mark your assessment as completed.

Note that this repository contains some tests that will run on GitHub actions once you create a pull requests. These simple tests will ensure that your app is running as expected and that you have completed the basics of the assigned tasks. You will not be able to mark your assessment as completed until these tests pass. Please do not modify these tests, as they exist to help ensure your code passes the basic requirements of the assessment. There are additional, more thorough tests that will run once you mark your assessment as completed. After submitting, you will be able to see the high level results but not the specific details of these tests.

We will use this rubric to evaluate your submission. Please note that if your submission does not attempt to complete all of the requirements, or does not pass our plagiarism screening, we will be unable to provide feedback on it. Please contact hello@hatchways.io if you have any questions or concerns.

Introduction to this Application

You will be modifying an existing project containing a messenger application. The following functionality has already been implemented on both the frontend and the backend:

• User Registration
• User Login
• Conversation Display

Note: the rest of the application may not be entirely complete and bug-free in terms of both functionality and styling. Please do not fix these issues and only work on the exact tasks outlined in your ticket.

System Requirements

We recommend using Node.js 16 when running this application.

Initial Setup

Create a .env file in the server directory, and copy the contents from .env.sample.

In the server folder, install dependencies and then seed the database:

cd server
yarn
yarn seed

In the client folder, install dependencies:

cd client
yarn

Running the Application Locally

In one terminal, start the front end:

cd client
yarn start

In a separate terminal, start the back end:

cd server
yarn start

Unit Tests

Your repository contains a non-comprehensive set of tests used to determine if your pull request has met the basic requirements of the task given to you. These tests will fail before you complete your task and should NOT be modified unless specified in your GitHub issue. If these tests continue to fail when you're ready to submit, make sure your solution has been tested thoroughly to make sure you haven't missed anything.

To run these tests for the server, run yarn test from the server directory.

To run these tests for the client, first start the front end in one terminal, then in a separate terminal, run npx cypress run from the client directory.

Linting

This project is set up to use Prettier.

To format the code, ensure Prettier is installed and execute the following command in the root directory:

npx prettier --write .

Database

Setup

Note: No database setup should be required to get started with running the project.

This project uses SQLite, which stores your tables inside a file. It uses Sequelize (v6) as an ORM layer.

Seed Data

We've included sample data that the application has been configured to use. If you want to re-seed the database, you can run yarn seed. seed.js can be referenced to see what the sample data is. Viewing the database file itself is not required to complete your tasks, but if you would like to, an application like DB Browser for SQLite can be used.

Common Setup Errors

If you encounter an error related to secretOrPrivateKey when attempting to make a request, please ensure you have created a .env file in the server directory as per the Initial Setup instructions.