meshUp

An app for visual-spatial exploration of graph-based information networks (like Mind Maps or Concept Maps).

Installation

Make sure you have Meteor 1.4 and a current node.js version installed. If so, you can skip (1.) and (2.), as well as the optional (3.).

1. Download and install node.js from nodejs.org.
2. Install Meteor 1.4 from meteor.com/install.
3. (Optional) Install yarn for faster packet installation: npm install -g yarn.
4. Run npm install or yarn install (preferred) inside this directory.
5. Run Meteor initially to install the required Meteor packets: npm run start.

Usage

NPM Scripts

This project comes with predefined NPM scripts, defined in the package.json:

• npm run start - Run the Meteor application.
• npm run start:prod - Run the Meteor application in production mode.
• npm run build - Creates a Meteor build version under ./build/ directory.
• npm run clear - Resets Meteor's cache and clears the MongoDB collections.
• npm run meteor:update - Updates Meteor's version and it's dependencies.
• npm run test - Executes Meteor in test mode with Mocha.
• npm run test:ci - Executes Meteor in test mode with Mocha for CI (run once).

Using the app

The server will be running on port 3000. If the server is running on your machine, simply connect to http://localhost:3000 in your browser. Oherwise, you may connect to the server's IP on the same port.

Package Contents

This package contains:

• TypeScript support (with @types) and Angular 2 compilers for Meteor
• Angular2-Meteor
• Angular 2 (core, common, compiler, platform, router, forms)
• SASS, LESS, CSS support (aso supports styles encapsulation for Angular 2)
• Testing with Mocha and Chai
• Meteor-RxJS support and usage
• D3.js for interactive visualizations

Folder Structure

The folder structure is a mix between the Angular 2 recommendation and the Meteor recommendation.

Client

The client folder contains a single TypeScript (.ts) file which is the main file (/client/main.ts), and bootstraps the Angular 2 application (/client/imports/app/app.module.ts).

The index.html file is the main HTML document which loads the application by using the main component selector (<app>).

All the other client files are under client/imports/app and organized by the context of the components.

Server

The server folder contains a single TypeScript (.ts) file which is the main file (/server/main.ts). All other server files should be located under /server/imports, thus the /server/main.ts imports methods, publications and also dummy data from /server/imports/server-main.

Common

Common files in the app are the MongoDB collections and models - they are located under /both/collections/ and /both/models/ and can be imported from both client and server code.

Testing

The testing environment in this boilerplate is based on Meteor recommendations, and uses Mocha as testing framework along with Chai for assertion.

There is a main test file that initializes the Angular 2 tests library, it's located under /client/init.test.ts.

All other test files are located near the component/service it tests, with the .test.ts extension. [WIP]

Debugging

For an overview about the Mongo data collections, this package provides Mongol. When running the client you may use Ctrl + M in the Browser to open Mongol for an overview about the collections.

Credits

Based on Urigo's Angular2-Meteor Boilerplate.