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(Want to use this code? Send an email to nprapps@npr.org!)

• About this template
• What's in here?
• Copy the template
• Configure the project
• Install requirements
• Project secrets
• Bootstrap issues
• Generate index.html
• Adding a template/view
• Run the project locally
• Run javascript tests
• Compile static assets
• Test the rendered app
• Deploy to S3
• Deploy to EC2

An application for exploring data about grain bin fatalities.

The project contains the following folders and important files:

• data -- Data files, such as those used to generate HTML.
• etc -- Miscellaneous scripts and metadata for project bootstrapping.
• jst -- Javascript (Underscore.js) templates.
• less -- LESS files, will be compiled to CSS and concatenated for deployment.
• templates -- HTML (Jinja2) templates, to be compiled locally.
• www -- Static and compiled assets to be deployed. (a.k.a. "the output")
• www/live-data -- "Live" data deployed to S3 via cron jobs or other mechanisms. (Not deployed with the rest of the project.)
• www/test -- Javascript tests and supporting files.
• app.py -- A Flask app for rendering the project locally.
• app_config.py -- Global project configuration for scripts, deployment, etc.
• crontab -- Cron jobs to be installed as part of the project.
• fabfile.py -- Fabric commands automating setup and deployment.

git clone git@github.com:nprapps/app-template.git $NEW_PROJECT_NAME

# Optional: checkout an initial project branch
# git checkout [init-map|init-table|init-chat]

cd $NEW_PROJECT_NAME
rm -rf .git
git init
git add * .gitignore
git commit -am "Initial import from app-template."
git remote add origin git@github.com:nprapps/$NEW_PROJECT_NAME.git
git push -u origin master

Edit app_config.py and update PROJECT_NAME, DEPLOYED_NAME, REPOSITORY_NAME any other relevant configuration details.

Node.js is required for the static asset pipeline. If you don't already have it, get it like this:

brew install node
curl https://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh

Then install the project requirements:

cd $NEW_PROJECT_NAME
npm install less universal-jst
mkvirtualenv $NEW_PROJECT_NAME
pip install -r requirements.txt

A site can have any number of rendered templates (i.e. pages). Each will need a corresponding view. To create a new one:

• Add a template to the templates directory. Ensure it extends _base.html.
• Add a corresponding view function to app.py. Decorate it with a route to the page name, i.e. @app.route('/filename.html')
• By convention only views that end with .html and do not start with _ will automatically be rendered when you call fab render.

A flask app is used to run the project locally. It will automatically recompile templates and assets on demand.

workon $NEW_PROJECT_NAME
fab local_bootstrap
python app.py

Visit localhost:8000 in your browser.

With the project running, visit localhost:8000/test/SpecRunner.html.

Compile LESS to CSS, compile javascript templates to Javascript and minify all assets:

workon $NEW_PROJECT_NAME
fab render

(This is done automatically whenever you deploy to S3.)

If you want to test the app once you've rendered it out, just use the Python webserver:

cd www
python -m SimpleHTTPServer

fab staging master deploy

The current configuration is for running cron jobs only. Web server configuration is not included.

• In fabfile.py set env.deploy_to_servers to True.
• Optionally, set env.install_crontab to True.
• Run fab staging master setup to configure the server.
• Run fab staging master deploy to deploy the app.