🎉 Confession App Documentation

🌟 Overview

Welcome to the Confession App! This web application, built with Express.js and Sequelize, allows users to anonymously submit, view, and vote on confessions. It features an admin panel for managing confessions, along with rate limiting to prevent abuse.

🚀 Features

• 🤫 Anonymous Submissions: Users can submit confessions within a character limit.
• 👍 Upvote & 👎 Downvote: Users can vote on confessions, influencing their visibility.
• 🛠 Admin Panel: View, edit, and delete confessions with ease.
• 🚦 Rate Limiting: Protects against abuse with configurable voting and posting limits.
• 🕒 Automatic Archiving: Low-scoring confessions are automatically archived.
• 📱 Responsive Design: Enjoy a smooth experience across devices.

🛠 Technologies Used

• Node.js: JavaScript runtime for building server-side applications.
• Express: A fast, unopinionated web framework for Node.js.
• Sequelize: ORM for easy database interactions.
• EJS: Templating engine for rendering dynamic views.
• CORS: Middleware for enabling Cross-Origin Resource Sharing.
• dotenv: Loads environment variables from a .env file.
• express-rate-limit: Middleware for rate limiting requests.

📥 Installation

Follow these steps to host your own Confession App:

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/KartikJain14/confessions.git cd confessions

2. Install Dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env File:

   Add the following environment variables in a .env file:

   PORT=3000

   ADMIN_USER=admin

   ADMIN_PASS=admin

   VOTE_WINDOW=3 # hours

   VOTE_LIMIT=10 # votes per IP per hour

   POST_WINDOW=3 # hours

   POST_LIMIT=3 # posts per IP per hour

   LOWEST_SCORE=-5

4. Set Up Your Database: Configure your database and update the Sequelize settings as necessary.

🏃 Usage

1. Start the Server:

   npm start

2. Access the App: Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000.

3. Explore the Features: Submit confessions, vote on them, and manage them through the admin panel.

📋 Routes

Method	Route	Description
GET	/	Render the homepage
GET	/confessions	View all confessions
GET	/confession/:id	View a specific confession
POST	/confess	Submit a new confession
POST	/confess/vote/:id/:vote	Vote on a confession
GET	/admin	View the admin panel
GET	/admin/edit/:id	Edit a specific confession
POST	/admin/update	Update a confession
POST	/admin/delete/:id	Delete a confession

⚙️ Configuration

Make sure to set the following environment variables in your .env file:

• PORT: Port on which the server will run (default: 3000).
• ADMIN_USER: Username for admin route (default: admin).
• ADMIN_PASS: Password for admin route (default: admin).
• VOTE_WINDOW: Time window for vote limiting in hours (default: 1).
• VOTE_LIMIT: Maximum votes per IP per time window (default: 15).
• POST_WINDOW: Time window for post limiting in hours (default: 1).
• POST_LIMIT: Maximum posts per IP per time window (default: 2).
• LOWEST_SCORE: Score threshold for automatic archiving of confessions (default: -10).

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to help improve the Confession App:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your feature or bugfix.
3. Submit a pull request with a clear description of your changes.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

✅ To Do

• 🔧 Improve UI/UX: Enhance the user interface for a better user experience on all devices.
• 📊 Analytics Dashboard: Create an admin analytics dashboard to visualize confession trends.
• 💬 Comment System: Allow users to comment on confessions for deeper engagement.
• 🛡 Security Enhancements: Add measures to further secure the application against potential threats.
• 📜 Documentation Updates: Regularly update documentation as features are added or changed.

🌐 Contact

For any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out:

• GitHub: KartikJain14

Thank you for checking out the Confession App! We hope you enjoy using it and contributing to its growth. Happy coding! 🎉