ShopPing is for time and money conscious shoppers. It is a cross-platform, React Native-based Android and iOS app. Our app brings more efficient shopping trips to shoppers by analyzing their shopping lists and daily habits to help them make as few stops as possible.
On this page, users can enter their shopping lists for the app to process.
They can also create multiple lists, and logged-in users also gain the ability to share lists to other ShopPing users.
This part of the app presents an interface very similar to popular mapping apps. Users enter their desired start and end locations (for example, home and work). The app will calculate the best route, and then will check each store along the route and display a number over each store showing the number of items available from the user's shopping list for that store.
The number will take into account the stock availability at each store. Tapping a marker will display details about the store, as well as its address.
This feature helps users find stores along their travels so they can avoid wasting time making separate shopping trips and can instead pick up goods while they're already out of the house.
At the present, directions default to driving directions only. Alternative modes will be added in future releases.
If the user grants location permissions, they can also benefit from on-the-go notifications. This feature will regularly use the user's location to search for stores near the user. If a nearby store has a sufficient number of items available from the user's shopping list (configurable in the settings), a notification will be presented to the user, allowing them the option to shop now to save their time later.
If users do not want to share their location, they can still use the map feature to search for stores near them.
ShopPing was developed as a project for the GNG 4120/GNG 5120/EED 5120 class at the University of Ottawa.
ShopPing was created by:
- Eric, 5th year Software Engineering student. Responsible for the map page, app architecture, documentation, prototyping and legal work.
- Filip, 3rd year Chemical Engineering student. Responsible for marketing and finances.
- Jack, 3rd year Computer Science student. Responsible for the List page, design, ads and prototyping.
- Nat, 4th year Computer Engineering student. Responsible for the Account page, marketing and ads.
- Tomer, 3rd year Computer Science student. Responsible for operations, marketing, design and branding.
WARNING: Do NOT run this app in a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) environment. You will run into issues with IP addresses, port forwarding and poor performance.
-
Install dependencies
npm install npm run prepare
-
Setup and # to Expo EAS
npm install -g eas-cli eas login
-
Add API key
A Mapbox Access Token (API Key) is required to build this app. Once you have one, make a copy of
project.env.ts.examplenamedproject.env.ts, and add your access token in the file.Follow the instructions in this Mapbox help article to create an access token. If you do not have a Mapbox account, you will need to make one.
Make sure that the access token that you create has access to the following Mapbox API endpoints:
- NAVIGATION:
- Directions API
- Isochrone API
- SEARCH:
- Search Box API Sessions
- Search Box API Requests
As a reminder, as you are the owner of the token, you are responsible for all charges associated with usage of the Mapbox APIs through your key. Please review the Mapbox # Structure for each of the 4 endpoints listed above to make yourself aware of the free usage limits.
SHOPPING TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY MAPBOX API FEES THAT YOU INCUR AS A RESULT OF USING OUR APP.
NOTE: File-based API key storage is not secure and is only being used as a temporary solution for prototyping. You should deactivate your key when not in use.
WARNING: If you try to launch the app without a Mapbox Access Token, it will crash.
- NAVIGATION:
-
Start the app
npx expo start
Once Expo is ready, the recommended usage method is to download the Expo Go app on an Android or iOS device of your choice and log into the Expo Go app using your Expo EAS credentials. Provided you are on the same network and your computer is discoverable, you should be able to tap the session in the Expo Go app to open the ShopPing app. You can also scan the QR code shown in your terminal output.
For more information on how to use Expo Go, please see this Expo website.
WARNING: While Expo Go nominally supports opening the app in a web browser, we have NOT implemented the polyfills required for web support as ShopPing is meant to be used on a mobile device. As such, we cannot guarantee any functionality if you attempt to open the app in a browser.
For developers: Instructions for implementing the polyfills are located in a comment at the top of app/_layout.tsx,
should web support be desired in the future.
If Expo Go does not work for you, you may try using a platform emulator or simulator provided you have the relevant SDK available on your computer. Instructions for doing so are below:
As a last resort, you may fallback to development builds. However, note that we have not tested this method, and as such, we cannot guarantee any functionality if you choose to use it.