Realtime Chat App README

Demo

Overview

This Realtime Chat App is a web application that allows users to create chatrooms and communicate with each other in real-time. It utilizes Ruby on Rails for the backend, Action Cable for WebSocket communication, and Bootstrap for frontend styling.

Features

• Chatroom Creation: Users can create new chatrooms with unique names.
• Real-time Messaging: Users can send and receive messages within chatrooms in real-time.
• Username Entry: Users can enter their usernames before sending messages.
• Responsive Design: The application is responsive and works well on various devices.

Installation

To run this application locally, follow these steps:

1. Clone this repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/awahids/realtime_chat_app.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd realtime_chat_app

3. Install dependencies using Bundler:

   bundle install

4. Set up the database configuration:

   • Open config/database.yml file and update the database configuration to use PostgreSQL:

     default: &default
       adapter: postgresql
       encoding: unicode
       username: your_postgresql_username
       password: your_postgresql_password
       host: localhost
       port: 5432
       pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 } %>
     
     development:
       <<: *default
       database: realtime_chat_app_development
     
     test:
       <<: *default
       database: realtime_chat_app_test

   • Replace your_postgresql_username and your_postgresql_password with your PostgreSQL username and password.

5. Create the PostgreSQL databases:

   rails db:create db:migrate db:seed

6. Start the Rails server:

   rails server

7. Access the application in your web browser at http://localhost:3000.

Usage

• After starting the Rails server, navigate to http://localhost:3000 in your web browser.
• Create a new chatroom by entering a unique name in the provided form and clicking "Create".
• Click on a chatroom name from the sidebar to join the chatroom.
• Enter your username and message content in the input fields provided and click "Send" to send messages.
• Messages will be displayed in real-time to all users in the chatroom.

Technologies Used

• Ruby on Rails 7: Backend framework for building web applications.
• Action Cable: WebSocket framework for real-time communication.
• Bootstrap: Frontend framework for responsive styling.
• PostgreSQL 14: Relational database management system used for storing data.

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome! Feel free to open issues or pull requests for bug fixes, feature enhancements, or other improvements.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute it as per the terms of the license.

Author

This Realtime Chat App was created by AW. You can contact me at [awahid.safhadi@gmail.com] for any inquiries or feedback.