MapHive

Showcase website

MapHive is an ASP.NET Core 8 MVC application designed for sharing places on a map within a community. Users can add places of interest, which are displayed as pins on an interactive map. Each pin links to a detailed page where users can find more information, participate in discussions, and leave reviews.

The app provides various tools for admins such as management of places categories, accounts management, database access. The design is plain bootstrap intended to be styled in the forked repository.

Key Features

• Interactive Map Display: Utilizes Leaflet.js to show an interactive world map where users can explore and add locations.
• User-Managed Places:
  • Registered users can add new places to the map.
  • Option for users to submit places anonymously.
• Admin Approval Workflow:
  • New places require administrator approval before appearing on the map.
  • Admins can mark users as "trusted," allowing their submissions to bypass the approval queue.
• User Registration & Authentication: Secure user registration and login system.
• IP Blacklisting: Tracks registration IPs to help manage and prevent abuse.
• Discussion Threads: Logged-in users can engage in discussions about each place.
• Review System:
  • Users can leave 5-star ratings and written reviews for places.
  • Reviews can be submitted anonymously.
  • Discussions can be initiated from published reviews.
• Comprehensive Admin Panel:
  • Category Management: Add, delete, and update categories for places.
  • User Management: View and filter a grid of registered users.
  • Direct SQL Execution: Execute SQL queries directly against the database and view results.
  • Configuration Management: Manage application-wide settings stored in the database.
  • Ban Management: Manage user and IP bans.
• Responsive Design: Clean, Bootstrap-based UI optimized for both desktop and mobile devices with dark/light theme support.

Technologies Used

• Backend: ASP.NET Core 8 MVC, C#
• Database: Entity Framework Core with SQLite
• Frontend:
  • HTML, CSS, JavaScript
  • Leaflet.js for interactive maps
  • Bootstrap 5 for UI components and styling
• Authentication: Cookie-based authentication
• Security: reCAPTCHA for registration, IP hashing

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• A C# IDE (e.g., Visual Studio 2022, JetBrains Rider, or VS Code with C# Dev Kit)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/MapHive.git
   cd MapHive

2. Restore NuGet packages: Open the solution (MapHive.sln) in your IDE, which should automatically restore packages. Alternatively, run from the command line in the project's root directory:

   dotnet restore

Running the Application

1. Run from your IDE:
   • Simply press the "Run" or "Debug" button in Visual Studio or Rider.
2. Run from the command line: Navigate to the MapHive/MapHive directory and execute:

   dotnet run

   The application will be accessible at https://localhost:port or http://localhost:port as indicated in the console output.

The SQLite database file (maphive.db) will be automatically created in the MapHive/MapHive project directory upon first run, and initial schema migrations will be applied.

Project Structure

• MapHive/ - Main ASP.NET Core MVC project.
  • Controllers/ - Handles incoming HTTP requests and orchestrates responses.
  • Views/ - Contains Razor views (.cshtml files) for the UI.
    • Shared/ - Layouts, partial views, and view components.
  • Models/ - Defines data structures and view models.
    • Data/DbTableModels/ - EF Core entity classes mapping to database tables.
    • PageModels/ - ViewModels specifically for Razor Pages/Views.
    • Enums/ - Enumeration types used throughout the application.
  • Repositories/ - Implements the repository pattern for data access logic.
    • Interfaces/ - Defines contracts for the repositories.
  • Services/ - Contains business logic and services.
    • Interfaces/ - Defines contracts for the services.
  • Singletons/ - Singleton services like database updater and configuration manager.
  • Middleware/ - Custom middleware components (e.g., error handling).
  • wwwroot/ - Static assets (CSS, JavaScript, images, libraries).
  • appsettings.json - Application configuration.
  • Program.cs - Application entry point and service configuration.
• CommonAnalyzers/ - Roslyn analyzers for code quality.
• README.md - This file.

Database

The application uses SQLite for its data storage. The database file (maphive.db) is automatically created in the MapHive/MapHive/ directory when the application first starts. The DatabaseUpdaterSingleton service manages schema migrations and updates by applying SQL scripts`.

Admin Panel

The Admin Panel provides administrators with tools to manage various aspects of the application:

• Categories: Add, edit, and delete categories for map locations.
• Users: View a sortable and filterable grid of all registered users.
• SQL Query: Execute raw SQL queries against the database and view results (for advanced administration).
• Configuration: Modify application settings stored in the Configuration table.
• Bans: Manage account and IP-based bans.

Access to the Admin Panel is restricted to users with administrative privileges.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to contribute, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix: git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name or git checkout -b fix/issue-description.
3. Make your changes and commit them with clear, descriptive messages: git commit -am 'Add some feature'.
4. Push your changes to your forked repository: git push origin feature/your-feature-name.
5. Open a pull request to the main repository.

Please ensure your code adheres to the existing coding style and includes any necessary tests.

License

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