Forum Application

A modern web-based forum application built with Go, featuring user authentication, post management, comments, and a like/reaction system.

Features

• 🔐 User Authentication - Secure login and registration system
• 📝 Create Posts - Users can create forum posts with categories
• 💬 Comments - Add and manage comments on posts
• 👍 Likes & Reactions - React to posts and comments
• 🏷️ Categories - Organize posts by categories
• 👤 User Profiles - View posts created by specific users
• 🎨 Responsive UI - Clean and intuitive user interface with CSS styling
• 🐳 Docker Support - Easy deployment with Docker

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Go 1.23.0 or higher (Download Go)
• SQLite3 (usually comes with most systems)
• Git (optional, for cloning the repository)

Optional

• Docker - If you want to run the application in a container

Installation

1. Clone or Download the Project

git clone <repository-url>
cd forum

2. Install Dependencies

go mod download

This will download all required Go modules:

• google/uuid - For generating unique identifiers
• mattn/go-sqlite3 - SQLite database driver
• golang.org/x/crypto - For password hashing

Usage

Running Locally

1. Start the application:

go run ./cmd/main.go

2. Access the application:

Open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8080/

3. Create an account:

   • Click on "Register"
   • Fill in your username and password
   • Submit the form

4. Start using the forum:

   • Create new posts
   • Add comments to existing posts
   • Like posts and comments
   • Filter posts by categories or your own posts

Building the Application

To build a standalone executable:

go build -o main ./cmd/main.go
./main

Running with Docker

1. Build the Docker image:

docker build -t forum:latest .

2. Run the container:

docker run -p 8080:8080 forum:latest

3. Access the application:

Open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8080/

Project Structure

forum/
├── cmd/
│   └── main.go                 # Application entry point
├── handlers/                   # HTTP request handlers
│   ├── HomeHandler.go          # Home page handler
│   ├── LoginHandler.go         # Login logic
│   ├── LoginShowHandler.go     # Login page display
│   ├── RegisterHandler.go      # Registration logic
│   ├── RegisterShowHandler.go  # Registration page display
│   ├── CreatePost.go           # Create post handler
│   ├── DeletePost.go           # Delete post handler
│   ├── Comment.go              # Comment handler
│   ├── CommentsLikeHandler.go  # Like comments handler
│   ├── Reaction.go             # Post reaction handler
│   ├── Filter_By_Categorie.go  # Filter by category
│   ├── Filter_By_My_Posts.go   # Filter user's posts
│   ├── Filter_by_Liked_Posts.go # Filter liked posts
│   ├── UploadHandler.go        # File upload handler
│   ├── LogOutHandler.go        # Logout handler
│   ├── StyleHandler.go         # CSS/static file handler
│   └── Reaction.go             # Post reactions
├── middleware/                 # Middleware functions
│   ├── Auth.go                 # Authentication middleware
│   ├── login.go                # Login middleware
│   ├── Posts.go                # Posts middleware
│   ├── Likes.go                # Likes middleware
│   ├── comments.go             # Comments middleware
│   └── structures.go           # Data structures
├── helpers/                    # Helper functions
│   ├── db.go                   # Database connection
│   ├── AllCategories.go        # Fetch all categories
│   ├── fetchCategoy.go         # Fetch category info
│   ├── fetchComments.go        # Fetch comments
│   ├── GetUsernameFromSession.go # Session management
│   ├── RanderTemplate.go       # Template rendering
│   ├── Sessionchecked.go       # Session validation
│   ├── formatDuration.go       # Date/time formatting
│   └── PageDeleted.go          # Deleted page handler
├── routes/
│   └── route.go                # Route definitions
├── utils/
│   └── Utils.go                # Utility functions
├── template/                   # HTML templates
│   ├── home.html               # Home page template
│   ├── login.html              # Login page template
│   ├── register.html           # Registration template
│   └── statusPage.html         # Status page template
├── static/                     # Static assets
│   ├── home.css                # Home page styling
│   ├── login.css               # Login page styling
│   ├── navbar.css              # Navigation styling
│   ├── register.css            # Registration styling
│   ├── status_Page.css         # Status page styling
│   └── images/                 # Image assets
├── db/
│   └── query.sql               # Database schema and queries
├── Dockerfile                  # Docker configuration
├── go.mod                      # Go module definition
└── README.md                   # This file

Technologies Used

• Backend: Go 1.23.0
• Database: SQLite3
• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3
• Authentication: Session-based with bcrypt password hashing
• Containerization: Docker
• Utilities: UUID for unique identifiers

API Routes

The forum provides the following main routes:

Route	Method	Description
/	GET	Home page
/register	GET/POST	User registration
/login	GET/POST	User login
/logout	GET	User logout
/create-post	GET/POST	Create new post
/delete-post	POST	Delete post
/comment	POST	Add comment
/like	POST	Like/unlike post
/reaction	POST	React to post
/filter	GET	Filter posts by category
/my-posts	GET	View user's posts
/liked-posts	GET	View liked posts

Database

The application uses SQLite3 as its database. The database schema is defined in db/query.sql.

Database Features

• User accounts with password hashing
• Posts with categories and timestamps
• Comments with author tracking
• Like/reaction tracking
• Session management

Session Management

• User sessions are tracked after successful login
• Sessions are validated on each request requiring authentication
• Logout clears the user session

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

If port 8080 is already in use, modify the port in cmd/main.go:

err = http.ListenAndServe(":YOUR_PORT", nil)

Database Issues

If you encounter database errors:

1. Ensure SQLite3 is installed
2. Delete the existing database file and restart the application
3. Check db/query.sql for schema requirements

Template Loading Error

Ensure all HTML template files are in the template/ directory:

• home.html
• login.html
• register.html
• statusPage.html

Development

Building for Production

go build -o forum ./cmd/main.go

Running Tests

Currently, no test suite is configured. Consider adding tests in the future.

Contributing

To contribute to this project:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test your changes thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Authors

• mennaas
• abalouri
• abaid
• ranniz
• ychatoua

Support

For issues or questions, please create an issue in the repository or contact the maintainers.

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Happy Forumming! 🎉