noydvori / chatapp

Cross-platform chat application • BIU course 89211

Web-Chatting App

Welcome to our cross-platform chat application! This application allows users to chat in real-time across various platforms. We've developed an efficient server using Node.js with the Express framework, and we utilize MongoDB as the database to store and retrieve data. The client-side was built using React, and real-time communication is achieved through Socket.IO.

Getting Started

Before running the application, make sure you have the necessary dependencies installed. You can do this by running:

npm install

Environment Variables

The application uses environment variables to configure essential settings. There are two .env files provided:

For the Client

Create a .env file in the root folder containing the following variable:

REACT_APP_SERVER_URL=<SERVER_URL>

Replace <SERVER_URL> with the URL where the server is hosted.

For the Server

Create a .env.local file in the ./webServer/config folder with the following variables:

MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING=<MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING>
PORT=<PORT_NUMBER>

Replace <MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING> with the MongoDB connection string and <PORT_NUMBER> with the desired port number for the server.

Running the Application

To start the application, run the following command:

npm start

This command loads the environment variables from the .env.local file to the server, ensuring the correct configuration.

Contributors

This project was developed by Ronnie and Noy.

Thank you for using our web chatting app! If you have any issues or questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Happy chatting!