HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

Full-stack web application for Houston Museum of Fine Arts built with React, Node.js, and MySQL for COSC 3380: Database Systems

Project Description

This full-stack application provides a comprehensive platform for Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Built with modern web technologies, it delivers a seamless user experience through an intuitive interface while maintaining robust backend functionality and reliable data management.

Key Features 🚀

Visitor Experience

• Browse and explore available items/content

Employee Experience

• Data entry for everything visitor can see

Administrative Capabilities

• Manage user accounts and permissions
• Report Dashboard

Technologies

Frontend

Backend

Database

Deployment

Version Control

Hosting Locally

Prerequisites

• Git installed on your machine
• Latest version of Node.js
• MySQL installed locally

Database Configuration

This project uses AWS RDS for database hosting. Ensure your .env file contains the correct AWS RDS endpoint and credentials to connect successfully. The database should be configured with the proper schema before running the application.

Deployment

• Frontend: Deployed on Vercel with automatic deployments from the main branch
• Backend: Deployed on Render with environment variables configured
• Database: Hosted on AWS RDS (MySQL instance)

Getting Started

1. Open a terminal in the folder where you want the project to be:

2. Clone the repository (from the root of the project):

   git clone https://github.com/yaozay/mfah-app.git
   cd mfah-app

3. Make sure you are in main branch:

   git checkout main

4. Install dependencies:

   cd backend
   npm install
   cd ../frontend
   npm install

5. Run backend & frontend

   cd backend
   npm run dev

   cd frontend
   npm run dev

---

Daily Workflow

Starting Work

Always make sure you’re up to date before creating a new branch:

git checkout main
git pull origin main            # get the latest changes
git checkout -b feature/your-task   # create a new branch

After Finishing Your Work

Before committing, make sure your code runs without errors.

git add .
git commit -m "Describe what you did"
git push origin feature/your-task

Then open a Pull Request on GitHub to merge your branch into main.

Team Members

Yahya Ozay - Thu Pham - Nick Polycrates - Brayan Chavez - Kevin Santhosh