Wikipedia Loop

Explore the "Wikipedia Loop" phenomenon with this interactive MERN stack application!

Overview

Wikipedia Loop is an engaging project that allows users to navigate through the intriguing "Wikipedia Loop" phenomenon. The application, built using the MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) stack, lets users input a Wikipedia URL and follows a series of rules to explore the links within the pages until reaching the "Philosophy" page.

Features

• Interactive User Interface: A React-based user interface provides a seamless experience for users to input Wikipedia URLs and visualize the exploration process.

• Node.js and Express Backend: The backend handles API requests, follows Wikipedia Loop rules, and maintains a record of visited pages.

• State Management: Utilizes state management to handle user input, display results, and ensure a smooth user experience.

• JSON File Logging: Records each visited page and counts the number of requests made during the exploration, preventing infinite loops.

• Edge Case Handling: Gracefully handles edge cases such as dead-end pages or pages without valid links.

Wikipedia Loop Project

The Wikipedia Loop project is a full-stack application that allows users to explore the "Wikipedia Loop" phenomenon. Users can input a Wikipedia URL, and the application will follow the first link in the main body text of each page, adhering to specific rules, until it reaches the "Philosophy" page. The project is divided into two main folders: wikipedia-loop for the frontend and wikipedia-loop-backend for the backend.

Wikipedia Loop Frontend

The frontend of the Wikipedia Loop project is built using React, creating an interactive user interface for users to input Wikipedia URLs and visualize the loop results. The project uses state management to handle user input, display results, and handle potential errors.

Frontend Components

1. InputForm.js:

   • Component for user input, allowing users to input a Wikipedia URL.

2. ResultDisplay.js:

   • Component to display the results, including the number of requests required to reach the "Philosophy" page and a list of visited Wikipedia pages.

Frontend Logic

• The InputForm component takes user input and triggers the handleFormSubmit function in the App.js file.

• The handleFormSubmit function makes an asynchronous request to the backend API (http://localhost:5000/wikipedia-loop) using Axios.

• The backend processes the request, follows the Wikipedia Loop rules, and returns the result, including the request count and visited pages.

• The frontend updates the state with the response data and displays the results through the ResultDisplay component.

Wikipedia Loop Backend

The backend of the Wikipedia Loop project is built using Node.js and Express. It handles API requests from the frontend, follows the Wikipedia Loop rules, and maintains a record of visited pages in a JSON file.

Backend Logic

• The /wikipedia-loop route handles incoming requests, reads the previously visited pages from the JSON file, and follows the Wikipedia Loop rules using the followWikipediaLoop function.

• The followWikipediaLoop function makes requests to Wikipedia pages, parses HTML using Cheerio, and follows the first valid link according to specific rules.

• The visited pages are recorded, and the result is sent back to the frontend.

JSON File Management

• The visited-pages.json file is used to store a record of visited pages.

• For each new input, the content of the visited-pages.json file is cleared to start with an empty set of visited pages.

Getting Started

Requirements : NodeJS should be installed on the system

1. Clone the repository:
2. in the mainFolder use command "npm install -g concurrently" in terminal
3. then run "npm start" in terminal of mainFolder
4. you can now paste any Wikipedia URL for input