Real-Time Forum

A full-stack web application implementing a real-time forum with live chat capabilities. Built with Go (backend) and Vanilla JavaScript (frontend) using WebSockets for real-time communication.

Features

User Authentication

• User registration with required fields:
  • Nickname
  • Age
  • Gender
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Email
  • Password
• Login using email/nickname with password
• Session management
• Secure password hashing using bcrypt

Posts & Comments

• Create and view posts with categories
• Comment on posts
• Feed display showing all posts
• Expandable comments view per post
• Category-based post filtering

Real-Time Chat

• Live private messaging between users
• Online/Offline user status
• Message history with lazy loading (10 messages at a time)
• Real-time message notifications
• Chat list organized by most recent messages
• Message format includes timestamp and sender details

Project Structure

Frontend (web/)

web/
├── index.html           # Single page application entry point
└── static/
    ├── assets/         # Images and icons
    ├── styles/         # CSS stylesheets
    ├── views/          # JavaScript view components
    ├── index.js        # Main JavaScript entry point
    └── utils.js        # Utility functions

Backend (pkg/)

pkg/
├── db/                 # Database interactions
├── handlers/           # HTTP and WebSocket request handlers
├── helpers/            # Helper functions
├── models/            # Data models
└── websockets/        # WebSocket implementation

Entry Point (cmd/)

cmd/forum/             # Main application

Technical Implementation

Frontend

• Single Page Application (SPA) architecture
• Custom router for client-side navigation
• WebSocket client for real-time communication
• Modular view components
• No external frontend frameworks/libraries
• Responsive design using Tailwind CSS
• Custom toast notifications

Backend

• Go web server
• SQLite database for data persistence
• Gorilla WebSocket for real-time communication
• Session-based authentication
• RESTful API endpoints
• Concurrent handling of WebSocket connections

Dependencies

Backend

• Standard Go packages
• Gorilla WebSocket
• SQLite3
• Bcrypt for password hashing
• UUID for unique identifiers

Frontend

• Tailwind CSS for styling
• Font Awesome icons
• Box Icons
• Google Fonts

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository
2. Ensure Go is installed on your system
3. Install dependencies:

go mod download

4. Run the server:

go run cmd/forum/main.go

5. Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser

Key Features in Detail

Real-Time Communication

• WebSocket connections maintain persistent communication channels
• Live updates for:
  • New messages
  • User online status
  • Post updates
  • Comments

User Experience

• Clean, intuitive interface
• Real-time feedback on actions
• Smooth navigation between views
• Error handling with toast notifications

Data Management

• Efficient database queries
• Prepared statements for security
• Transaction support for data integrity
• Proper indexing for performance