Awesome
Findaloo
Findaloo is a Yelp-inspired web application designed to help New Yorkers find free and convenient restrooms in their local neighborhoods. The backend is built using Ruby on Rails on a PostgreSQL database, and the frontend employs React within the Redux framework.
Features & Implementation
Findaloo is a single-page application, dynamically updating without constant reloads. Upon first rendering, both authenticated and non-authenticated users are brought to the index page of "loos" (i.e. restrooms) on the default map.
Map
A central feature of Findaloo is the index page's map. With the deep integration of the Google Maps API, Findaloo has been able to enhance its geolocation functionality. For example, the loos that are shown on the index page are filtered by the bounds of the map (among other parameters). Other uses of the Google Maps API autocomplete searching and adding a loo by clicking the location on the map. In addition, Findaloo integrates Google Maps StreetView API to seed the database with authentic pictures at each location.
Filtering
In addition to filtering by the bounds of the map, users can also filter the loos on the index page by their average review ratings. Forgoing the need to create additional columns on the loos table, I've created class methods on the loo model which query the database to perform this filter.
Reviews
Reviews are displayed with the current users' review at the top of the page, and then all other user reviews following after. If the user does not have a review, he/she are prompted to create a review for this loo. If the user is not signed in, they will be prompted to sign in to review this loo. To implement this, I separated out current user review and other reviews into separate variables in the Loo controller so that the loo show component can render them appropriately.
In addition to reviewing individual user reviews, by adding methods to the Loo model, users can also retrieve aggregate data regarding average rating and number of reviews for each loo. With Google Maps API's built-in infoWindow, this relevant information appears when users click on an icon.
##User authentication
To authenticate users without storing their password, I implemented BCrypt encryption to store an encrypted-version of the password. In addition, I bootstrapped the current user alongside my HTML to ensure that the app knows who the current user at all times.
Forthcoming
- Users will be able to create a profile
- Users will be able to sign up with Google or Facebook
- Users will be able to filter by number of reviews