Friendli

Friendli is an app which makes it easier to meet new people with similar interests at conferences.

The story

It was the afternoon of the final day of 36C3.

As we sat around enjoying the last hours of the event and watching the crowds slowly thinning out, we started to reflect on the fact that it's often difficult to meet new people at conferences.

And we thought "What if we made an app to help people meet new people at conferences?".

So we found a table in what was left on the Python assembly, sat down, and started building one.

Setting up a development instance

These steps are for Debian and Debian derivatives.

They assume that your Python3 version is at least 3.6.

Step 1 - Install build tools

You can skip this step if you already have these installed.

Install pip:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install python-pip

Install redis:

$ sudo apt install redis-server

Install virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper:

$ pip install --user virtualenv virtualenvwrapper

Add these lines to the end of your ~/.bashrc file:

export WORKON_HOME="${HOME}/.virtualenvs"
source ~/.local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh

Reload ~/.bashrc:

$ source ~/.bashrc

It's assumed that you have Node installed. Use it to install sass:

$ npm install -g sass

Step 2 - Set up a virtualenv

Set up a virtualenv called friendli:

$ mkvirtualenv --python=`which python3` friendli

Then add these lines to ~/.virtualenvs/friendli/bin/postactivate:

export FRIENDLI_DATABASE_NAME=friendli
export FRIENDLI_DATABASE_PASSWORD=password
export FRIENDLI_DATABASE_USER=friendli
export FRIENDLI_ENVIRONMENT=development
export FRIENDLI_SECRET_KEY=123456789

Then restart the virtualenv to pick up those environment variables:

$ deactivate
$ workon friendli

Step 3 - Clone the repo

Clone the repo:

$ cd /path/to/your/projects/directory
$ git clone git@github.com:red-and-black/friendli.git

Step 4 - Install dependencies

Install the required Python packages in your virtualenv:

$ cd friendli
$ pip install --upgrade pip pip-tools setuptools
$ pip-sync requirements.txt

Step 5 - Create the database

Create a Postgres database and database user, setting the password for the new user to password when prompted:

$ sudo su postgres
$ createuser -P friendli
$ createdb -O friendli friendli
$ exit

Then initialise the database with:

$ ./manage.py migrate

Step 6 - Create a superuser

Create a superuser with:

$ ./manage.py createsuperuser

Open a Django shell with:

$ ./manage.py shell

Give the superuser a profile with these lines:

>>> from django.contrib.auth.models import User
>>> from profiles.models import Profile
>>> user = User.objects.get()
>>> Profile.objects.create(user=user)

Step 7 - Load data from fixtures

Load basic fixture data with:

$ ./manage.py loaddata \
    conferences_conference \
    profiles_language \
    profiles_lookingfor \
    profiles_personalinterest \
    profiles_professionalinterest

Load data for two test users with:

$ ./manage.py loaddata auth_user profiles_profile

Step 8 - Start the server

Start the server with:

$ ./manage.py runserver

Step 9 - Access the app

Browse to http://localhost:8000.

Rebuilding the css

The css is managed by sass.

When any .scss files are changed, rebuild main.css with:

$ sass /path/to/static/scss/main.scss /path/to/static/css/main.css

Upgrading Python packages

Use pip-tools to upgrade Python packages:

pip install --upgrade pip pip-tools setuptools
pip-compile --generate-hashes --upgrade requirements.in

Generating a usage report

After an event has run, a usage report can be generated with:

$ ./manage.py usage