Project Skeleton Top-level

This repository combines the client and server into a single repository that can be co-developed, tested and ultimately deployed to Heroku or basin.cs.middlebury.edu.

The client was created with create-react-app (CRA) and the server is a separate Node.js application. The client-server integration is based on this tutorial and repository. This repository will be referred to as the "top-level" to distinguish it from the client and server.

Installing (and Adding) Dependencies

The skeleton is structured as three separate packages. A postinstall hook is included at the top level to automatically install the client and server dependencies, i.e. npm install also invokes:

npm install --prefix client
npm install --prefix server

The --prefix option treats the supplied path as the package root. In this case it is equivalent to cd client then npm install then cd ...

You will typically not need to install any dependencies in the top-level package.json file. Most dependencies are needed by the client or the server and should be installed in the respective sub-packages, e.g. to install react-boostrap for your client application:

npm install --save react-boostrap --prefix client

Running the Application

The combined application, client and server, can be run with npm start in the top-level directory. npm start launches the CRA development server on http://localhost:3000 and the backend server on http://localhost:3001. By setting the proxy field in the client package.json, the client development server will proxy any unrecognized requests to the server. By default this starts the server in hot-reloading mode (like with the client application).

Testing

The client application can be independently tested as described in the CRA documentation, i.e.:

npm test --prefix client

The server can be similarly independently tested:

npm test --prefix server

Linting

Both the client and server can be independently linted via:

npm run lint --prefix client

and

npm run lint --prefix server

Continuous Integration

The skeleton is setup for CI with Travis-CI. Travis will run build the client and test and lint both the client and the server.

Deploying to Heroku

The Film Explorer can be deployed to Heroku using the approach demonstrated in this repository. The key additions to the top-level package.json file to enable Heroku deployment:

• Specify the node version in the engines field
• Add a heroku-postbuild script field that will install dependencies for the client and server and create the production build of the client application.
• Specify that node_modules should be cached to optimize build time

In addition a Procfile was added in the top-level package to start the server.

Assuming that you have a Heroku account, have installed the Heroku command line tools and committed any changes to the application, to deploy to Heroku:

1. Create the Heroku app, e.g.:

   heroku apps:create
   

2. Push to Heroku

   git push heroku master
   

Depending on how you implement your backend, you will likely need create "addons" for your database, etc. and migrate then seed your database before you deploy.

Deploying to Basin

Your project can be deployed to basin.cs.middlebury.edu (where it is typically run within screen on an unused port). As with Heroku you will like need to create and seed your database before you deploy.

1. Build production assets for the client application (from the top-level directory):

   npm run heroku-postbuild
   

2. Start the server from the top-level directory (note you will need to pick an unused port):

   NODE_ENV=production PORT=5042 npm run start --prefix server