Here's an elaborated version of your README that provides more clarity and organization:

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CS3219 Project (PeerPrep) - AY2425S1

Group: G35

Welcome to Group 35's submission for the CS3219 PeerPrep Project! This README provides the necessary instructions for deploying and developing the PeerPrep application.

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Deployment

The PeerPrep application consists of a backend and frontend, both of which can be deployed using Docker. Follow the respective instructions below to set up the services.

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Prerequisites

Before you proceed, ensure the following software is installed on your system:

• Docker: For containerizing and deploying the application.

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Full Deployment (Backend + Frontend)

Deploy the complete application, including both the backend and frontend services.

Steps:

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/CS3219-AY2425S1/cs3219-ay2425s1-project-g35
   cd cs3219-ay2425s1-project-g35

2. Run the following command to deploy the entire application:

   docker-compose up -d

   • This will start all services defined in the docker-compose.yaml file.

3. Access the application through the specified frontend URL or backend endpoints.

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Backend-Only Deployment

If you only need to deploy the frontend (e.g., for UI testing), follow these steps:

Steps:

1. Run the following command:

   docker-compose -f docker-compose-backend.yaml up -d

   • This will deploy without the frontend.

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Frontend-Only

Prerequisites

• Node.js installed

Steps:

• Run npm install within the Frontend folder
• Run npm run dev within the Frontend folder

Development

If you're contributing to the development of this project, here are some guidelines to get started.

Prerequisites

• Docker (as above)

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Running Tests

To ensure code quality, you can run integration tests using a dedicated Docker Compose configuration file.

Steps:

1. Use the provided test compose file:

   docker-compose -f docker-compose-tests.yaml up -d --build

   • This will build and run the test environment as defined in docker-compose-tests.yaml.

Common Troubleshooting Tips

1. Ensure that you remove volumes if you've made changes to mongo-seed

Due to the way questions are seeded, if the earlier seeded questions are still in the mongo database, new questions with the same details/slightly changed details will be rejected.

1. Run docker compose down -v --remove-orphans

2. Ensure you down the docker compose project if you've made changes to nginx.conf

If you've made changes to nginx.conf, you will need to bring down the project before rebuilding nginx.

1. Run docker compose down
2. Run docker compose up -d --build

Alternatively, you can use --force-recreate

1. You can also use docker compose up -d --build --force-recreate to ensure that Docker recreates the nginx container

3. If you've added a new service to the docker-compose.yaml file, make the same changes to the tests and backend files

If not, the integration tests may fail