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ChatApp

🚀 Overview

ChatApp is a real-time messaging platform built using Spring Boot and MongoDB, designed to provide smooth, real-time communication with WebSocket support. The app features user authentication, email verification, password reset, and chat room creation, making it a robust solution for any chat-related application.

Key Features

• 🌐 Real-time messaging powered by WebSockets.
• 🗂️ Backend built with Spring Boot and MongoDB for persistence.
• 🔑 User authentication with email verification and password reset functionalities.
• 📱 Responsive design suitable for both desktop and mobile platforms.
• 🛠️ Simple but powerful chat room creation and management.

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🛠️ Tech Stack

• Backend: Spring Boot, MongoDB
• WebSocket: For real-time communication
• Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Authentication: Spring Security (BCrypt for password hashing, Email verification)
• Build Tool: Maven

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📋 Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your local machine:

• Git: Install Git
• Java 17 or higher: Download here
• Maven: Install Maven
• MongoDB for version 1.0.7 and less: Install MongoDB and make sure it's running.
• MongoDB Atlas for version 1.0.8 and up Setup MongoDB Atlas

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

To set up and run the application locally, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/lyfe691/ChatApp.git
   cd ChatApp

2. Set up environment variables:

   • Create and configure the .env file with your email credentials for sending verification and password reset emails:

     MAIL_USERNAME=<your_email>
     MAIL_PASSWORD=<your_password>
     
     # Only if running v1.0.8 and up
     SPRING_DATA_MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://<your-username>:<your-password>@<your-cluster-name>.ebtag.mongodb.net/<appname(chatapp)>?retryWrites=true&w=majority

3. Install the necessary dependencies: Make sure you have Maven installed.

   mvn install

4. Run the application:

   mvn spring-boot:run

5. Access the app: Open your browser and go to http://localhost:8080.

Note
To connect to the app from other devices within your network, you'll need to access it via http://<your-ip>:8080. Additionally, you must replace all instances of localhost in the backend code with your IP address.

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🖥️ Usage

Once the application is running:

1. Sign up: Create an account to start using the chat features. You will receive an email to verify your account.
2. Log in: Once verified, log in to the app.
3. Create/Join a chat room: You can either create your own chat room or join an existing one.
4. Start chatting: Send and receive messages in real time! (in your network)

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🛡️ Security

This app uses Spring Security with the following features:

• Password encryption with BCrypt.
• Email verification for new user registration.
• Password reset via email token.

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🤝 Contributing

I welcome contributions! To contribute:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature-branch).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add feature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature-branch).
5. Open a pull request.

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📄 License

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

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📈 Project Roadmap

Planned features and improvements:

• 🎨 Custom user avatars.
• 🔔 Push notifications for incoming messages.
• 🌐 Multilingual support.
• 🔞 Censoring

Stay tuned for more updates!

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📬 Contact

For any inquiries or feedback, feel free to reach out via my Website.