dharshancr/college-management-system

Purpose and entry points

NGI is a full-stack college-management system covering student, faculty, HR, and admissions workflows. The React SPA starts at client/src/main.jsx, with application state and view selection centralized in client/src/App.jsx. The Express API starts at server/index.js; root scripts in package.json coordinate client/server development and seeding.

Client application shell and access

client/src/App.jsx is the client-side orchestration boundary: it manages authentication/session state, selected module, API-backed data, and role-sensitive rendering. Shared navigation and global interactions are split across client/src/components/Navbar.jsx, client/src/components/Sidebar.jsx, client/src/components/LoginModal.jsx, and client/src/components/NotificationDrawer.jsx. The frontend is a Vite-built React 18 application with Tailwind CSS; production assets are emitted to client/dist.

Domain module views

Feature UI is organized as independently rendered page modules, while sharing the shell and central application state:

• Student dashboard, reminders, attendance, fees, grades: client/src/pages/DashboardView.jsx, client/src/pages/RemindersView.jsx, client/src/pages/AttendanceView.jsx.

• Academic scheduling and library circulation: client/src/pages/TimetableScheduleView.jsx, client/src/pages/LibraryView.jsx.

• Administrative workflows: client/src/pages/AdmissionsView.jsx, client/src/pages/HRPayrollView.jsx.

• Campus messaging/announcements: client/src/pages/CommunicationView.jsx.

These views represent the principal user-facing workflow boundary rather than separate client routes.

API, authorization, and workflow control

server/index.js is the single REST API surface for the ten functional areas. It owns request validation/control flow, JWT authentication, role-based authorization, and mutations such as attendance events, payments/receipts, grade publishing, admission stage changes, payroll actions, and messages. Browser requests reach it directly in deployed environments or through the Vite development proxy configured by client/vite.config.js. JWT, bcrypt, and CORS are material backend dependencies.

Persistence and lifecycle

server/db.js provides the persistent cross-platform JSON/SQLite-style database abstraction consumed by the API. Persisted data is represented in server/college_db.json; server/seed.js initializes or refreshes the demo dataset. This is the core infrastructure boundary: clients never access database records directly, and all durable state changes pass through API handlers and the DB layer.

Primary flows

1. Login or demo role selection in the client establishes an authenticated role context; subsequent API calls carry JWT authorization.

2. The app shell loads role-relevant records from Express, then dispatches them to module views.

3. User actions in a module invoke REST mutations; the server enforces permissions, persists through server/db.js, and returns updated data for UI state refresh.

4. Notifications/reminders cross-cut workflows and are surfaced globally through client/src/components/NotificationDrawer.jsx.

5. Build/deployment separates the static Vite bundle (client/dist) from Node runtime hosting; Express can optionally serve that bundle for a single-server deployment.