Support Group Connect

To provide those who are in need of support and a listening ear with a means of connection

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Inspiration

We wanted to create an app with a meaningful purpose that would be a great help to others. The main idea that we came up and rolled with was to provide a platform for people with illnesses or struggles to be able to connect to other individuals with similar problems.

What it does

Support Group Connect allows users to create accounts specifying a particular condition from a drop-down menu with a unique username and password. It has a unique portal for each user that allows the addition of friends, a friend list display, a featured group chat, and the ability to browse other group chats.

How we built it

Support Group Connect is built with Python, a microframework for Python called Flask, an extension of Flask called Flask Socket-IO, HTML, Javascript, CSS, and PostgreSQL. Python and Flask is the meat of our web application where we manage the structure and logic of our application. To work with user data, we use PostgreSQL to keep and add usernames, passwords, and other data. To help make each web page stylized and interactive, we used a combination of HTML, Javascript, and CSS. Finally, to implement our group chat feature in Support Group Connect, we used a Flask extension called Flask Socket-IO.

Challenges we ran into

We initially ran into a problem of deciding how we would store and access the data needed to organize the users. None of us have had extensive experience with databases before, but we went with the suggestion by a Kareo sponsor to use PostgreSQL. In addition, we had to learn many tools such as Flask Socket-IO on the spot. Thankfully, there were many great resources out there to help us quickly learn enough to implement them to Support Group Connect.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Even though we probably only touched upon the very basics of web development, we still learned quite a lot from this experience. None of us were completely familiar with most of the tools (such as PostgreSQL, Flask Socket-IO, Javascript), but within 36 hours, we were able to learn the basics of each tool we used and create a working prototype that we felt could actually help people in the world today.

What we learned

Throughout the hackathon, there were many learning moments. A couple members who worked on the user database learned a lot about using PostgreSQL, whereas others learned more about how to use the Flask microframework. We also learned about the Flask Socket-IO extension and how it works to create a server on which clients can send and receive messages. Although we worked on separate parts, we all were able to grasp an understanding of how each part worked with each other.

What's next for Support Group Connect

Developing a more elegant UI with completed features. Having more support group categories for users. Requesting specific categories. Helping out more people!

You can also view our vision of the app with expanded functionalities https://www.fluidui.com/editor/live/preview/cF9iRnR3dTJYcU04SlZVdEhtcHJiSUM2ZUlGTWhmY2l3TA==

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