The #eXchange series

#eXchange is a monthly remote Google Hangouts session with the most proactive and pragmatic of software engineers, designers, and copywriters in Ghana. It's run in the format of any programming podcast you've listened: a guest who tells his story, patiently answers questions from everyone part of the discussion, and then we have a nice time together. Want to join any #eXchange session? Register for all so you get automatically invited to every episode or register on a per episode basis. (Protip: Register once and for all.)

Got something to #eXchange? Volunteer as a guest or recommend somebody else. We'd contact you. immediately.

Contributing to #eXchange

All forms of contributions are welcome. Improvement of the Python (Flask) code, UI, etc.

Setup Requirements

• Python 2.7
• Flask, a Python microframework.
• PostgreSQL

There's awesome setup guides for both technologies on their respective homepages. You'd need pip to install Flask. If you don't have plans to use Flask for any more projects (even though we recommend you to give it a really good shot), setup your virtual environment first.

Setting up a Python virtual environment (venv)

Again, another wonderful guide by the project's authors. That should be good. The requirements for the virtual env are:

• It should use Python 2.7.x
• You should name it venv. If you name it otherwise please make sure to update .gitignore with that name.

Activating #eXchange's venv and installing required packages

(Can someone contribute the Windows way? Thanks.)

For *nix machines. It's as straightforward as:

$ source venv/bin/activate

Your prompt text should be prefixed with (venv) (or whatever name you chose). Go ahead and install the required packages:

(venv) $ pip install -r requirements.txt

Running the migrations on your database

Set EXCHANGE_DATABASE_URL to your database URL. The URL should have the form: postgres://username:password@database_server:port/database_name. The user (or role) used should have the right permissions on the database.

Then run the following commands:

(venv) $ python manage.py db init
(venv) $ python manage.py db upgrade

Make sure the current command succeeds before moving on to the next.

Starting the server

(venv) $ python home.py

By now you have a working application you're set to submit your pull requests. Otherwise submit an issue.

We'd provide a guide on how to do PRs properly if the need arises.