#LaterGator
LaterGator is a delayed status posting app that allows the user to post their status or tweet at a later scheduled time. In addition to letting the user choose their own time, the app also provides suggestions for the "next best time" to post content. The app uses Chrono (a natural language date parser in Javascript) to easily allow the user to adjust the time by simply typing in sentences such as "Next Wednesday at 1pm EST". LaterGator was originally intended to be used by people traveling internationally, so that they could make sure their awesome status updates were being posted at good times for their friends back home. However, it can also be used to help the user post during heavy traffic times on Twitter and Facebook.
##Contents
Backend: Python, Flask, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy
Frontend: JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX, Jinja2, Bootstrap, HTML5, CSS3
APIs: Facebook Graph API, Twitter
Using a simple UI, users can create an account with LaterGator:
Users can then use Twitter and Facebook OAuth to give LaterGator publish access on their behalf:
Next, they enter their status, and type in the time they would like it posted using phrases such as "Next Monday at 9am" or "In 1 hour" (the default time is the next best time to post based on LaterGator's research):
LaterGator takes care of the rest! Your status will be posted at your specified time.:
To run LaterGator:
Install PostgreSQL (Mac OSX)
Clone or fork this repo:
https://github.com/chloecodesthings/latergator.git
Create and activate a virtual environment inside your LaterGator directory:
virtualenv env
source env/bin/activate
Install the dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txt
Sign up to use the FacebookGraph API, and the Twitter API.
Save your API keys in a file called secrets.sh using this format:
export TWITTER_CONSUMER_KEY="YOURKEYHERE"
export TWITTER_CONSUMER_SECRET="YOURKEYHERE"
export FACEBOOK_APP_SECRET="YOURKEYHERE"
export FACEBOOK_APP_ID="YOURKEYHERE"
Source your keys from your secrets.sh file into your virtual environment:
source secrets.sh
Set up the database:
createdb latergator
python model.py
Edit your crontab to run every minute while running this app (make sure to remove this when done, or it will keep running!):
crontab -e
#Run functions for LaterGator app
* * * * * /path/to/LaterGator/scheduled_run.sh
#fill in your own path above
(Output of the cron is stored in cron.log)
Run the app:
python server.py
You can now navigate to 'localhost:5000/' to access LaterGator.
Chloe Condon lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is her first software project which she made while attending Hackbright.
Before Hackbright, Chloe spent her nights and weekends performing around the Bay Area as a singer/actress on stage in musicals and solo performances. To support her theatre career, she spent her days working the tech world- ranging from working as an executive assistant to CEOs, working at large online video game companies, and even being the first in-house hire at a virtual personal assistant company. Seeing all these companies from support roles peaked her interest and she wanted to learn how the products she was working on were getting made. So, she started to learn to code on her own through online resources like CodeAcademy and TreeHouse. Chloe is looking forward to bringing her artistic background into the tech world as an engineer!
Visit her on LinkedIn.
