EventLite

A full-stack event management system built with Spring Boot, featuring RESTful APIs, interactive maps, and social media integration.

Overview

EventLite is a comprehensive web application for managing events and venues. It demonstrates modern Java web development practices with a complete MVC architecture, HATEOAS-compliant REST APIs, and integration with external services. The application supports both traditional server-side rendered views and JSON API responses, making it suitable for multiple client types.

Key Features

Event & Venue Management

• Full CRUD operations for events and venues
• Event details including date, time, venue, and description
• Search functionality with case-insensitive filtering
• Relationship management between events and venues (ManyToOne)

Interactive Mapping

• Mapbox Geocoding API integration for automatic address validation
• Real-time coordinate retrieval (latitude/longitude) for venue locations
• Interactive maps in event detail pages using Mapbox GL JS
• Visual display of venue locations on embedded maps

Social Media Integration

• Mastodon API integration for fetching timeline posts
• Display of social media content on the events homepage
• Demonstrates consumption of external REST APIs

Dual Interface Architecture

• Web Interface: Server-side rendered HTML using Thymeleaf templates
• REST API: JSON responses with HATEOAS links for programmatic access
• Content negotiation supporting both text/html and application/hal+json

Security & Authorization

• Spring Security with role-based access control
• Public read access (GET requests)
• Admin-only write operations (POST, PUT, DELETE)
• CSRF protection and authentication mechanisms
• Custom login page

Technical Architecture

Backend Technologies

• Java - Core programming language
• Spring Boot - Application framework
• Spring MVC - Web layer and request handling
• Spring Data JPA - Data persistence layer
• Hibernate - ORM implementation
• Spring Security - Authentication and authorization
• Spring HATEOAS - Hypermedia-driven REST API support

Frontend Technologies

• Thymeleaf - Server-side HTML templating engine
• Mapbox GL JS - Interactive map visualization
• Bootstrap (implied from layouts) - UI styling

External APIs

• Mapbox Geocoding API - Address validation and geocoding
• Mapbox GL JS - Map rendering and interaction
• Mastodon API - Social media timeline integration

Data Persistence

• JPA/Hibernate - Object-relational mapping
• Spring Data JPA Repositories - Data access abstraction
• Profile-based database configuration (development/test environments)

Build & Testing

• Maven - Build automation and dependency management
• JUnit 5 - Unit testing framework
• Mockito - Mocking framework for unit tests
• Spring Test - Integration testing support
• @WebMvcTest - Controller layer testing
• Achieved 90%+ test coverage across unit and integration tests

Project Structure

src/
├── main/
│   ├── java/uk/ac/man/cs/eventlite/
│   │   ├── assemblers/          # HATEOAS resource assemblers
│   │   ├── config/              # Application configuration
│   │   ├── controllers/         # Web and API controllers
│   │   ├── dao/                 # Data access (repositories & services)
│   │   ├── entities/            # JPA entities (Event, Venue)
│   │   ├── exceptions/          # Custom exception classes
│   │   └── validator/           # Custom validation logic
│   └── resources/
│       └── templates/           # Thymeleaf HTML templates
└── test/
    └── java/uk/ac/man/cs/eventlite/
        ├── controllers/         # Controller tests
        ├── dao/                 # Repository tests
        └── testutil/            # Test utilities

Design Patterns & Best Practices

MVC Architecture

• Clear separation of concerns with Controller, Service, and Repository layers
• EventsController for HTML views, EventsControllerApi for JSON responses
• Service layer (EventServiceImpl, VenueServiceImpl) for business logic
• Repository pattern with Spring Data JPA interfaces

REST API Design

• HATEOAS Level 3 maturity model implementation
• Custom EventModelAssembler for dynamic link generation
• Self-describing API responses with navigable resource links
• Consistent URI design (/events/{id}, /venues/{id})

Exception Handling

• Custom exceptions (EventNotFoundException, VenueNotFoundException)
• Global exception handlers with @ExceptionHandler
• User-friendly error pages (404 pages for missing resources)
• Flash messages for user feedback

Data Validation

• Custom validators (AddressValidator, @ValidAddress annotation)
• Integration with Mapbox API for real-world address verification
• Bean validation annotations on entity classes

Testing Strategy

• Comprehensive unit tests with Mockito for mocked dependencies
• Integration tests using Spring's test context
• API tests for RESTful endpoints
• Profile-based test configurations (@ActiveProfiles("test"))
• Test data isolation with in-memory database

API Endpoints

Events API

• GET /events - List all events
• GET /events/{id} - Get event details
• POST /events - Create new event (admin only)
• PUT /events/{id} - Update event (admin only)
• DELETE /events/{id} - Delete event (admin only)
• GET /events/search?query={term} - Search events

Venues API

• GET /venues - List all venues
• GET /venues/{id} - Get venue details
• POST /venues - Create new venue (admin only)
• PUT /venues/{id} - Update venue (admin only)
• DELETE /venues/{id} - Delete venue (admin only)

Development Setup

Launch configurations are provided in the launchers/ directory for Eclipse IDE:

• EventLite run.launch - Run the application
• EventLite test.launch - Run all tests
• EventLite package.launch - Build Maven package

License

Academic project developed for COMP23412 - Software Engineering 2 at the University of Manchester.