Stran - A Video Calling P2P Dapp

Know the unknowns, whilst being private

This is a video calling peer-to-peer decentralised app, centered to the users to connect with unknowns, whilst also being on the 3rd era of Web, i.e. the modern and more privacy-focused web.

Fancy Pics of this CoOl Project

The below pics are updated as on 14th June, 2022. They might not be the latest.

Video Calling Main Page

Ongoing Call Screen

One Step Login through MetaMask

Project Installation

This project currently does not use custom docker setup.

Note: Currently, I have not tested docker setup fully. Yet, I am keeping the docker files in place, as we would need that for sure in future.

Prerequisites

• NodeJS version required is v16.8.0, bcoz node17 and above have breaking changes for the blockchain and hardhat framework.
• If we will be using ipfs services, then we have to install go-ipfs on your host system.

Installation/Setup Guide 🤔

Firstly, clone this repository.

1. Install all the npm packages required for smart contract code, frontend and server, in one go.

   npm run full-install

2. Install go-ipfs in the host system and then initialize the installed ipfs.

   The below command should be run only once, in the first initialization:

   ipfs init

3. Configure IPFS to allow CORS requests (needed this config only once):

   ipfs config --json API.HTTPHeaders.Access-Control-Allow-Origin "[\"*\"]"

Hacky Commands for Geeks 🤓

• Run a local redis server:

  # below command pulls the redis image and runs the redis container in background
  # when we will kill this container, it automatically would get removed too
  npm run redis:start
  
  # To enter into the redis container, run below commands
  docker exec -it redis /bin/bash
  # and then run below command inside that docker container, to have redis cli
  redis-cli

• Stop the redis docker service, and also remove that:

  npm run redis:stop

• Run a local ipfs node (it runs a daemon):

  ipfs daemon --enable-pubsub-experiment

• Compile the smart contracts:

  npm run sc:compile

• Run tests on smart contracts:

  npm run sc:test

• Run Hardhat Network, such that external clients can connect to it:

  npm run sc:localnode

• Connect MetaMask to Local node:

  • After running the local node, connect the MetaMask to that local node.
  • Then goto the metamask profile settings and to Advanced, then enable "Show Test Networks".
  • Then, click on the circle icon of yours, and then click "Import Account", and then provide the private key of one of the accounts of that localnode.
  • Hurray!!, you have successfully setup your localnode in Metamask.
  • Refer this article for more details.

• Deploy the smart contract -- It will firstly compile the smart contracts and then would deploy them, and then copy the config to the correct server folder.

  npm run sc:deploy

• Build the client-side code and serve it locally:

  npm run app:serve

• Run a development spin for the client-side code, so that it can watch the file changes and reload:

  npm run app:start

• Test the frontend application:

  npm run app:test

Docker Setup

Prerequisites

• Install docker and docker-compose, and then enable the docker daemon service globally by the below command. The below command is for the ones, who run this repo on linux/mac machines with systemd in it.

  sudo systemctl start docker

Docker Commands

Run all the below commands only in the root folder context, as docker-compose command checks the file passed as parameter, and the current directory too..

• Build and run the project in Production mode using following command:

  npm run docker-prod:build

• Only run the already-built docker image in production mode:

  npm run docker-prod:up

• Build and run the project in development mode using following command:

  npm run docker-dev:build

• Only run the already-built docker image in development mode:

  npm run docker-dev:up

• Run the smart contract deploy script after the docker-compose up commands:

  npm run docker:sc:deploy

• Remove the created containers:

  npm run docker:down

  Note: Doing Ctrl+D will only stop the container, but will not remove them.

Credits to the Resources Used

• Video on WebRTC, Video calling and Javascript integration
• Centralized Error Handling using Redux
• For blockchain deployment and testing inside docker container: How To Dockerize Your Hardhat Solidity Contract On Localhost
• ExpressJS OPTIONS Request and CORS errors and Preflight requests
• CORS Middleware