Flask App Setup

The app uses a Docker container to setup and configure Python ready for use, install all required libraries, etc.

Some configuration is needed before creating and starting the container…

Configure Environment:

Setup the environment variable file that define key values for the app…

Copy .env.example to .env

Customize .env if needed. At the least, change the secret string (used to encrypt session cookies)

Setup the Database

1. Define Database Schema and Seed Data:

Modify app/db/config.py to change database schema and define sample seed data.

Database schema examples can be found in schema.md

2. Create Database:

The database is automatically created and seeded on first run…

Bring up the Docker container to Launch the App

1. Launch Rancher Desktop:

Rancher Desktop provides the back-end for setting up and running Docker containers. It needs to be running before you begin.

2. Bring up the container:

In a terminal, if this is the first time…

   docker compose up --build

If the config has not changed…

   docker compose up

2. View in browser:

Open http://localhost:5000 in a browser

3. View Logs:

Watch the console to see logs for:

5. Shutdown the app and stop container

In a terminal…

  Ctrl+C

If you want to completely remove the container…

  docker compose down

Command-Line DB Management Commands

A number of command-line commands are available to help you manage your database. In a separate terminal window to the one running the app…

docker compose exec web flask db-reset   # Delete and recreate database
docker compose exec web flask db-seed    # Reseed with sample data
docker compose exec web flask db-clear   # Clear all data (with confirmation)
docker compose exec web flask db-show    # Shows the DB schema and data
docker compose exec web flask db-schema  # Shows the DB schema
docker compose exec web flask db-data    # Shows the DB data