Google Books Search App

This is a simple web application that allows users to search for books using the Google Books API. The application displays the search results with pagination and provides additional information such as the total number of results, the most common author, the earliest publication date, the latest publication date, and the server response time.

We'll use the app and some of its features to explore the value of the LaunchDarkly platform.

I. Features

• Search for books using the Google Books API
• Display search results with pagination
• Show additional information about the search results
• Responsive and accessible design

II. Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your machine:

• Python 3.x
• pip (Python package installer)

III. Getting Started

Follow these instructions to get a copy of the project up and running on your local machine.

Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone [email protected]:nicolemichelle88/googlebooks_featureflags.git
cd googlebooks_featureflags

Step 2: Set Up the Backend

1. Create a Virtual Environment (optional but recommended):

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `venv\Scripts\activate`

2. Install the Required Packages:

   pip3 install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure LaunchDarkly Keys in Your Code:

   Replace placeholders in your app.py and scripts.js with your actual keys:

   • In scripts.js, replace with your LaunchDarkly client-side ID on line 16:

     const clientSideId = '<your-client-side-ID>';  // Replace with your actual client-side ID

   • CLIENT_SIDE_ID: Found in your LaunchDarkly Client-side SDK Keys

4. Set Environment Variables:

   export LD_SDK_KEY=your_sdk_key
   export LD_API_KEY=your_ld_api_key
   export SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL=https://hooks.slack.com/services/your/slack/webhook

   Note: You can find your LaunchDarkly keys as follows:

   • LD_SDK_KEY: Found in your LaunchDarkly Project Settings
   • LD_API_KEY: Found in your LaunchDarkly API Access Tokens
   • SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: See Copy the Webhook URL in the below section on Setting Up Slack

5. Run the Flask App:

   python3 app.py

   The backend server will start on http://127.0.0.1:5000.

Step 3: Set Up the Frontend

1. Open the index.html file in the browser of your choice!

Step 4: Search for Books

1. Enter a Search Query:

   In the search input, type the name of a book, author, or any keyword you want to search for.

2. Click Search:

   Click the "Search" button or press Enter to start the search. The search results will be displayed with pagination controls.

3. Navigate Through Pages:

   Use the "Previous" and "Next" buttons to navigate through the pages of search results. Click on the page numbers to jump to a specific page.

IV. Setting Up LaunchDarkly

1. Flags

Create a Feature Flag:

• Go to your LaunchDarkly dashboard.
• Create a two new feature flags with a boolean flag type: first-button and last-button.
• Name the variations True and False.
• The end result should look like this:

2. Segments

Create a Segment:

• Go to your LaunchDarkly dashboard.
• Create a new user segment and add the users who should be included. In this case, target anyone whose username contains beta.
• The end result should look like this:

3. Rules

Create Rules for Individual Targeting

• Navigate inside the Dashboard for the last-button Flag
• Click Add Rule and select Target Individuals
• Set the rule to serve true to user1 and false to user2

Create Rules for Rule-Based Targeting -In the same Dashboard for the last-button Flag, click Add Rule again, but this time choose Target Segments:

• Set the rule "If not in beta group, flag=false" by choosing the is not in operator and the beta segment you previously created. Serve rollout as false.

• The end result should look like this:

4. Metrics

Set Up Metrics:

• Go to your LaunchDarkly dashboard.
• Create a new metric to track the desired events. In this example, we're seeting up the metric fetch-page-error as in the screenshot below. Ensure you've got fetch-page-error as the Event Key and Lower than Baseline as the Success Criteria.
• The end result should look like this before you click Create Metric:

V. Setting Up Slack

Step 1: Create a Slack App

Go to the Slack API

Navigate to the Slack API page at https://api.slack.com/.

Create a new Slack App

1. Click on "Create New App."
2. Select "From scratch."
3. Provide a name for your app and choose the Slack workspace where you want to install the app.
4. Click "Create App."

Step 2: Add Incoming Webhooks

Navigate to the Features section

In the sidebar, under "Features," click on "Incoming Webhooks."

Activate Incoming Webhooks

Toggle the switch to "Activate Incoming Webhooks."

Create a new webhook

1. Click on "Add New Webhook to Workspace."
2. Select a channel where the webhook will post messages and click "Allow."

Copy the Webhook URL

1. After allowing, you will be redirected back to the app settings page.
2. You will see your new webhook URL under "Webhook URLs for Your Workspace."
3. Copy this URL. It will be used in your Flask application to send messages to Slack.

VI. Additional Notes

• Ensure that you are using Python 3 by using python3 and pip3 commands to avoid any confusion with Python 2.x.
• Make sure you install the required Python packages using the requirements.txt file to avoid missing dependencies.

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

By following these steps, you should be able to set up and run the Google Books Search App with feature flags using LaunchDarkly. If you encounter any issues or have any questions, feel free to reach out to me for support!