Plant Purpose
Tags: programming, webdev, react, node
Published: 2021-02-25 20:16:05

Plant Purpose is a React application and plant management system, which helps plant owners take better care of their plants.

This has been a very interesting and fun project for me because I built the application from scratch and also partnered with a web designer for the design side of the site. 
The designer's name is Hanina Syed and she created a very thorough figma design file laying out a huge chunk of the application.
Hanina Syed's LinkedIn: [LinkedIn Link](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanina-syed-020321138/)

**Web Stack:** React, Styled-Components, Axios, Node, Express
**3rd party API:** FullCalendar

**Live Site:** [View Site](https://plantpurpose.netlify.app/)
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Picture of the Application: 
![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/eelxjii1h575w53tciph.PNG)

Picture of the Design Files for the Dashboard:
![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hofph0fhbrcyvyrqgzem.PNG)

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<h2>Current Goals & Features</h2>

The project started off with the goal of completing an mvp (minimal viable product) within two weeks which I was successful at doing. I created this time constraint because I wanted to put pressure on myself and to also simulate shipping products out on time.

**The MVP Features I strove for during my first phase:**

   **1.** Create a functioning Sign In and Sign Up form that connects to my Node backend server
   **2.** Have a functioning almost fully fleshed out Dashboard
   **3.** Ability to view, add, delete, and edit plants
   **4.** Connect to the FullCalendar api and view a calendar

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<h2>Technical Challenges & Lessons Learned</h2>

The biggest challenge for me during the development process was probably architecture related. This application is the biggest I have created so far and I did my best to separate out the components, pages, styling, and assets and keeping them organized in appropriate folders. I believe I have learned a lot and I'm starting to see how I like things organized but I can still tell that I have a lot to learn about architecting and organizing a project.

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<h2>What's Next?</h2>

There are many updates that I plan to keep working on through the next few weeks or months.

Some of the features I want to implement are:

**1.** Updating the backend server to allow for adding plant tasks and notes
**2.** On the frontend fill out all of the four pages which are currently in progress: Tasks, Notes, Settings, and Notifications
**3.** Add functionality to upload a plant picture instead of having to submit an image URL
**4.** Implement a 3rd party API to handle the app notifications (still unsure what type on notification would be most ideal)
**5.** Fine tune the styling of the application and making it look better on different screen sizes

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

Looking over everything I can say that I am proud of the project that I have built, and am extremely lucky to have been able to use Hanina's figma designs to guide me along. There is still a lot of work to be done but I am excited to continue working on this project even after its MVP phase.