LocalLens

This project implements a basic community posting platform where users can register with their neighbourhood (area), create posts automatically tagged with their area, and view a feed of posts only from their selected neighbourhood.

Technology stack

• Node.js with Express framework
• MySQL (via mysql2 library)
• EJS templates for server‑side rendering
• Bootstrap 5 for styling

Setup instruction

1. Install dependencies :

   cd local_area_app
   npm install express ejs mysql2 express-session body-parser bcryptjs connect-flash 

2. Configure database credentials and session secret:

   Create a .env file based on the provided .env.example and adjust values for your environment. The application reads configuration from this file using process.env.

   Example .env:

   PORT=3000
   NODE_ENV=development
   SESSION_SECRET=change_this_secret
   
   DB_HOST=localhost
   DB_PORT=3306
   DB_USER=your_user
   DB_PASSWORD=your_password
   DB_NAME=locallensforum
   
   # CORS_ORIGIN and JWT settings are optional
   CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3000
   JWT_SECRET=replace_with_a_long_random_string
   JWT_EXPIRES_IN=2d

3. Start the server:

   node src/app.js

   Start development Server (Do this to test feature live)

   nodemon src/app.js

   Or

      npm run okk

4. Navigate to http://localhost:3000 to access the application.

Notes on architecture

follows MVC arch

• Routes define the endpoints and delegate to controllers.
• Controllers contain the business logic and interact with models.
• Models encapsulate database access, abstracting SQL queries away from controllers.
• Views (EJS templates) handle UI rendering and include partials for header and footer.
• Middleware attaches the current user to the response locals so that templates can easily access authentication state.