What is the problem?
Modern software development teams need an efficient way to collaborate on projects, track progress, and communicate effectively. Teams often struggle with:
- Managing multiple projects simultaneously across different team members
- Keeping track of project assignments and responsibilities
- Maintaining clear communication through project-specific discussions
- Providing role-based access control for sensitive operations
- Managing user profiles and notification preferences
Where is the challenge?
The challenge lies in creating a lightweight yet feature-rich project management system that:
- Supports multiple users collaborating on the same project
- Implements secure authentication and authorization mechanisms
- Provides a clean, intuitive interface for project and comment management
- Handles complex relationships between users, projects, and assignments
- Offers administrative capabilities for user management without compromising security
- Ensures data persistence and integrity across multiple entities
How have I solved the problem?
MyBaseCamp1 is a full-stack web application built with Ruby and Sinatra that provides comprehensive project management capabilities. The solution includes:
- Backend Framework: Sinatra (lightweight Ruby web framework)
- ORM: ActiveRecord for database abstraction and relationships
- Database: SQLite3 for data persistence
- Authentication: BCrypt for secure password hashing
- Web Server: Puma for concurrent request handling
- Views: ERB templates with responsive CSS styling
-
User Authentication System
- Secure registration with password validation (minimum 6 characters)
- Login/logout functionality with session management
- Password encryption using BCrypt
- Email uniqueness validation
-
Project Management
- Create, read, update, and delete projects
- Project ownership and access control
- Project assignments (multiple users per project)
- Project status tracking (active/inactive)
- Tagging system for project categorization
- Cover image support for projects
- Pagination support for project listings
-
Collaboration Features
- Comment system on projects with file attachments
- Read/unread status tracking for comments
- Bulk mark-as-read functionality
- Real-time discussion threads
- Comment editing and deletion capabilities
-
User Profile Management
- Customizable user profiles with bio
- Notification preferences (email notifications, weekly digest)
- Timezone and language settings
- Public/private profile visibility
- Security settings page
-
Administrative Dashboard
- User management (create, edit, promote/demote, view)
- System statistics and growth metrics
- Recent activity monitoring
- Role-based access control (admin vs regular users)
- Self-demotion prevention for admins
-
Database Design
- Users table with secure authentication
- Projects table with ownership tracking
- Project Assignments (many-to-many relationship)
- Comments with read status tracking
- Profiles with user preferences
- Proper foreign key relationships and cascading deletes
-
User Experience Enhancements
- Flash messages for user feedback
- Responsive design with custom CSS
- JavaScript-enhanced interactions (dropdowns, password strength)
- Clean and intuitive navigation
- Error handling (403, 404, 500 pages)
How to install your project?
Follow these steps to set up MyBaseCamp1 on your local machine:
- Ruby (version 2.7 or higher recommended)
- Bundler gem
- SQLite3
# My github
git clone https://github.com/devbossma/MyBaseCamp1.git
cd MyBaseCamp1bundle installThis will install all required gems including:
- sinatra
- sinatra-activerecord
- sqlite3
- bcrypt
- puma
- rake
- and development dependencies
# Run migrations to create database tables
rake db:migrateIf you want to populate the database with sample data for testing:
rake db:seed# For development with auto-reload
rake server
# The application will be available at `http://localhost:4567`
# Or for production Follow these steps
## 1. open the ./config/envirement.rb file
## 2. locate the line ENV["RACK_ENV"] ||= "production"
## 3. switch to ENV["RACK_ENV"] ||= "production"
## 4. then create the database if it's not there
### Databse Creation Command
rake crete
## 5 Execute the database migrations
### Databse migration Command
rake migrate
## 6: Finaly run the server
rake server # The application will be available at `http://localhost:8080`
# if you're facing some Port or adress already in use
#try modifing the port
## where to modify port??
## OPEN the ./Rake file
##locat the line : sh "bundle exec rerun --background --ignore 'db/*' --ignore 'log/*' --pattern '**/*.{rb,ru,erb}' 'bundle exec puma -p 8080 config.ru'"
## adn change the port 8080 # Reset database (caution: deletes all data)
rake db:reset
#( The project will be replicated utilizing the development.sql database containing dummy data for review purposes. Please refrain from using that command. )
# Run database console
sqlite3 db/development.sqlite3How does it work?
-
First-Time Setup
- Navigate to
http://localhost:4567 - Click "Register" to create a new account
- Fill in username, email, and password (minimum 6 characters)
- Submit to create your account
OR if you will use the provided Dummy data in ./db/developement.sql
- use the following credentials:
- email: reviewer@qwasar.io
- password: "P@ssword.123"
- email: admin-reviewer@qwasar.io
- password: "P@ssword.123"
- Navigate to
-
User Dashboard
- After login, you'll see your projects dashboard
- View all projects you own or are assigned to
- Projects are paginated (5 per page by default)
-
Creating Projects
- Click "New Project" button
- Fill in project details:
- Name (required)
- Description
- Cover image URL
- Tags (comma-separated)
- Active status (checkbox)
- Assigned users (comma-separated emails)
- Submit to create the project
-
Managing Projects
- Click on any project to view details
- Edit project information and assignments
- Add comments and attachments
- Mark comments as read/unread
- Delete projects (owners and admins only)
-
Collaboration
- Assigned users can view and comment on projects
- Comments support markdown and file attachments
- Unread comments are highlighted
- Use "Mark all as read" for bulk operations
-
Profile Management
- Click on your username → "Profile"
- Edit bio, timezone, language preferences
- Configure notification settings
- Update password in security settings
-
Admin Features (Admin users only)
- Access admin dashboard at
/admin - View system statistics
- Manage all users
- Promote/demote user roles
- View recent system activity
- Access admin dashboard at
Authentication:
GET /login - Login page
POST /login - Process login
GET /register - Registration page
POST /register - Process registration
POST /logout - Logout user
Projects:
GET /projects - List all projects
GET /projects/new - New project form
POST /projects - Create project
GET /projects/:id - View project details
GET /projects/:id/edit - Edit project form
PUT /projects/:id - Update project
DELETE /projects/:id - Delete project
Comments:
POST /projects/:id/comments - Create comment
GET /projects/:id/comments/:id/edit - Edit comment form
PATCH /projects/:id/comments/:id - Update comment
DELETE /projects/:id/comments/:id - Delete comment
POST /projects/:id/comments/:id/mark_read - Mark as read
POST /projects/:id/comments/mark_all_read - Mark all as read
Admin:
GET /admin - Admin dashboard
GET /admin/users - List users
GET /admin/users/new - New user form
POST /admin/users - Create user
GET /admin/users/:id - View user
GET /admin/users/:id/edit - Edit user form
PUT /admin/users/:id - Update user
POST /admin/users/:id/promote - Promote to admin
POST /admin/users/:id/demote - Demote from admin
Made at Qwasar SV -- Software Engineering School <img alt='Qwasar SV -- Software Engineering School's Logo' src='https://storage.googleapis.com/qwasar-public/qwasar-logo_50x50.png' width='20px' />
