EMBER Archive Portal

This repository contains the web application code for the NIH-funded Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization (BBQS) Ecosystem for Multi-modal Brain-behavior Experimentation and Research (EMBER) Data Archive. This web application allows users to view information about the program, search projects, and submit data.

Development

Native Development

For native development instructions, please refer to the individual frontend and backend readme files. This is the recommended approach for developers looking to make code contributions or perform debugging.

Docker Development

This is the simplest configuration for developers to get the web application up and running.

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose

Environment Setup

1. Create .env.docker file in BBQS-EMBER-web/backend/config. We will add six variables: DEBUG, DATABASE_URL, DJANGO_SECRET_KEY, POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASSWORD, and POSTGRES_DB.

2. Set debug mode to true, by adding DEBUG=True to your .env.docker

3. Define DATABASE_URL following the pattern: postgres://[user]:[password]@postgres:5432/[dbname]

   • For example, following the steps above, if we defined:

     • user as "ember"
     • password as "test123"
     • and dbname as "ember_db"

     DATABASE_URL=postgres://ember:test123@postgres:5432/ember_db
     

   • Please note that within docker the hostname is the Docker service name "postgres" rather than "localhost"

4. Define POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASSWORD, and POSTGRES_DB using the same user, password, and dbname as above.

5. Run the following to generate a secret key and write it to your .env.docker file:

   uv run python - <<'EOF' >> backend/config/.env.docker
   from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key
   print(f"DJANGO_SECRET_KEY={get_random_secret_key()}")
   EOF
   

6. A complete .env should look like

   DEBUG=True
   DATABASE_URL=postgres://myusername:mypassword@postgres:5432/mydatabase
   DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=key
   
   POSTGRES_USER=myusername
   POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mypassword
   POSTGRES_DB=mydatabase
   

Initial Setup

1. Start the frontend, backend, and database containers:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d

2. Apply database migrations

   docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec backend uv run manage.py migrate

3. Create a superuser

   docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec backend uv run manage.py createsuperuser

4. Load initial data

   docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec backend uv run manage.py load_initial_projects

Run Application

On subsequent runs, you will only need to run the first command from the initial setup, listed below for quick reference

1. Start the frontend, backend, and database:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d

2. The frontend should now be running at http://localhost:8080 and the backend at http://localhost:8000.

   • To view the API endpoints, see http://localhost:8000/docs
   • To view the admin console, see http://localhost:8000/admin

Contributing

Contibutions are welcome through pull requests. Please notify the BBQS EMBER team for review.