PingChat

A real-time chat application

Table Of Contents

• PingChat
  • Table Of Contents
  • Description
    • Stack Used
  • Running the application
    • Backend API
      • npm
      • yarn
      • pnpm
    • Client
      • npm
      • yarn
      • pnpm
    • Socket
      • npm
      • yarn
      • pnpm
    • Folder structure
  • Conclusion

Description

PingChat is a Realtime chat application where users can talk to strangers anonymously from anywhere in the world. PingChat was created by Ernest Wambua using the popular MERN stack.

Stack Used

• Typescript
• MongoDB
• React with (Typescript) and Vite
• Tailwindcss
• Express JS
• Socket.IO
• NodeJS

Running the application

In case you encounter any issues when running the application, feel free to reach me via ernestwambua2@gmail.com

First of all you need to clone the contents of this repository using git.

git clone https://github.com/tallninja/Ping-Chat

Backend API

This is the backend API of the application. It is responsible for handling all the business logic.

From the root folder, move to the api directory.

Next you need to install the dependencies before running the API. You can use a package manager of your own choosing.

npm

npm install

yarn

yarn

pnpm

pnpm install

After all the dependencies have been installed, you need to create a .env file at the root of the api directory. This file contains some of the environment variables used in the API. The file should contain...

BASE_URL=YOUR_DOMAIN eg 'https://my-domain.com' or 'http://localhost' or 'http://127.0.0.1'
MONGO_URI=YOUR_MONGO_URI
SESSION_SECRET=YOUR_AUTH_SESSION_SECRET eg 'jhskdkasdsakbn'

Now that everything is set up, you can run the API using the following command...

npm run dev

Client

This is the frontend of the application. This is where the users interract with the application.

From the root folder move to the client directory.
Just like the backend API we also need to install client dependencies.

npm

npm install

yarn

yarn

pnpm

pnpm install

After all the dependencies have been installed, you need to create a .env file at the root of the client directory. This file contains some of the environment variables used in the client. The file should contain...

VITE_API_URL=YOUR_API_URL eg 'http://localhost:5000' this is the URL to the backend API

Now that everything is set up, you can run the client using the following command...

npm run dev

Socket

This is the socket server. It is responsible for the realtime communication between users.
From the root folder move to the socket directory and install the dependencies

npm

npm install

yarn

yarn

pnpm

pnpm install

After all the dependencies have been installed, you need to create a .env file at the root of the socket directory. This file contains some of the environment variables used in the client. The file should contain...

CLIENT_URL=YOUR_CLIENT_URL eg 'http://localhost:5173' this is the URL to the client application

Now that everything is set up, you can run the API using the following command...

npm start

Folder structure

.
├── api
│   ├── node_modules
│   ├── nodemon.json
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── pnpm-lock.yaml
│   ├── requests.http
│   ├── src
│   │   ├── controllers
│   │   │   ├── auth.controller.ts
│   │   │   ├── conversation.controller.ts
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── message.controller.ts
│   │   │   └── user.controller.ts
│   │   ├── middlewares
│   │   │   ├── auth.middleware.ts
│   │   │   └── index.ts
│   │   ├── models
│   │   │   ├── Conversation.ts
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── Message.ts
│   │   │   └── User.ts
│   │   ├── routes
│   │   │   ├── auth.routes.ts
│   │   │   ├── conversation.routes.ts
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── message.routes.ts
│   │   │   └── user.routes.ts
│   │   └── server.ts
│   └── tsconfig.json
├── client
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── node_modules
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── pnpm-lock.yaml
│   ├── postcss.config.cjs
│   ├── public
│   │   ├── smartphone-mobile-alert-SBA-300463374-preview.mp3
│   │   └── vite.svg
│   ├── src
│   │   ├── api
│   │   │   └── index.ts
│   │   ├── App.tsx
│   │   ├── assets
│   │   │   └── react.svg
│   │   ├── components
│   │   │   ├── BrandLogo.tsx
│   │   │   ├── ChatBubble.tsx
│   │   │   ├── ChatWindow.tsx
│   │   │   ├── ConvoList.tsx
│   │   │   ├── Convo.tsx
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── MessagePrompt.tsx
│   │   │   ├── PersisLogin.tsx
│   │   │   ├── ProtectedRoute.tsx
│   │   │   ├── SideMenu.tsx
│   │   │   ├── UserCard.tsx
│   │   │   └── UsersList.tsx
│   │   ├── context
│   │   │   ├── AuthContext.tsx
│   │   │   ├── ConversationContext.tsx
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   └── SocketContext.tsx
│   │   ├── hooks
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── useApi.ts
│   │   │   ├── useAuthContext.ts
│   │   │   ├── useConvoContext.ts
│   │   │   └── useSocketContext.ts
│   │   ├── index.sass
│   │   ├── main.tsx
│   │   ├── pages
│   │   │   ├── Home.tsx
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── Login.tsx
│   │   │   └── Signup.tsx
│   │   └── vite-env.d.ts
│   ├── tailwind.config.cjs
│   ├── tsconfig.json
│   ├── tsconfig.node.json
│   └── vite.config.ts
├── images
├── index.html
├── README.md
└── socket
    ├── index.ts
    ├── node_modules
    ├── package.json
    ├── pnpm-lock.yaml
    └── tsconfig.json

Conclusion

I really enjoyed creating this. I learned a lot in the process. It is far from perfect but I will continue to make it better.

Enjoy :)