This project is a web-based election application, likely developed using the Django framework, designed to manage and facilitate election processes. It appears to handle user accounts, core application logic, and election-specific functionalities. The application is containerized using Docker, suggesting ease of deployment and environment consistency.

1. Introduction
2. Features
3. Technologies Used
4. Installation and Setup
5. Usage
6. Project Structure
7. Contributing
8. License
9. Contact

The DPL Election Application is a robust web platform built to streamline and manage election procedures. It provides functionalities for handling user accounts, managing election data, and ensuring a smooth voting experience. The project leverages Django for its backend, and Docker for containerization, making it highly portable and easy to deploy across different environments.

• User Accounts: Manages user registration, login, and profiles.
• Election Management: Core functionalities for setting up and running elections.
• Containerization: Docker and Docker Compose for easy setup and deployment.
• Database Integration: Likely uses a relational database (e.g., PostgreSQL with psycopg2 as indicated in requirements.txt).
• Web Interface: Built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for a user-friendly experience.

• Backend: Python, Django
• Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose
• Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Database: PostgreSQL (via psycopg2)
• Dependencies: asgiref, defusedxml, diff-match-patch, Django, django-import-export, django-versatileimagefield, et-xmlfile, libmagic, MarkupPy, odfpy, openpyxl, Pillow, python-magic, pytz, PyYAML, six, sqlparse, tablib, xlrd, xlwt (as per requirements.txt)

This project uses Docker and Docker Compose for easy setup and deployment. Follow these steps to get the application running:

• Docker
• Docker Compose

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/sherrywilly/DPL-election-app.git
   cd DPL-election-app

2. Build and run the Docker containers:

   docker-compose up --build

   This command will build the Docker images (if not already built) and start the services defined in docker-compose.yml.

3. Run database migrations: Once the containers are up, you need to run Django migrations to set up the database schema. You can execute commands inside the running Django container:

   docker-compose exec web python manage.py migrate

4. Create a superuser (optional, for admin access):

   docker-compose exec web python manage.py createsuperuser

   Follow the prompts to create an administrator account.

5. Access the application: The application should now be accessible in your web browser, typically at http://localhost:8000/ (or the port specified in your docker-compose.yml).

• connect.sh: This script might be used to connect to a specific service or container within the Docker environment.
• entry.sh: This script is likely the entrypoint for the Docker container, executing commands when the container starts.

After successfully setting up and running the application using Docker Compose, you can access it via your web browser. The primary functionalities include:

• User Registration and Login: Create new user accounts or log in with existing credentials.
• Election Participation: Users can view available elections and cast their votes.
• Admin Panel: Superusers can access the Django admin panel to manage users, elections, candidates, and other data.

Specific usage instructions will depend on the implemented features within the accounts and election Django apps.

The project follows a typical Django project structure, with several key applications and configuration files:

DPL-election-app/
├── .idea/                  # IDE configuration files (e.g., PyCharm)
├── accounts/               # Django app for user authentication and profiles
│   ├── migrations/
│   ├── templates/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── admin.py
│   ├── apps.py
│   ├── models.py
│   ├── tests.py
│   └── views.py
├── core/                   # Main Django project settings and configurations
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── asgi.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   └── wsgi.py
├── election/               # Django app for election-specific functionalities (e.g., candidates, voting)
│   ├── migrations/
│   ├── templates/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── admin.py
│   ├── apps.py
│   ├── models.py
│   ├── tests.py
│   └── views.py
├── static/                 # Directory for static files (CSS, JavaScript, images)
├── templates/              # Global templates directory
├── .gitignore              # Specifies intentionally untracked files to ignore
├── Dockerfile              # Dockerfile for building the application image
├── connect.sh              # Script to connect to Docker containers (likely for database or shell access)
├── docker-compose.yml      # Docker Compose configuration for multi-container setup
├── entry.sh                # Entrypoint script for the Docker container
├── manage.py               # Django's command-line utility for administrative tasks
└── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies for the project

Contributions are welcome! If you have suggestions for improvements or new features, please:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/YourFeature).
3. Make your changes.
4. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some feature').
5. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/YourFeature).
6. Open a Pull Request.

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

For any questions or inquiries, please contact sherrywilly.