Introduction

This is a hackathon boilerplate for new Node.js applications created by Major League Hacking. It is for hackers looking to get started quickly on a new hackathon project using the Node.js environment.

• Installation Guide - How to get started with a new Node.js app
• User Guide - How to develop apps created with this starter project
• Contributing Guide - How to contribute to the project

Installation Guide

This project requires the following tools:

• Node.js - The JavaScript environment for server-side code.
• NPM - A Node.js package manager used to install dependencies.
• MongoDB Community Server - A NoSQL database system.

To get started, install NPM and MongoDB Community Server on your local computer if you don't have them already. Here is a guide to install MongdoDB on any major platform (Windows, Mac, Linux)

If you're on Windows:

1. Follow this tutorial that would be relevant for Step 4.

2. Note: The tutorial's example uses version 3.4 of MongoDB, make sure you type the version that is installed on your computer. If you're not sure what version you have, you can check here:

C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server

Getting Started

Step 1. Clone the code into a fresh folder

$ git clone https://github.com/MLH/mlh-hackathon-nodejs-mongodb-starter.git
$ cd mlh-hackathon-nodejs-mongodb-starter

Step 2. Install Dependencies.

Next, we need to install the project dependencies, which are listed in package.json.

$ npm install

Step 3: Create an app on GitHub

Head over to GitHub OAuth apps and create a new OAuth app.

Under Application name, name it what you like

You'll need to specify a Homepage URL, which should be something like:

https://localhost:5000

You'll need to specify a Authorization callback URL, which should be something like:

https://localhost:5000/auth/callback/github

The default port for our app is 5000, but you may need to update this if your setup uses a different port or if you're hosting your app somewhere besides your local machine.

Step 4: Update environment variables and run the Server.

Create a new file named .env by duplicating .env.sample. Update the new file with the GitHub OAuth credentials. It should look similar to this:

# .env file
MONGODB_URI="[INSERT_MONGODB_URI]"
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID="[INSERT_CLIENT_ID]"
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET="[INSERT_CLIENT_SECRET]"

You'll place your GitHub OAuth credentials here and your database URL. Make sure to remove the quotation marks (" "). Learn more about the required Environment Variables here.

To find your MONGODB_URI:

• Open up the terminal and type in mongo and hit Enter. You should see a few lines print out.
  • If you're using Windows, it is recommended to use PowerShell
• On the second line that says connecting to:, you should see a URL that starts with mongodb://
• That is your MONGODB_URI, copy and paste the link into "[INSERT_MONGODB_URI]"
  • Note: Make sure to only copy and paste up till the first alpha character.
  • Ex: mongodb://111.1.1.1/words, copy only mongodb://111.1.1.1/

To find your GITHUB_CLIENT_ID and GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET:

• Go to you OAuth app and you should see an alphanumeric string for both "Client ID" and "Client Secret"
• Your Client ID goes with the GITHUB_CLIENT_ID field
• Your Client Secret goes with the GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET field

To get the project up and running, we need to do 2 simple things:

Launch the server:

$ mongo

Lanuch the application:

$ npm start

Open http://localhost:5000 to view it in your browser.

The app will automatically reload if you make changes to the code. You will see the build errors and warnings in the console.

What's Included?

• Express - A minimal web framework for Node.js web applications.
• Mongoose - A elegant mongodb object modeling for node.js.
• Bootstrap 4 - An open source design system for HTML, CSS, and JS.
• Handlebars - A popular templating language for building layouts.

Code of Conduct

We enforce a Code of Conduct for all maintainers and contributors of this Guide. Read more in CONDUCT.md.

License

The Hackathon Starter Kit is open source software licensed as MIT.