Multi-purpose platform in Node.js and MongoDB

A multi-purpose platform is created in Node.js and MongoDB. Developing an API in Node.js and MongoDB allows you to create real-time, high performance and scalable applications. When you are building a website or a mobile app, you might have a different design than what is already built. But your backend will be almost similar to your competitor. Let’s say you want to build a social network like Facebook. You will pick an HTML template or design a UI specific for your business. But you want to have a module to create users, posts, pages, groups, friends, chats and much more.

So we are providing you a multi-purpose platform that allows you to use social network, job portal, manage your media files and much more. It is a self-hosted script so all the data will be stored on your server, no third-party storage service is used here.

Tech stack πŸ’»

  • Bootstrap 5+
  • React 18+
  • Node.js 20+
  • MongoDB 4+

User Registration and Profile πŸ™‹πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ

This API allows you to register an account. The passwords are encrypted before saving them in database. User can also login using his email and password that he entered during registration.

On successfull login, a Json Web Token (JWT) is generated and returned in the API response. The client application needs to save that token in its local storage because that token will be use in other APIs in headers to identify the user. This token is also stored in server as well. So if you want to logout a user manually, you can simply remove his token from database.

User can edit his name and profile image. The email field is read-only, it cannot be changed. User can also change his password. For that, he needs to provide his current password and enter his new password 2 times for confirmation.

Social Network Posts πŸ“

If you are building a social network, then this module allows you to create and manage posts for a social network. You can also share other’s posts on your timeline. You can edit or remove your own posts. Other users will be able to like, comment or share your posts. Users will be able to edit to delete their own comments. You will be able to reply to the comments on your posts, and you can also edit or remove your reply if you want. Users can also see the list of all users who has liked or shared your post.

Pages πŸ“ƒ

If you are running a business, you can create a page for your business and start posting about your products or services in that page. In order to create a page, you need to set it’s name, tell a little about the page, and provide a cover photo for the page. User can follow your page and start seeing your page’s posts in their newsfeed. Only creator of page can create a post in that page.

You can see a list of all users who has followed your page. User can also see a list of all pages he has followed. The owner of the page can edit or delete the page. Once page is deleted, all the posts inside that will be deleted as well.

Groups πŸ₯³

You can create groups to create a community of like-minded people. In order to create a group, you need to enter the name of group, a little description about the group and it’s cover photo. You can see a list of all groups created in the platform. There are separate links from where you can see only the groups that you have created or the groups you have joined. You can join or leave the group whenever you want. However, admin of the group can also remove you from the group if he wants.

Only admin or group members can post in a group. Posts uploaded by admin will be immediately displayed on the groups newsfeed. However, the posts uploaded by group members will be held pending for approval from the admin. Admin can see a list of all posts uploaded by group members. He can accept or decline a post he wants.

Admin of the group can update the name or description of the group, and he can also change the cover photo of the group. Admin can delete the group as well. Upon deleting, all the posts uploaded in that group will be deleted as well.

Media πŸ“‚

This API allows you to upload media files (images, videos) on the platform. Each media file will have a title, alt attribute, and caption. These will help you in your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You can edit or delete your own media files whenever you want.

Friends πŸ™πŸ»

You can create friends by sending them a friend request, just like you do in Facebook. Other user can see a list of all friend requests he has received. He can accept or decline your request. If accepted, then you both will become friends and you can chat with each other. You can see a list of all of your friends. At any point, you can remove a user from your friend list.

Realtime Chat πŸ’¬

You can have realtime chat with your friends. Chats are end-to-end encrypted, that means that the messages are encrypted before sending to the server. And they are decrypted only after receiving the response from the server. Your messages will remain secure in-transit.

For realtime communication, we are using Socket IO. When you send a message, an event is emitted. The receiver will be listening to that event and display a notification alert that you have received a new message. If the chat is already opened, then the new message will automatically be appended at the bottom of the chat.

Job Portal πŸ‘¨πŸ»β€πŸ”§ πŸ‘¨πŸ»β€πŸ³ πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ« πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸŽ¨

Since this is a multi-purpose platform and it is developed in scalable technologies (Node.js & MongoDB), a job portal platform is also added that allows recruiter to post jobs and candidates can apply on that job. Recruiter can see all the applications he has received on a job and can change the status of applicant to shortlisted, interviewing, rejected or selected etc. Candidate can upload multiple CVs and choose the relevant CV while applying for the job. Recruiter can update or delete the job any time.

You can also filter job applications by status. So if you are recruiter, you will post a job. Then you will start receiving applications from candidates. Recruiter can change the status from interviewing to shortlisted employess. Then recruiter can change the status to interviewing. Recruiter can also reject the candidate, but he also needs to provide a reason for rejection. Finally, recruiter can set the candidate as “Hired”. So there must be a way for recruiter to filter job applications by their status.

We also have a PHP and MySQL version of Job Portal website. You can get it from here.

Admin Panel πŸ‘¨πŸ»β€πŸ’Ό

An admin panel is created where you can manage all the users, social network posts and jobs created on the platform. It is a single page application created in React JS and can be deployed as a sub-domain to your main website.

Super admin can see the list of all users. He can add a new user if he wants. An email with password set by admin will be sent to the new user. Admin can also update the user password as well. He can also delete the user, all the posts uploaded by that user will be deleted as well.

Super admin can see all the posts uploaded on social network platform. Just like users, he can delete any post he did not feel appropriate.

Admin can also see all the jobs posted by recruiter and if any job post goes against the standards, super admin can remove it.

Blogs πŸ“œ

Since this is a multi-purpose platform, so I added a blog module that allows you to write articles on your website. Admin can create blogs from admin panel and they will be displayed on user side. User can post a comment if they are logged-in. Other users or admin can reply to their comments. Admin can manage all posts and comments from admin panel. Admin can delete any post or command he did not find suitable.

We are using sockets to update the blogs in realtime. So if user is reading a post and admin changes something from admin panel, it will immediately gets updated on user side. User does not need to refresh the page.

Page Builder πŸ—

We are using page builder to create blog posts. It allows you to create paragraphs, headings, images, videos and buttons.

You can set the attributes like id and class. You can also set CSS properties of each tag.

If you are using image or video, you can add alt and caption attributes as well.

Freelance Platform πŸ‘¨πŸ»β€πŸ’» πŸ€‘

This multi-purpose platform project also has a freelance platform where you can hire experts to get your job done. Or, if you are a skilled person, you can find work there.

There are 2 entities in freelance platform: Buyer πŸ’° and Seller πŸ€‘. Buyer will create a task to be done, he will mention his budget and deadline. Buyer must have sufficient balance in their account. They can add balance using Stripe. πŸ’³

Sellers will start bidding on that task. Seller will also send a proposal mentioning how he will get the work done, what is his offer and in how many days he will do it. 🌚

Buyer will see all the bids from sellers. He will also see a freelance profile of each bidder, telling the orders done by each seller, their ratings and reviews etc. ⭐️

Buyer can accept the bid of any seller he seems fit for the job. The seller will be notified and their order will be started. ⏰

On their order detail page, they can chat with each other. They can send messages πŸ’¬ with attachments 🧷. At any point, buyer or seller can cancel the order.

After the work is done, buyer can complete the order βœ…. Once it is completed, the amount that was offered in the bid will be deducted from buyer’s account. 5 percent will be deducted as a “platform fee”, and the remaining 95% of the amount will be added in the seller’s account πŸ€‘.

Buyer can also gives ratings ⭐️ to a seller and also can give a review about his experience. This will help seller build his freelance profile.

Seller can withdraw the money by entering his bank account details 🏦. These details will be sent to the admin panel πŸ‘¨πŸ»β€πŸ’Ό. Admin can transfer the funds and once the transfer is completed, seller’s balance will be returned to 0.

Notifications πŸ””

User will receive a notification when:

  • His freelance order gets completed/cancelled.
  • A new message has been received on his order.
  • His bid got accepted on freelance project.
  • His withdrawl request has been updated.
  • Someone commented on his post.
  • Someone replied to his comment.
  • Someone likes his post on social network.
  • His post has been shared by someone.

These notifications will be displayed as a bell icon πŸ”” on header when user is logged-in. If he has any unread notifications, then it will be displayed as read.

Unread notification’s background will be gray. On clicking the notification, it will be marked as read.

Installer πŸ€ΉπŸ»β€β™‚οΈ

Run the following commands in your “admin” folder:

npm install
npm start

In order to create a super admin, you need to run the following command in your “premium-api” folder once:

node installer.js

This will create a super admin in your database. You can set the email and password of your choice from “installer.js” file.

Paste the “multi-purpose-platform-nodejs-mongodb” folder in your “htdocs” folder if you are using XAMPP or MAMP, or in “www” folder if you are using WAMP.

Run the following commands in the “premium-api” folder:

npm update
npm install -g nodemon
nodemon index.js

Project can be accessed from:

http://localhost/multi-purpose-platform-nodejs-mongodb/web/index.html

Demos 🎯

1. Social network – Posts

2. Pages

3. Groups

4. Friends & chat

5. Job portal

6. Admin panel

7. Blogs

8. Freelance Platform

More features can also be added on-demand in this multi-purpose platform. If you do not want all the features, we can remove or change features as per your needs.

Files included πŸ—„

  • api
    • index.js
    • installer.js
    • modules
      • admin
        • admin.js
        • auth.js
      • auth-optional.js
      • auth.js
      • freelance.js
      • banks.js
      • payments.js
      • blogs.js
      • categories.js
      • chats.js
      • files.js
      • job-portal
        • cvs.js
        • gigs.js
        • jobs.js
      • mails.js
      • media.js
      • notifications.js
      • sn
        • friends.js
        • groups.js
        • pages.js
        • posts.js
      • users.js
    • package.json
    • uploads
      • private
      • public
  • web
    • freelance
      • buyer.html
      • order-detail.html
      • orders.html
      • seller.html
      • task-detail.html
    • blogs
      • index.html
      • detail.httml
    • change-password.html
    • index.html
    • balance.html
    • withdraw.html
    • job-portal
      • applied.html
      • create.html
      • cv-manager.html
      • detail.html
      • edit.html
      • index.html
      • my.html
    • login.html
    • media
      • index.html
      • edit.html
    • profile.html
    • public
      • css
      • js
      • img
    • register.html
    • sn
      • chat.html
      • edit-comment.html
      • edit-post.html
      • edit-reply.html
      • friends.html
      • groups
        • create.html
        • detail.html
        • edit.html
        • index.html
        • members.html
        • my-joined.html
        • my.html
        • pending-posts.html
      • index.html
      • notifications.html
      • pages
        • create.html
        • detail.html
        • edit.html
        • index.html
        • followers.html
        • my-followed.html
        • my.html
      • post.html
      • profile.html
      • search.html
      • send-reply.html
  • admin (SPA)
    • package.json
    • public
    • src
      • App.css
      • App.js
      • index.js
      • components
        • blogs
          • AddPost.js
          • Comments.js
          • EditPost.js
          • Posts.js
        • categories
          • AddCategory.js
          • Categories.js
          • EditCategory.js
        • Dashboard.js
        • ecommerce
          • AddProduct.js
          • EditProduct.js
          • Orders.js
          • Products.js
        • files
          • Files.js
        • jobs
          • Jobs.js
        • layouts
          • Header.js
          • Footer.js
          • Sidebar.js
        • Login.js
        • sn
          • Posts.js
        • users
          • AddUser.js
          • EditUser.js
          • Users.js

Show or hide input field password – HTML and Javascript

In this blog post, we will discuss, how you can show or hide an input field for password using plain HTML and Javascript. This is useful because sometimes users wants to see what password they are setting. This feature is very helpful in:

  • Signup, because user will be entering his password for the first time.
  • Reset, because user wants to know what new password he is setting-up.

No library has been used in this tutorial.

First, we will create an input field for password.

<!-- input field for password -->
<input type="password" id="password" />

Then, we will create a button that will show or hide the password.

<!-- button to toggle show/hide -->
<button type="button" onclick="togglePassword()">Show/hide</button>

Finally, we will create a Javascript function that will change the type of password input field.

// function to toggle password
function togglePassword() {

    // get password input field
    const password = document.getElementById("password")

    // change input type to password if currently is text, and change to text if currently is password
    password.type = (password.type == "password") ? "text" : "password"
}

This function will first get the DOM of input field for password. Then it will execute a ternary operator to check if the current type is “password”, meaning the password is hidden, then it will set it’s type to “text” and the password will be visible to the user.

And if currently the type is “text”, it means that user is currently viewing the password, then it will set it’s type to “password” and hence hide the password.

Complete source code:

<!-- input field for password -->
<input type="password" id="password" />

<!-- button to toggle show/hide -->
<button type="button" onclick="togglePassword()">Show/hide</button>

<script>
    // function to toggle password
    function togglePassword() {

        // get password input field
        const password = document.getElementById("password")

        // change input type to password if currently is text, and change to text if currently is password
        password.type = (password.type == "password") ? "text" : "password"
    }
</script>

Above code will create an input field and a button. By default, what you enter in the input field will not be visible to you. But once you press the button, the password will be visible. And on again pressing the button, it will be hidden. That’s how you can show or hide an input field for password using simple HTML and Javascript.

Highlight current tab after page refresh – HTML, Javascript, PHP

Suppose you are creating a tab layout where there are multiple tabs and each tab has its own content. You click on the tab button and its content is displayed.

But when you refresh the page, it starts from the first tab again. How can you make so that when you refresh the page, it keeps the last active tab as “active” ?

Bootstrap Tabs

Following code will display a tab layout with 3 tabs in Bootstrap 5:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bootstrap/5.3.3/css/bootstrap.min.css" />

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bootstrap/5.3.3/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>

<ul class="nav nav-tabs" id="myTab" role="tablist">
    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link active" id="home-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
    </li>

    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link" id="profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
    </li>

    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link" id="contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#contact" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="contact" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
    </li>
</ul>

<div class="tab-content" id="myTabContent">
    <div class="tab-pane fade show active" id="home" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="home-tab">Home</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="profile-tab">Profile</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade" id="contact" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="contact-tab">Contact</div>
</div>

Right now it makes the “Home” tab active. When you click on other tabs, you will see their content. But once you refresh the page, it will again make the home tab active regardless of which tab you clicked last time.

Updating URL

Next step is to set the value of current tab in the URL when user changes the tab. So on each tab button, we will add an onclick listener that will call a function to update the URL in the browser.

<ul class="nav nav-tabs" id="myTab" role="tablist">
    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link active" onclick="changeTab('home')" id="home-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
    </li>

    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link" onclick="changeTab('profile')" id="profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
    </li>

    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link" onclick="changeTab('contact')" id="contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#contact" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="contact" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
    </li>
</ul>

Next we will create that Javascript function that will handle the onclick listener:

function changeTab(tab) {
    const urlSearchParam = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search)
    urlSearchParam.set("tab", tab)
    const newPath = window.location.pathname + "?" + urlSearchParam.toString()
    history.pushState(null, "", newPath)
}

If you want to learn more about this in detail, you can read this article.

If you change the tabs now, you will see that the “tab” query will be appended in the URL and its value will be the tab clicked. But if you refresh the page now, the tab will not be highlighted yet. This is because we are setting the “tab” query in URL but not reading it.

Highlight current tab as active

Last step is to get the current tab from the URL and highlight it.

<?php
    $tab = $_GET["tab"] ?? "home";
?>

This is get the “tab” query from URL parameter. If it does not exists in the URL, then the default value of $tab variable will be “home”.

Following is the updated code that will highlight the tab button and also will show its content.

<ul class="nav nav-tabs" id="myTab" role="tablist">
    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link <?php echo $tab == 'home' ? 'active' : ''; ?>" onclick="changeTab('home')" id="home-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
    </li>

    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link <?php echo $tab == 'profile' ? 'active' : ''; ?>" onclick="changeTab('profile')" id="profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
    </li>

    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button class="nav-link <?php echo $tab == 'contact' ? 'active' : ''; ?>" onclick="changeTab('contact')" id="contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#contact" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="contact" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
    </li>
</ul>

<div class="tab-content" id="myTabContent">
    <div class="tab-pane fade <?php echo $tab == 'home' ? 'show active' : ''; ?>" id="home" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="home-tab">Home</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade <?php echo $tab == 'profile' ? 'show active' : ''; ?>" id="profile" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="profile-tab">Profile</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade <?php echo $tab == 'contact' ? 'show active' : ''; ?>" id="contact" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="contact-tab">Contact</div>
</div>

Complete code: Highlight current tab

Following is the complete code that displays 3 tabs along with their contents. On change, will set the query parameter in the URL. After refresh will highlight the tab last selected.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
        <title>Highlight Current Tab after Page Refresh</title>

        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bootstrap/5.3.3/css/bootstrap.min.css" />

        <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

        <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bootstrap/5.3.3/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
    </head>

    <body>

        <div class="container mt-5">
            <div class="row">
                <div class="col-12">



                    <?php
                        $tab = $_GET["tab"] ?? "home";
                    ?>


                    <script>
                        function changeTab(tab) {
                            const urlSearchParam = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search)
                            urlSearchParam.set("tab", tab)
                            const newPath = window.location.pathname + "?" + urlSearchParam.toString()
                            history.pushState(null, "", newPath)
                        }
                    </script>

                    <ul class="nav nav-tabs" id="myTab" role="tablist">
                        <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
                            <button class="nav-link <?php echo $tab == 'home' ? 'active' : ''; ?>" onclick="changeTab('home')" id="home-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
                        </li>

                        <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
                            <button class="nav-link <?php echo $tab == 'profile' ? 'active' : ''; ?>" onclick="changeTab('profile')" id="profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
                        </li>

                        <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
                            <button class="nav-link <?php echo $tab == 'contact' ? 'active' : ''; ?>" onclick="changeTab('contact')" id="contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#contact" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="contact" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
                        </li>
                    </ul>

                    <div class="tab-content" id="myTabContent">
                        <div class="tab-pane fade <?php echo $tab == 'home' ? 'show active' : ''; ?>" id="home" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="home-tab">Home</div>
                        <div class="tab-pane fade <?php echo $tab == 'profile' ? 'show active' : ''; ?>" id="profile" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="profile-tab">Profile</div>
                        <div class="tab-pane fade <?php echo $tab == 'contact' ? 'show active' : ''; ?>" id="contact" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="contact-tab">Contact</div>
                    </div>



            


                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

If you face any problem in following this, kindly do let me know.

Search in all fields in DataTable

If you are using the DataTable Javascript library and are having trouble searching in all fields of the dataset except for the only one visible, then I will show you, how you can search in all fields of the DataTable.

By default, DataTable searches in all fields only on those fields that are visible on the table. Let’s say you have a dataset containing “name”, “designation”, and “country” fields. But you are displaying only “name”, and “designation” on the table.

<?php
    $data = [
        [ "name" => "Adnan", "designation" => "Software Engineer", "country" => "Pakistan" ],
        [ "name" => "John", "designation" => "Web Designer", "country" => "USA" ],
        [ "name" => "Burak", "designation" => "Cloud Engineer", "country" => "Turkey" ],
        [ "name" => "Sachin", "designation" => "Mobile Engineer", "country" => "India" ],
    ];
?>

<table id="example" class="display" style="width: 100%;">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Designation</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    
    <tbody>
        <?php foreach ($data as $d): ?>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <?php echo $d["name"]; ?>
                </td>

                <td>
                    <?php echo $d["designation"]; ?>
                </td>
            </tr>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
    </tbody>
</table>

<script>
    new DataTable('#example')
</script>

Right now, you will be able to search by name and designation only because only these two are visible on the table.

But what if you want to search for country as well ?

You just need to create a hidden <div> element and render the complete dataset in it using json_encode PHP function.

<?php
    $data = [
        [ "name" => "Adnan", "designation" => "Software Engineer", "country" => "Pakistan" ],
        [ "name" => "John", "designation" => "Web Designer", "country" => "USA" ],
        [ "name" => "Burak", "designation" => "Cloud Engineer", "country" => "Turkey" ],
        [ "name" => "Sachin", "designation" => "Mobile Engineer", "country" => "India" ],
    ];
?>

<table id="example" class="display" style="width: 100%;">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Designation</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    
    <tbody>
        <?php foreach ($data as $d): ?>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <div style="display: none;">
                        <?php echo json_encode($d); ?>
                    </div>
                    
                    <?php echo $d["name"]; ?>
                </td>

                <td>
                    <?php echo $d["designation"]; ?>
                </td>
            </tr>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
    </tbody>
</table>

<script>
    new DataTable('#example')
</script>

If you are trying to search the country, you will be able to see the records of that country, despite the country is not visible in that table.

That’s how you can search in all fields of the DataTable, despite the fact if they are visible or not.

Source code:

Download

Display ellipsis on long text HTML and CSS

In this article, I am going to show you how you can show an ellipsis on a long text using HTML and CSS. We will be using just 4 CSS properties.

Video tutorial:

For example, you have a paragraph like this:

<p>A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>

Then give it a width and you will start seeing it in wrap.

<p style="width: 200px;">A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>

To disable the wrap, you can give the following property:

<p style="width: 200px;
	white-space: nowrap;">A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>

Last thing you need to do, is to show ellipsis. To do that, just give the following 2 properties.

<p style="width: 200px;
	white-space: nowrap;
	text-overflow: ellipsis;
	overflow: hidden;
	display: block;">A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>

So that’s it. That’s how you can show an ellipsis on a long text using just HTML and CSS. If you face any problem in following this, kindly do let me know.

Ecommerce website in MEVN stack

It is a single-page ecommerce website developed in Vue JS. Vue JS is an open-source Javascript framework specifically built to design user interfaces and is widely used for creating single-page applications.

Node JS is a Javascript run-time environment developed for creating the backend of applications. Its framework Express is widely used for creating APIs. It is built to create scalable applications.

Mongo DB is a no-SQL database. It is a non-relational database system. It is easily scalable because the data is loosely coupled.

FeaturesFreePremium $100
Product management (admin panel)YesYes
Product listingYesYes
Product detailYesYes
Shopping cartYesYes
Checkout (PayPal & Stripe)YesYes
Order management (admin panel)YesYes
Order detailYesYes
Product specificationsYesYes
Stock managementYesYes
Search and sortYesYes
New order emailYesYes
Product reviewsNoYes
Shipping charges by countryNoYes
Product image compressionNoYes
Realtime chat between users and adminNoYes

Following is the feature list of this project:

  • Product management (admin panel)
  • Product listing
  • Product detail
  • Shopping cart
  • Checkout (PayPal & Stripe)
  • Order management (admin panel)
  • Order detail
  • Product specifications
  • Stock management
  • Product reviews
  • Search and sort
  • Shipping charges by country
  • Email to admin whenever a new order is placed
  • Product image compression
  • Realtime chat between users and admin

Add product

Admin will be able to add products. He will enter the name of the product. Add a little description of the product. And set the price of the product. The price will be in dollars. Along with them, the admin can upload one or more images of the product.

Product listing

Users will see the products added by the admin on their home page. The latest products are displayed first. Along with each product, a button will be displayed to view the detail of the product.

Product detail

Users can view the detail of the product. If the product contains more than one image, then it will be displayed as a beautiful slider. From this page, users will also be able to add products to the cart. If the product is already added to the cart, then he will be able to remove it from the cart.

Shopping cart

Users can add the product to the cart. From the cart’s page, he will be able to adjust the quantity of the product. There will be multiple products in the cart and you can set the quantity of each product separately. You will also see your total bill as soon as you change the quantity of any product added to the cart.

Checkout (Stripe & PayPal)

After adding the products to the cart and setting each product’s quantity, the user can go to the checkout page. Here, he can either pay via Stripe or PayPal. Both payment methods accept debit and master cards securely. When the user made the payment, his payment is verified from the server. If verified, then a new order will be created in the database.

Order management

Whenever a user made a payment via Stripe or PayPal, an order will be created. All orders will be displayed on the admin panel ordered by latest to oldest. By default, the status of the order is “Processing”. But admin can change the status of the order to “Completed” when the product is delivered to the customer.

Admin will also be able to view the total amount of the order, the payment method customer has used, and the user’s shipping details.

Order detail

Admin can view all the products that were included in each order. He can manually verify the payment by clicking the payment method. If he clicks “Stripe”, he will be redirected to the Stripe payments page. If he clicks “PayPal”, then he will be redirected to the PayPal business page. Admin can check the name, email, and phone of the user and also his shipping address.

Product specifications

Admin can add the specifications of each product and the user will be able to see it on the product detail page.

Stock management

Admin can set the number of units in stock for each product. When the user makes an order, then the number of units he has selected will be subtracted.

Product reviews

User can give reviews on a product and it will be displayed to all users who visit that product. Admin will have the ability to remove any review, for example, spamming, etc.

Search and sort

Users can search by product by its name, description, category, or specifications. Users can also sort the products by date or by price.

Shipping charges by country

Admin can set the shipping charges by each country because, in a global eCommerce website, users place orders from all over the world. For example, if your store is located in USA and someone places an order from the UK. Then you charge the shipping fee differently than other countries.

Email to admin whenever a new order is placed

Admin will receive an email whenever a new order has been placed by the user.

Product image compression

Now you can compress the product images from the admin panel. The 3 MB image can be reduced to just 182 KB and the image will still be of great quality.

Realtime chat between users and admin

Users will be able to have a chat with the admin to know more about a product before placing an order. I believe every eCommerce website should have this feature.

We are constantly updating this project and adding more features and enhancements to it. Following are all the builds that are released till today.

  • In the very first release, we build the basic E-commerce version where the admin can add products and users can see them. Add them to carts and order them. We also added Stripe and PayPal payment methods.
  • In the second release, we added more features. Allowing users to give reviews about a product. Allowing admin to charge a different shipping fee for each country and many more.
  • In the third release, we added functionality to compress product images and to have real-time chat between users and admin.

Free version

https://github.com/adnanafzal565/ecommerce-mevn-stack

Single page application in MEVN stack – Realtime chat

In this article, we are going to provide you with a free course to develop a full-fledged real-time chat app in MEVN (MongoDB, Express, Vue JS, and Node JS) Stack. Here M stands for MongoDB which we have used as a database. E stands for Express which is a Node JS framework. V stands for Vue JS which will be our front end. We will be creating a single-page application in Vue JS. And N stands for Node JS which will be our backend.

You can download Node JS from here. And Mongo DB from their official site.

FeaturesFreePremium $100
Sign upYesYes
Login/logoutYesYes
Add contactsYesYes
Private chatYesYes
Message encryptionYesYes
Chat with attachmentYesYes
Realtime chatYesYes
Email verificationNoYes
Reset passwordNoYes
User profileNoYes
Chat with emojisNoYes
Bookmark messagesNoYes
Copy messageNoYes
Archive chat with passwordNoYes
Group chatNoYes
Notifications pageNoYes
Customer supportNoYes

We will do the deployment of this app on live servers. You can find the link to all the tutorials of this series here. Following are the topics we have covered in this series.

Installation of Node JS server

In the very first tutorial, we have done the installation of the Node JS server. We also connect our Node JS server with MongoDB. You can find the tutorial here.

Setup Vue JS CLI – A single page application

Then we set up our Vue JS app using CLI. We used Vue JS CLI because we will be creating a single page application. We will be using Vue 3. Right now, we will be using the app on the local server. But once it is done, we will teach you how you can create a production build of it. And also how you can make it live on your website. This tutorial can be found here.

Routing for single page application

As this is a single page application, so we will be doing routing using Vue components. You can learn how to implement routing in a single page Vue JS app from this tutorial.

Hello world

In this part, we will learn how to integrate Bootstrap into your Vue app. So you can design the theme as per your choice. We also show you how you can create header and footer layouts in Vue JS. The header and footer will be displayed on each page. For the header, we will be creating a simple Bootstrap navbar. And for the footer, we will simply be displaying copyright text and the current year dynamically.

Registration

You will learn how to display a form using Vue JS. Sends the form values to the Node JS server. And how Node JS can save the data in the MongoDB database. You will also learn how to check if certain data exists in MongoDB or not. Moreover, you will also learn how to encrypt the passwords before saving them in MongoDB. So even if your database gets stolen, your user’s passwords will remain unknown to the hacker.

One more thing you will learn in this part is how to deal with CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) errors in the Node JS server.

Email verification

After successful registration, an email will be sent to the user’s email address. That email will have the verification code. And the user will be redirected to a page where he can enter his verification code.

He will not be able to log in until he verifies his email address.

Login

In this part, we do the authentication. You will learn how to generate JWT (JSON Web Tokens) and how to store them in local storage for future usage. You will also learn how to validate the encrypted passwords saved in MongoDB while authenticating.

Reset Password

If a user forgets his password, he can reset it. He just needs to enter his email address. An email will be sent to him with a link to reset the password. When he clicks that link, he will be redirected to a page where he can enter his new password.

Get logged-in user’s data

We will learn how to call AJAX with headers in Vue JS. How Node JS server read the headers? And how to create middleware in Node JS.

Logout

We will teach you how to log out as a user from MongoDB and from the Vue JS client app. We will remove the JWT token we create in the login part.

Contacts

To chat with people, we need to add them to our contacts. We will be creating separate components in the Vue JS app for adding and displaying all contacts. We will also be creating a new module in the Node JS server. You will learn how to insert data in a nested array in MongoDB.

We will be calling AJAX requests using Axios in Vue JS. While deleting a contact, you will learn how to ask for confirmation using sweet alert dialogs.

You will also learn how to remove an element from a nested array in MongoDB.

Chat with attachments

This is the main module of this app. We advise you to please put more focus on this part. It teaches you how to import CSS in specific Vue components only. How to send input type file from the Vue JS app to the Node JS server. How Node JS saves files on the server.

Encryption and Decryption

We are saving messages in MongoDB in encrypted form. While fetching the messages, we are again decrypting the messages back to their original state. Even if someone has access to your database, he will not be able to read your messages. Because he does not have the key. The key will only be stored on the Node JS server.

You can see the messages are fully encrypted. On the home page, where we are displaying all user’s contacts, we will also be displaying unread messages from each contact.

Attachments uploaded with messages are also protected from direct URL access. So we will show you how you can convert a file in base64 string using Node JS. And download them to your system using the Vue JS app.

Realtime chat using Socket IO

Chat will be real-time. Meaning users do not have to refresh the page to see new messages. He will automatically receive a notification. If the chat is opened, then the incoming message will be appended automatically.

We have “load more” functionality. This means that we will only show 10 messages in each AJAX call. To get the previous 10 messages, the user will click on that button and we will fetch 10 more messages. So you will learn pagination using Node JS and Mongo DB too.

Deploy Node JS, Mongo DB, and Vue JS apps

We will be deploying our Node JS server on Heroku. You can check our Heroku guide here. We will be deploying MongoDB on mongodb.com. And we will be deploying our Vue JS app on any hosting provider we choose. For example, a2hosting, Bluehost, Siteground, etc. We will create a production-ready build of our Vue JS app and upload it on our live server.

However, you might face some problems going live. That’s why we have written a detailed complete tutorial on the deployment on all these 3 platforms.

Search Contact

You can search your contacts by their email address. Searching with their email address points you to the right person. Because multiple people can have the same name. But email is unique in the entire “users” collection in MongoDB.

Group chat

Previously we discussed private chat. In this tutorial series, we also cover the group chat feature. You will be able to create groups. Add members to the groups. You will be sending an invitation to the members to join the group. The other person can accept your request to join the group or can ignore it.

Any member can leave the group anytime he wants. But this is not the case for admins. For the admin to leave the group, he must first assign someone else to the admin of the group. The other person must be a member of the group. After assigning someone else as an admin, he can easily leave the group.

People who are not members or the admin of the group, cannot send or view the messages in the group chat.

The chat in the group is also real-time. All the other members of the group will get a notification when someone sends a message. If they have opened the group, then the new message will automatically get appended at the end of the chat.

Group chat is also end-to-end encrypted.

And same as we did for private chat, we are displaying several unread messages from a group on the page where we are displaying all groups.

Emojis

In chat, you can also send emojis to the recipient. Emojis are also encrypted.

Bookmark message

You can also bookmark your favorite messages. This way, you can always see your bookmarked messages whenever you want. You can bookmark your messages as well.

Copy message

If someone sends you a lengthy message, like an essay. You can copy the whole message with a single click.

Archive chat with password

  • You can archive your private chat with a password.
  • Once archived, no one will be able to view the chat.
  • To view the chat, you must provide the correct password.
  • You can remove the password by simply entering the correct password.
  • Archived chats cannot be deleted. You must first un-archive the chat, then delete it.

Re-designed

I re-designed the website into a beautiful template. That’s how it looks now.

So you will be learning to create a full-stack chat app from scratch using Node JS, Mongo DB, and Vue JS. Again, you can find the tutorial for the complete series here. Enjoy!

Free version

https://github.com/adnanafzal565/spa-chat-app-mevn

Our Trustpilot reviews

CRUD in Vue JS and PHP

In this tutorial, we are going to perform a complete CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operation using Vue JS and PHP. We will be using Vue JS for the frontend and PHP for backend processing. We will also be using PDO prepared statements for preventing SQL injection.

First, you need to download Vue JS from here and Bootstrap from here. You will also need to download jQuery from here as well. After that, you need to copy-paste the JS file from Vue JS in your project. You also need to copy-paste the CSS and JS files from Bootstrap too.

After downloading and placing in your project, you need to include these files as well.

<script src="vue.min.js"></script>

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/bootstrap.css" />
<script src="js/jquery-3.3.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="js/bootstrap.js"></script>

Create

First thing is that you need to insert the data into the database. For the sake of this tutorial, we have created a simple table in our MySQL database. The table name is users and it has the following columns:

  1. id (auto increment)
  2. name
  3. email
  4. password

Then you need to create a form from which you can enter the details to save in the database.

<div id="myApp">
	<div class="container">
		<h1 class="text-center">Create</h1>

		<div class="row">
			<div class="offset-md-3 col-md-6">
				<form method="POST" action="create.php" v-on:submit.prevent="doCreate">
					<div class="form-group">
						<label>Name</label>
						<input type="text" name="name" class="form-control" />
					</div>

					<div class="form-group">
						<label>Email</label>
						<input type="email" name="email" class="form-control" />
					</div>

					<div class="form-group">
						<label>Password</label>
						<input type="password" name="password" class="form-control" />
					</div>

					<input type="submit" value="Create User" class="btn btn-primary" />
				</form>
			</div>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

After that, we need to create a Vue JS app and a method that will call an AJAX request to the server.

<script>
	// initialize Vue JS
	const myApp = new Vue({
		el: "#myApp",
		methods: {

			doCreate: function () {
				const self = this;
				const form = event.target;

				const ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
				ajax.open("POST", form.getAttribute("action"), true);

				ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
					if (this.readyState == 4) {
						if (this.status == 200) {
							console.log(this.responseText);
						}
					}
				};

				const formData = new FormData(form);
				ajax.send(formData);
			}
		},
	});
</script>

Now create a file named create.php that will handle the request.

<?php

// connect database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost:8889;dbname=test", "root", "root");

// prepare insert statement
$sql = "INSERT INTO users (name, email, password) VALUES (:name, :email, :password)";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);

// execute the query
$result->execute([
	":name" => $_POST["name"],
	":email" => $_POST["email"],
	// encrypt password in hash
	":password" => password_hash($_POST["password"], PASSWORD_DEFAULT),
]);

echo "Done";

Refresh the page now and enter new user details and hit submit. Then go to your phpMyAdmin and refresh the users table and you will see a new row inserted in the database.

Read

Now the data is being inserted in the database but you should all the inserted data when the page loads. To create an HTML table:

<h1 class="text-center">Read</h1>

<table class="table">
	<tr>
		<th>ID</th>
		<th>Name</th>
		<th>Email</th>
	</tr>

	<tr v-for="(user, index) in users">
		<td v-text="user.id"></td>
		<td v-text="user.name"></td>
		<td v-text="user.email"></td>
	</tr>
</table>

In your Vue JS instance, create a data object, and inside that object create a users array.

data: {
	users: []
},

And when the Vue JS instance is mounted, we need to call a method to call an AJAX request to get the data.

// call an AJAX to fetch data when Vue JS is mounted
mounted: function () {
	this.getData();
}

After that, create a method in your methods object in the Vue JS instance:

// get all users from database
getData: function () {
	const self = this;

	const ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
	ajax.open("POST", "read.php", true);

	ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
		if (this.readyState == 4) {
			if (this.status == 200) {
				const users = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
				self.users = users;
			}
		}
	};

	const formData = new FormData();
	ajax.send(formData);
},

This will send an AJAX request but we need to create a server file that will handle this request. So create a file named read.php and the following will be the code of this file:

<?php

// connect database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost:8889;dbname=test", "root", "root");

// get all users from database sorted by latest first
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY id DESC";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute([]);
$data = $result->fetchAll();

// send all records fetched back to AJAX
echo json_encode($data);

Refresh the page now and you will be able to view all the records added to the database. But if you insert the new record again, you again have to refresh the page to see this new entry. However, newly inserted records should automatically be prepended at the top of the table.

So you need to modify your create.php and first return the newly inserted record from the database.

// get the latest record inserted
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = :id";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute(array(
    ":id" => $conn->lastInsertId()
));
$data = $result->fetch();

// send the newly inserted record back to AJAX
echo json_encode($data);

Then in your Vue JS instance inside the doCreate method when the response is successfully received, prepend the new user in the users array.

const user = JSON.parse(this.responseText);

// prepend in local array
self.users.unshift(user);

Refresh the page now and try to insert a new user again. Now you will see that it will be prepended at the top automatically.

Update

To update the user we first must show a button to edit the user. To create a new column in your table:

<th>Actions</th>

And inside the v-for loop create a button for edit.

<td>
	<button type="button" v-bind:data-id="user.id" v-on:click="showEditUserModal" class="btn btn-primary">Edit</button>
</td>

Then you need to create a method in the methods object of your Vue JS instance that will be called when this button is clicked.

showEditUserModal: function () {
	const id = event.target.getAttribute("data-id");
	
	// get user from local array and save in current object
	for (var a = 0; a < this.users.length; a++) {
		if (this.users[a].id == id) {
			this.user = this.users[a];
			break;
		}
	}

	$("#editUserModal").modal("show");
},

Then you need to create another variable in your data object that will hold the information of the selected user.

user: null

The above-created function will display a Bootstrap modal to edit the user. Now we need to create that model in our HTML.

<!-- Modal -->
<div class="modal" id="editUserModal">
	<div class="modal-dialog" role="document">
		<div class="modal-content">
			<div class="modal-header">
				<h5 class="modal-title">Edit User</h5>
				<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close">
					<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
				</button>
			</div>
			
			<div class="modal-body">
				<form method="POST" action="update.php" v-on:submit.prevent="doUpdate" id="form-edit-user" v-if="user != null">
					<input type="hidden" name="id" v-bind:value="user.id" />

					<div class="form-group">
						<label>Name</label>
						<input type="text" name="name" v-bind:value="user.name" class="form-control" />
					</div>

					<div class="form-group">
						<label>Email</label>
						<input type="email" name="email" v-bind:value="user.email" class="form-control" />
					</div>
				</form>
			</div>

			<div class="modal-footer">
				<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
				<button type="submit" name="submit" class="btn btn-primary" form="form-edit-user">Save changes</button>
			</div>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

When the edit form is submitted, it called a Javascript function to call an AJAX request to the server. So we need to create that method in our Vue JS instance methods object.

// update the user
doUpdate: function () {
	const self = this;
	const form = event.target;

	const ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
	ajax.open("POST", form.getAttribute("action"), true);

	ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
		if (this.readyState == 4) {
			if (this.status == 200) {

				const user = JSON.parse(this.responseText);

				// update in local array
				// get index from local array
				var index = -1;
				for (var a = 0; a < self.users.length; a++) {
					if (self.users[a].id == user.id) {
						index = a;
						break;
					}
				}

				// create temporary array
				const tempUsers = self.users;

				// update in local temporary array
				tempUsers[index] = user;

				// update the local array by removing all old elements and inserting the updated users
				self.users = [];
				self.users = tempUsers;
			}
		}
	};

	const formData = new FormData(form);
	ajax.send(formData);

	// hide the modal
	$("#editUserModal").modal("hide");
},

Now we need to create a new file called update.php that will handle this AJAX request and will update the data in database.

<?php

// connect database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost:8889;dbname=test", "root", "root");

// update user name and email using his unique ID
$sql = "UPDATE users SET name = :name, email = :email WHERE id = :id";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);

$result->execute([
	":name" => $_POST["name"],
	":email" => $_POST["email"],
	":id" => $_POST["id"],
]);

// get the updated record
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = :id";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute(array(
    ":id" => $_POST["id"]
));
$data = $result->fetch();

// send the updated record back to AJAX
echo json_encode($data);

Refresh the page now, and you will see an “Edit” button with each row. On click, you will see a modal to update the data. Once submitted, the data will be updated in the database, the bootstrap modal will be closed and you will also see the data updated in the HTML table too.

Delete

To complete the CRUD operation in Vue JS and PHP. The final step is to create a “Delete” button. In front of each edit button, we need to create another button that will delete the user from the database and from the local array as well.

<form method="POST" action="delete.php" v-on:submit.prevent="doDelete" style="display: contents;">
	<input type="hidden" name="id" v-bind:value="user.id" />
	<input type="submit" name="submit" class="btn btn-danger" value="Delete" />
</form>

Then we need to create a method in Vue JS that will call an AJAX request to delete the user.

// delete user
doDelete: function () {
	const self = this;
	const form = event.target;

	const ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
	ajax.open("POST", form.getAttribute("action"), true);

	ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
		if (this.readyState == 4) {
			if (this.status == 200) {
				
				// remove from local array
				for (var a = 0; a < self.users.length; a++) {
					if (self.users[a].id == form.id.value) {
						self.users.splice(a, 1);
						break;
					}
				}
			}
		}
	};

	const formData = new FormData(form);
	ajax.send(formData);
},

Lastly, we need to create a file named delete.php that will handle this request and will actually delete the user from the database.

<?php

// connect database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost:8889;dbname=test", "root", "root");

// delete the user from database
$sql = "DELETE FROM users WHERE id = :id";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute(array(
    ":id" => $_POST["id"]
));

// send the response back to AJAX
echo "Done";

Refresh the page now and you will see a “Delete” button too with each row. On clicking, will delete that record from the database, and also it will delete the HTML table row as well.

Congratulations! You just completed your CRUD operation in Vue JS and PHP.

Download CRUD in Vue JS and PHP source code:

[wpdm_package id=’1511′]

Create a single page application in MEVN stack

Free tutorial

PreventΒ form submit event from reloading the page

In this article, we are going to discuss 2 options that how you can prevent your HTML form submit event from reloading the page. Normally, when you submit the form, it redirects to the action attribute link. But you can stop that reload and call an AJAX or any other Javascript function.

1. preventDefault

You can call the preventDefault function on the event target and it will stop the form from redirecting to the page specified in the action attribute of the <form> tag.

<form method="POST" action="your-page.php" onsubmit="onFormSubmit();">
	<input type="submit" />
</form>

Then you can create the following Javascript function to prevent the page reload:

function onFormSubmit() {
	event.preventDefault();

	// your Javascript code here
}

In this method, the form is first prevented from submission and then your Javascript code will be run. So it prevents the form submit event first, then it will run our Javascript code which is a good approach.

You can learn more about preventDefault from here.

2. return false

The second approach is to use the return false statement in your Javascript code. For this, you also need to return the value from the onsubmit event function. Let’s check this out.

<form method="POST" action="your-page.php" onsubmit="return onFormSubmit();">
	<input type="submit" />
</form>

Then create your Javascript function as like that:

function onFormSubmit() {
	// your Javascript code here
	
	return false;
}

In this method, your Javascript code runs first before preventing the form submission.

Recommendation

We would recommend the 1st method i.e. preventDefault because it is the very first line of the Javascript function. So if there is an error in your Javascript code, your browser will not get reloaded and thus you will be able to view the error in the browser console.

Now that you have learned to prevent the form submit event. You can also display a pop-up for confirmation in case of the delete function. You can follow this tutorial to display a pop-up confirmation before submitting the form.

Dynamic testimonial – PHP & MySQL, Vue JS

In this tutorial, we are going to teach you how you can add a dynamic testimonial to your website using PHP and MySQL in the backend and Vue JS in the frontend. Testimonials are displayed on a website to show the new users how your product satisfies your previous customers. We will be creating 2 pages, one for adding testimonials from the admin panel. And second to display all testimonials in a beautiful design.

If you do not have a dynamic testimonial, then you have to manually add, modify or delete a testimonial from your website. By going dynamic, you can perform all these actions from your admin panel.

Add Testimonial

First, download Bootstrap from here and Vue JS from here. Paste the CSS and JS files in your project, we will be using them in a moment. After that, we need to create a form from which we can add testimonials. Each testimonial will have a picture of the person, name, designation in his company, and his comments.

The following code goes in your admin panel from where you want to add testimonials.

<!-- include bootstrap -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="bootstrap.min.css" />
 
<!-- include vue js -->
<script src="vue.min.js"></script>

<!-- container for vue js app -->
<div class="container" style="margin-top: 50px; margin-bottom: 50px;" id="addTestimonialApp">
    <div class="row">
        <!-- center align form -->
        <div class="offset-md-3 col-md-6">
            <h2 style="margin-bottom: 30px;">Add Testimonial</h2>
 
 			<!-- form to add testimonial -->
            <form v-on:submit.prevent="store" enctype="multipart/form-data">

            	<!-- picture of user -->
                <div class="form-group">
                    <label>Picture</label>
                    <input type="file" name="picture" accept="image/*" class="form-control" />
                </div>

                <!-- name of user -->
                <div class="form-group">
                    <label>Name</label>
                    <input type="text" name="name" class="form-control" />
                </div>

                <!-- designation of user -->
                <div class="form-group">
                    <label>Designation</label>
                    <input type="text" name="designation" class="form-control" />
                </div>

                <!-- comment -->
                <div class="form-group">
                    <label>Comment</label>
                    <textarea name="comment" class="form-control"></textarea>
                </div>

                <!-- submit button -->
                <input type="submit" name="submit" class="btn btn-info" value="Add Testimonial" />
            </form>
        </div>
    </div>

    [show all testimonials for deleting]
</div>

This will show a form with input fields. But when you click on the “Add Testimonial” button, nothing happens. This is because we need to render it using Vue JS.

<script>
    // initialize vue js app
    var addTestimonialApp = new Vue({
        el: "#addTestimonialApp", // id of container div
        data: {
            // all values used in this app
            testimonials: []
        },
        // all methods
        methods: {
            // [other methods goes here]

             // called when form is submitted
            store: function () {
                // get this app instance
                var self = this;
                var form = event.target;
             
                // call an AJAX to create a new entry in testimonials
                var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
                ajax.open("POST", "store.php", true);
             
                ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
                    if (this.readyState == 4) { // response received
                        if (this.status == 200) { // response is successfull
                            // console.log(this.responseText);
             
                            // parse the response from JSON string to JS arrays and objects
                            var response = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
                            // console.log(response);

                            alert(response.message);
             
                            // if there is no error
                            if (response.status == "success") {
                                self.testimonials.unshift(response.testimonial);
                                form.reset();
                            } else {
                                // when there is any error
                            }
                        }
             
                        if (this.status == 500) {
                            console.log(this.responseText);
                        }
                    }
                };
             
                // create form data object and form to it
                var formData = new FormData(form);
             
                // actually sending the request
                ajax.send(formData);
            },
        },

        // [mount code goes here]
    });
</script>

Refresh the page now and you will be able to submit the form, this is because of Vue JS. An AJAX request will be sent to the server to store the picture attached and save the other fields in the MySQL database using PHP.

Create a new file named “store.php” and paste the following code in it:

<?php
 
// connect with database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test", "root", "");

// create tables if not exists
$sql = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS testimonials (
    id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    picture TEXT NULL,
    name VARCHAR(255) NULL,
    designation VARCHAR(255) NULL,
    comment TEXT NOT NULL,
    created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
)";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute();

$file_path = "";
if ($_FILES["picture"]["error"] == 0)
{
    $folder_name = "testimonials";
    mkdir($folder_name);
    $file_path = $folder_name . "/" . $_FILES["picture"]["name"];
    move_uploaded_file($_FILES["picture"]["tmp_name"], $file_path);
}

// insert in testimonials table
$sql = "INSERT INTO testimonials (picture, name, designation, comment, created_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, NOW())";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute([
    $file_path,
    $_POST["name"],
    $_POST["designation"],
    $_POST["comment"],
]);
$testimonial_id = $conn->lastInsertId();

// get the testimonial just inserted in database
$sql = "SELECT * FROM testimonials WHERE id = ?";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute([
    $testimonial_id
]);
$testimonial = $result->fetch();

echo json_encode([
    "status" => "success",
    "message" => "Testimonial has been added.",
    "testimonial" => $testimonial
]);
exit();

If you refresh the page now, upload the picture, enter the fields and hit submit, it will create a new table in the database if not already created. Then it will create a folder named “testimonials” and save the image file in it. Then it will insert a new row in it. And finally, it will return the new row back to the client (AJAX).

From there we will prepend it in our local testimonials array. Now we need to display all the added testimonials in an HTML table with a button to delete them.

Display all Testimonials to Admin

The following code goes in the [show all testimonials for deleting] section:

<!-- show all testimonials -->
<div class="row" style="margin-top: 50px;">
    <div class="col-md-12">
        <table class="table table-bordered">
            <!-- table heading -->
            <tr>
                <th>ID</th>
                <th>Picture</th>
                <th>Name</th>
                <th>Designation</th>
                <th>Comment</th>
                <th>Actions</th>
            </tr>
 
            <!-- loop through an array of testimonials -->
            <tr v-for="(testimonial, index) in testimonials">
                <td v-text="testimonial.id"></td>
                <td>
                    <img v-bind:src="testimonial.picture" style="width: 300px;" />
                </td>
                <td v-text="testimonial.name"></td>
                <td v-text="testimonial.designation"></td>
                <td v-text="testimonial.comment"></td>
                <td>
                    <!-- form to delete testimonial -->
                    <form v-on:submit.prevent="deleteTestimonial">
                        <input type="hidden" name="id" v-model="testimonial.id" required />
                        <input type="submit" class="btn btn-danger btn-sm" value="Delete" />
                    </form>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </div>
</div>

This will create an empty HTML table because we need to load the in it first. We will call an AJAX to fetch all the stored testimonials using PHP and MySQL and display them using Vue JS. The following code goes in the [mount code goes here] section:

mounted: function () {
    this.getData();
}

Now we need to create a function named “getData” in our Vue JS instance. Replace the code in section [other methods goes here] with the following:

// [delete method]

getData: function () {
    // get this app instance
    var self = this;
 
    // call an AJAX to get all testimonials
    var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
    ajax.open("POST", "fetch.php", true);
 
    ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (this.readyState == 4) { // response received
            if (this.status == 200) { // response is successfull
                // console.log(this.responseText);
 
                // parse the response from JSON string to JS arrays and objects
                var response = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
                // console.log(response);
 
                // if there is no error
                if (response.status == "success") {
                    self.testimonials = response.data;
                } else {
                    // when there is any error
                }
            }
 
            if (this.status == 500) {
                console.log(this.responseText);
            }
        }
    };
 
    // create form data object
    var formData = new FormData();
 
    // actually sending the request
    ajax.send(formData);
},

Finally, we need to create a new file named “fetch.php” that will fetch all the testimonials from the MySQL database using PHP.

<?php

// connect with database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test", "root", "");

// fetch all testimonials
$sql = "SELECT * FROM testimonials ORDER BY id DESC";
$statement = $conn->prepare($sql);
$statement->execute();
$data = $statement->fetchAll();

// create new field for full comment text
// because we will be displaying less text and display 'show more' button
for ($a = 0; $a < count($data); $a++)
{
	$data[$a]["comment_full"] = $data[$a]["comment"];
	$data[$a]["comment"] = substr($data[$a]["comment"], 0, 50);
}

// send the response back to client
echo json_encode([
    "status" => "success",
    "message" => "Testimonial has been fetched.",
    "data" => $data
]);
exit();

?>

Refresh the page now and you will be able to see all the testimonials added. Also, if you add a new testimonial, it will automatically be prepended in the HTML table. Now we need to make it able to delete the testimonial.

Delete Testimonial

We need to follow the following steps to delete the testimonial:

  1. Call an AJAX with an ID of testimonial.
  2. On server side, fetch the testimonial using ID.
  3. Delete the picture from the “testimonials” folder using PHP unlink() function.
  4. Delete the testimonial from MySQL database.
  5. Send the response back to client.
  6. The client will remove the testimonial from local array.
  7. It will automatically be removed from the HTML table.

Replace the section [delete method] with the following code:

// method to delete testimonial
deleteTestimonial: function () {
    // get this app instance
    var self = this;
 
    // get form
    var form = event.target;
 
    // call an AJAX to delete the testimonial
    var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
    ajax.open("POST", "delete.php", true);
 
    ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (this.readyState == 4) { // response received
            if (this.status == 200) { // response is successfull
                // console.log(this.responseText);
 
                // parse the response from JSON string to JS arrays and objects
                var response = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
                console.log(response);
 
                // remove from local array if deleted from server
                if (response.status == "success") {
                    for (var a = 0; a < self.testimonials.length; a++) {
                        var testimonial = self.testimonials[a];
                        if (testimonial.id == form.id.value) {
                            self.testimonials.splice(a, 1);
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                } else {
                    // display an error message
                    alert(response.message);
                }
            }
 
            if (this.status == 500) {
                console.log(this.responseText);
            }
        }
    };
 
    // append form in form data object
    var formData = new FormData(form);
 
    // call AJAX with form data
    ajax.send(formData);
},

Then we need to create a new file named “delete.php” that will handle this request. It will have the following code:

<?php
 
// connect with database
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test", "root", "");

// get the testimonial just inserted in database
$sql = "SELECT * FROM testimonials WHERE id = ?";
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute([
    $_POST["id"]
]);
$testimonial = $result->fetch();

if (!$testimonial)
{
    // send the response back to client
    echo json_encode([
        "status" => "error",
        "message" => "Testimonial not found."
    ]);
    exit();
}

// remove the picture from folder
unlink($testimonial["picture"]);

// create a query to delete the pricing table from database
$sql = "DELETE FROM testimonials WHERE id = ?";
 
// prepare the query
$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
 
// execute the query
$result->execute([
    $_POST["id"]
]);
 
// send the response back to client
echo json_encode([
    "status" => "success",
    "message" => "Testimonial has been deleted."
]);
exit();

Refresh the page now and you will be able to delete the testimonials as well. The only thing left is to show the testimonials on the user side.

Display Testimonials on User Side

To display testimonials on the user side, you need to download font-awesome and slick, you already have the Bootstrap and Vue JS files in your project folder. You can download font-awesome from here and slick from here. After downloading, paste both folders into your project, we will include them on your user side.

The following code will display the layout for each testimonial using HTML. Which we will render using Vue JS in the next step.

<!-- include bootstrap CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="bootstrap.min.css" />

<!-- include font awesome -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="font-awesome/css/font-awesome.min.css" />

<!-- include slick -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="slick.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="slick-theme.css" />

<!-- include vue js -->
<script src="vue.min.js"></script>

<div class="container" id="testimonialApp" style="margin-top: 30px;">
	<div class="row">
		<div class="col-md-12">
			<h2 class="text-center">Testimonials</h2>
		</div>
	</div>

	<div class="row">
		<div class="col-md-12">
			<div class="items">

				<div class="card" v-for="(testimonial, index) in testimonials">
			        <div class="card-body">
			            <h4 class="card-title">
			            	<img src="https://img.icons8.com/ultraviolet/40/000000/quote-left.png" />
			            </h4>
			            
			            <div class="template-demo">
			                <p>
			                	<span v-text="testimonial.comment"></span>

			                	<span class="show-more-text" v-on:click="loadMoreContent" v-bind:data-index="index">show more</span>
			                </p>
			            </div>

			            <h4 class="card-title">
			            	<img src="https://img.icons8.com/ultraviolet/40/000000/quote-right.png" style="margin-left: auto;" />
			            </h4>
			            
			            <hr />
			            
			            <div class="row">
			                <div class="col-sm-3">
			                	<img class="profile-pic" v-bind:src="testimonial.picture" />
			                </div>
			                
			                <div class="col-sm-9">
			                    <div class="profile">
			                        <h4 class="cust-name" v-text="testimonial.name"></h4>
			                        <p class="cust-profession" v-text="testimonial.designation"></p>
			                    </div>
			                </div>
			            </div>
			        </div>
			    </div>
			    
			</div>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

<!-- include jquery -->
<script src="jquery-3.3.1.min.js"></script>

<script src="slick.min.js"></script>

<!-- include bootstrap JS -->
<script src="bootstrap.min.js"></script>

<!-- your JS code -->
<script src="script.js?v=<?php echo time(); ?>"></script>

Create a new file named “script.js” and paste the following code in it:

var mainURL = window.location.origin + "/" + window.location.pathname + "/";

var testimonialApp = new Vue({
    el: "#testimonialApp",
    data: {
        testimonials: []
    },
    methods: {
        loadMoreContent: function () {
            var node = event.target;
            var index = node.getAttribute("data-index");

            if (this.testimonials[index].comment.length > 50) {
                // it needs to display less
                node.innerHTML = "show more";
                this.testimonials[index].comment = this.testimonials[index].comment_full.substr(0, 50);
            } else {
                // it needs to display more
                node.innerHTML = "show less";
                this.testimonials[index].comment = this.testimonials[index].comment_full;
            }
        },

        getData: function () {
            // get this app instance
            var self = this;
         
            // call an AJAX to get all testimonials
            var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
            ajax.open("POST", "fetch.php", true);
         
            ajax.onreadystatechange = function () {
                if (this.readyState == 4) { // response received
                    if (this.status == 200) { // response is successfull
                        // console.log(this.responseText);
         
                        // parse the response from JSON string to JS arrays and objects
                        var response = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
                        // console.log(response);
         
                        // if there is no error
                        if (response.status == "success") {
                            self.testimonials = response.data;

                            setTimeout(function () {
                                $('.items').slick({
                                    dots: true,
                                    infinite: true,
                                    speed: 800,
                                    autoplay: false,
                                    slidesToShow: 2,
                                    slidesToScroll: 2,
                                    responsive: [{
                                            breakpoint: 1024,
                                            settings: {
                                                slidesToShow: 3,
                                                slidesToScroll: 3,
                                                infinite: true,
                                                dots: true
                                            }
                                        }, {
                                            breakpoint: 600,
                                            settings: {
                                                slidesToShow: 2,
                                                slidesToScroll: 2
                                            }
                                        }, {
                                            breakpoint: 480,
                                            settings: {
                                                slidesToShow: 1,
                                                slidesToScroll: 1
                                            }
                                        }
                                    ]
                                });
                            }, 100);
                        } else {
                            // when there is any error
                        }
                    }
         
                    if (this.status == 500) {
                        console.log(this.responseText);
                    }
                }
            };
         
            // create form data object
            var formData = new FormData();
         
            // actually sending the request
            ajax.send(formData);
        }
    },
    mounted: function () {
        this.getData();
    }
});

At this point, you will be able to view the testimonials added from the admin panel on your website. It will also have a carousel slider. Finally, you can apply some CSS styles to make it look better for the users.

<style>
	.show-more-text {
		background-color: #72a4d5;
	    color: white;
	    padding: 3px 5px;
	    border-radius: 5px;
	    margin-left: 3px;
	    cursor: pointer;
	}
	.more {
		display: none;
	}

	@media (max-width:991.98px) {
		.padding {
			padding: 1.5rem
		}
	}

	@media (max-width:767.98px) {
		.padding {
			padding: 1rem
		}
	}

	.padding {
		padding: 5rem
	}

	.card {
		position: relative;
		display: flex;
		width: 350px;
		flex-direction: column;
		min-width: 0;
		word-wrap: break-word;
		background-color: #fff;
		background-clip: border-box;
		border: 1px solid #d2d2dc;
		border-radius: 11px;
		-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px 0px rgb(249, 249, 250);
		-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px 0px rgba(212, 182, 212, 1);
		box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px 0px rgb(161, 163, 164)
	}

	.card .card-body {
		padding: 1rem 1rem
	}

	.card-body {
		flex: 1 1 auto;
		padding: 1.25rem
	}

	p {
		font-size: 0.875rem;
		margin-bottom: .5rem;
		line-height: 1.5rem
	}

	h4 {
		line-height: .2 !important
	}

	.profile {
		margin-top: 16px;
		margin-left: 11px
	}

	.profile-pic {
		width: 100px;
	}

	.cust-name {
		font-size: 18px
	}

	.cust-profession {
		font-size: 10px
	}

	.items {
		width: 90%;
		margin: 0px auto;
		margin-top: 30px
	}

	.slick-slide {
		margin: 10px;
		height: auto !important;
	}
</style>

So that’s it, you have a dynamic testimonial section fully manageable from the admin panel. If you face any problems in following this, kindly do let us know in the comments section below.

Also learn how to add dynamic pricing table in your website.

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[wpdm_package id=’1399′]