💬 Demo-Chatting-App

A simple real-time chatting application built with React (frontend) and Node.js (backend).
This project has been extended to use MySQL (via PHP scripts) for storing chat rooms and messages.

Users can:

• Join existing chat rooms.
• Create new chat rooms.
• View all past messages in a room upon joining.
• Exchange messages in real time.

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🚀 Features

🔹 Create and join chat rooms.
🔹 Persistent message storage using MySQL.
🔹 API calls to PHP endpoints for message retrieval and saving.
🔹 Node.js backend and React frontend for seamless chat experience.

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🛠️ Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/Demo-Chatting-App.git
cd Demo-Chatting-App 

2. Install Required Software

• XAMPP (for Apache + MySQL)

• Node.js (for backend + frontend servers)

3. Setup Database

1. Start XAMPP and launch Apache + MySQL.

2. Open phpMyAdmin and create a database named:

chat_db

3.You can stop Apache and MySQL after successfully creating the database.

4. Configure PHP Files

1. Inside xampp/htdocs, create a folder named:

chat-app

2. Move the following files from the cloned project folder into it:

• index.php

• save_message.php

• fetch_messages.php

Path should look like:

xampp/htdocs/chat-app/
  ├── index.php
  ├── save_message.php
  └── fetch_messages.php

5. Install Dependencies

From the project root (Demo-Chatting-App), run:

Backend (Node.js server):

cd server
npm install

Frontend (React client):

cd ../client
npm install

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▶️ Running the Project

1. Start Apache and MySQL servers in XAMPP.

2. Open the project in VS Code (or your editor of choice).

Start the backend server:

cd server
node index.js

Start the frontend (React) server:

cd client
npm start

3. The app will automatically open in your browser. 🎉

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📂 Project Structure

Demo-Chatting-App/
│
├── client/          # React frontend
├── server/          # Node.js backend
├── chat-app/        # PHP scripts (to be placed inside xampp/htdocs/)
│   ├── index.php
│   ├── save_message.php
│   └── fetch_messages.php
└── README.md

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📌 Notes

Make sure XAMPP servers are running before using the app.

All messages and chat rooms are stored in MySQL (chat_db).

PHP scripts act as API endpoints for storing and fetching chat data.

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🙏 Acknowledgment

The base project (React + Node.js chat application) was originally built by my college teammate. I contributed by extending the project to integrate MySQL database support through PHP APIs (index.php, save_message.php, fetch_messages.php).

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📜 License

This project is open-source. You’re free to use, modify, and distribute it.