FarmLink - Farmer-to-Buyer Marketplace

FarmLink is a full-stack web application designed to bridge the gap between local farmers and consumers. It allows farmers to manage inventory, track orders, and view financial analytics, while providing buyers with a marketplace to browse and purchase fresh produce.

🚀 System Architecture

The application follows a Client-Server architecture:

• Frontend: Built with HTML5, CSS3, and Vanilla JavaScript. It uses fetch for API communication and localStorage for session management.
• Backend: A RESTful API built with Node.js and Express.js.
• Database: MySQL relational database for persistent storage of users, products, and orders.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Frontend: JavaScript (ES6+), Chart.js (for analytics), jsPDF (for receipts), FontAwesome.
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Multer (for image uploads), Dotenv.
• Database: MySQL (relational schema).

📂 Project Structure

• /Front_End: Contains the role-based dashboards for Farmers and Buyers.
• /Back_End/controllers: Contains the logic for processing data (e.g., orderController.js, marketplaceController.js).
• /Back_End/routes: Defines the API endpoints.
• /Back_End/config/db.js: Database connection configuration.

⚙️ Key Features

1. Role-Based Access: Specialized onboarding and login flows for Farmers and Buyers.
2. Inventory Management: Farmers can upload products with images and monitor stock levels.
3. Order Life-Cycle: Real-time status updates (Pending → Processing → Completed/Cancelled).
4. Financial Dashboard: Visual representation of sales data and order counts using Chart.js.
5. Global Search: Adaptive search logic based on the logged-in user's role.

🔧 Installation & Setup

1. Database: Import the provided SQL schema into your MySQL Workbench.
2. Environment Variables: Create a .env file in the /Back_End folder with your DB credentials:

   DB_HOST=localhost
   DB_USER=root
   DB_PASS=yourpassword
   DB_NAME=farmlink
   PORT=3001

3. Install Dependencies:

   cd Back_End
   npm install

4. Run Server:

   node server.js

📝 API Endpoints

• POST /api/users/login: Authenticates users and returns role data.
• GET /api/orders/latest/:userId: Fetches the most recent order for a specific farmer.
• POST /api/marketplace/add: Allows farmers to upload new products with images.
• GET /api/messages: Retrieves unread messages for the notification center.