Starting the Server

To get Looking For a Date? up and running on your local machine, follow these steps:

1. Download and install Node.js from https://nodejs.org/en/download.

2. Download and install MongoDB Compass from https://www.mongodb.com/docs/compass/current/install/. Follow the instructions specific to your operating system.

3. Download and unzip the server repository (you can download it from https://github.com/Hari-Shankar-Karthik/cs108-webdev-new).

4. Open a new terminal in the main directory of the server and type

               npm install
   

5. Once this is complete, you are ready to seed Looking For a Date? with login and student data. Copy the login.json and students.json. files into the dbs/ directory (replace the extsting files, if there are any). Then, run the command

               node seed.js
   

6. Now, you are ready to start the server. Run the command

               node index.js
   

7. The server is now up and running on port 8000. Open up a web browser and go to localhost:8000/login to start the fun.

Some Features of Looking for a Date?

Login Page

The Login page is hosted at localhost:8000/login. It allows existing users to log in by entering the correct username and password that they had set. If a user enters their username and password correctly, they are redirected to their Dashboard. Entering an invalid username-password pair will display an alert. There are also options like Forgot Password? and Signup which will redirect to the respective routes.

If the username and password are entered correctly but the user has not yet linked their login credentials with their IITB Roll Number, a page appears prompting them to do so. Submitting this form redirects the user to their dashboard page.

Forgot Password?

The Forgot Password? page consists of a username prompt. If a valid username is entered, the password is alerted to the user once they answer the secret question correctly. If either the username or the answer to the secret question are incorrect, the user is redirected back to the Login page with an appropriate alert.

If the secret question is answered correctly, the username gets pre-filled during the redirection to the Login page, the user need only enter the password.

The redirection to Login on entering wrong credentials in the Forgot page is deliberate as it slows down a malicious agent trying to access an account

Signup

The Signup page is hosted at localhost:8000/signup. A new user needs to enter their IITB roll number, a username, a password and a secret question-answer pair (to be used for password recovery). If an account of the given IITB roll number already exists, the user is alerted of the same. If an account with the given username already exists, this is also alerted to the user, along with suggestions for a unique username.

After this is complete, the user is redirected to the Complete Profile page. Here, prompts are given for the user to enter their name, email address, year of study, age, gender, interests and hobbies. The user can then click on 'Complete Profie' and they are redirected to the Dashboard.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is hosted at localhost:8000/dashboard. It consists of a lively little greeting message, a stats section and an inbox section.

The little quip you see under the greeting is newly generated every time for maximum quirkiness each time you log in.

Stats Section

Looking For a Date? keeps track of two stats on your profile: View Count and Like Count.

• Your view count is the number of times your profile has been opened by other users. Note that a particular user can view your profile only once in each session (each time they log in). This is to avoid increase of view count simply upon refreshing the profile page multiple times.

• Your like count is the number of users who have liked your profile. Each user can like your profile atmost once. There is no option of 'unliking' a profie.

Inbox Section

Looking For a Date? provides a unique feature called QuickChat. QuickChat is a text-based messaging feature completely contained withing the website. It is suitable for sending greeting messages, deciding on meeting locations and so on.

The QuickChat inbox in the Dashboard provides links to open the chats of those who have newly messaged you. If you want to send someone a message, click on the Explore option in the header, select the person you want to message and open their QuickChat.

My Profile

My Profile is hosted at localhost:8000/profile. It allows you to edit the information you provided during signup, such as age, inteerests, hobbies and so on.

To use a file on your local machine, copy it into the photos/ directory. Then, enter photos/<filename> in the profile photo input field. The same instructions are also available if you click on the 'Profile Photo URL' label.

You can click on either the Update Profile or Update and Find Match buttons depending on whether or not you want to find a match now. Clicking the first button redirects you to the Dashboard with a 'Profile Updated Successfully' message, and clicking the second button takes you to Match.

Match

Match is hosted at localhost:8000/match. The matching algorithm of Looking For a Date? factors in common interests, hobbies and the age difference to find a suitable match for you.

If a match is found, the page rendered displays the bio of the match, along with a clickable link named 'Find out what you have in common'. There are also options view their profile page or connect via QuickChat. Alternatively, you can explore other profiles by clicking on the 'View More Profiles' button.

If no match was found, a different page is rendered which has a reassuring message and the option to explore more profiles.

The Matching Algorithm

First, a list of Suitable Profiles is selected from the list of all uers, based on the users' gender. This matching algorithm matches 'Male' users to 'Female' users, 'Female' users to 'Male' users and 'Other' users to 'Other' users.

For each suitable profile, the interests score $s_i$ is calculated as ($s_i$ is $0$ if $i_s$ is $0$): $$s_i = \frac{i_c}{i_s}$$ Where $i_c$ are $i_s$ are the number of common interests and selected interests for this profile. Similarly, the hobbies score $s_h$ is calculated as: $$s_h = \frac{h_c}{h_s}$$ and $0$ if $h_s$ is $0$.

Then, the net score of each profile is given by:

$$s = 0.6s_i+0.4s_h-0.1a$$ Where $a$ is the age difference between the user and this profile.

The reason behind dividing by the number of hobbies/interests selected is so as to disincentivize users from selecting all the boxed to try and match better.

The match is then the profile which scored the highest. If no profile got a positive score, it is deemed that no match is found for the user.

Explore

Explore is hosted at localhost:8000/explore. It displays a list of all the suitable profiles in card format which the user can scroll through. Clicking on any of them redirects the user to the corresponding profile page.

Profile Page

Profile is hosted at localhost:8000/profile/:profileID, where profileID is this user's ID in the database. The Profile page consists of the corresponding user's details, such as name, year of study, profile photo, interests and hobbies. There is an option to like the user's profile. A stats section is also present which shows the number of views and likes that this user has on their profile. There is also an option to open up a QuickChat with this user.

Chat

Chat is hosted at localhost:8000/chat/:profileID, where your chat with the user having ID profileID is rendered. Chat allows for basic text-based messaging. It shows the message sent by you in green and to the right, and the messages sent by them in gray and to the left. You can send messages by entering them in the text box at the bottom and hitting 'Send'.