Wanderlust

Wanderlust is a full-stack travel blogging platform with a browser-based frontend, REST API backend, and a desktop client module. The project includes user authentication, article publishing, comments, profile management, image upload, and admin support.

Key Features

• User registration and login
• Profile management with avatar/icon support
• Browse, search, sort, and paginate articles
• Create, edit, and delete your own articles
• Comment on articles with nested replies
• Like articles and display comment counts
• Upload images for profile icons and articles
• Backend user roles including admin support

Repository Structure

• backend/ - Node.js Express API server
  • src/app.js - main server entry point
  • src/data/ - DAO modules and SQLite database initialization
  • src/routes/ - API router structure
  • src/sql/init-db.sql - database schema and sample seed data
  • .env - backend environment configuration
• frontend/ - SvelteKit web application
  • src/routes/ - frontend page routes
  • src/lib/components/ - reusable UI components
  • src/lib/js/api-url.js - API endpoint configuration
  • .env - frontend API base URL settings
• desktop-client/ - Java desktop client module for administrative or offline use

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (recommended)
• npm
• Svelte
• sqlite3 (optional for manual database initialization)
• Java JDK (if you want to run the admin interface)

Backend Setup

1. Open a terminal and go to the backend folder:

   cd backend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Confirm or update .env values. The default backend .env includes:

   PORT=3000
   JWT_KEY=CS719ISAWESOME
   DB_FILENAME=project-database.db
   DB_INIT_SCRIPT=src/sql/init-db.sql
   FRONTEND_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173
   SALTROUND=10
   

4. Start the backend server in development mode:

   npm run dev

The backend listens on http://localhost:3000 and exposes API routes under /api.

Frontend Setup

1. Open a second terminal and go to the frontend folder:

   cd frontend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Confirm the frontend .env values. The default file contains:

   PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000/api
   PUBLIC_IMAGES_URL=http://localhost:3000/images
   PUBLIC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3000
   

4. Start the frontend development server:

   npm run dev

The frontend runs on http://localhost:5173 by default.

Running the Application

1. Start the backend first.
2. Start the frontend second.
3. Open the browser at http://localhost:5173.

If the backend database file does not exist, the backend automatically initializes SQLite using backend/src/sql/init-db.sql.

Database Initialization

The backend uses SQLite and initialises the database from backend/src/sql/init-db.sql when DB_FILENAME is missing.

If you want to initialize manually, from backend/ run:

sqlite3 project-database.db < src/sql/init-db.sql

Example Accounts

You can log in with these seeded users:

• johndoe / Password123.
• janedoe / Password456!
• guest / pAssword1!
• admin / Abc12345@ (admin user)

Desktop Client

A Java desktop client is available under desktop-client/. It provides a separate UI module and can be built with your Java development environment.

Notes

• Backend and frontend communicate via PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL.
• Uploaded images are served from http://localhost:3000/images.
• User authentication uses JWT tokens stored in cookies.

Contact

For questions related to the project, please open an issue or contact the project owner via GitHub.