LAFS

A digital archive of the Landscape Architecture Film Series website from the early aughts

Table of Contents

Note

ALL CONTENTS IN THIS REPO ARE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

• Description
• Target Users
• Features
• Project Structure
• Quick Start
• Local Setup
  • Prerequisites
  • Dependencies
  • Installation
  • Configuration
• Usage
• Production Setup
• System Administration
• Author(s)
• Version History
  • Release Notes
  • Initial Release
• Future Work
• License
• Contributing
• Acknowledgments
• Screenshots

Description

LAFS serves as a digital archive for the website of the Landscape Architecture Film Series, a student-led initiative which I co-founded and co-curated for the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the early 2000s.

This repository preserves a sentimental piece of personal digital history. What would otherwise exist only as slowly disintegrating bits on a forgotten CD in a remote storage facility, as fragmented snapshots somewhere in the depths of the Internet Archive, or as a vaselined landscape in some province of collective memory has—here and at l-a-f-s.org—been meticulously restored and recreated.

To learn how this project came about, check out LAFS-DEV.

Target Users

LAFS is intended for:

• Self-guided learners seeking a reference implementation of modern backend web architecture powering a straightforward content website with simple navigation patterns.
• Landscape architecture students and faculty interested in the intersection of film and landscape studies.
• Cinema enthusiasts looking for a few good films to watch.

Features

• 📚 Historical Preservation - Faithful recreation of website from the early 2000s
• 🌐 Modern Dev Tooling - Implementation of a modern web architecture and software development practices
• 📱 Dynamic Responsiveness - Mobile-adjustable layout for today's wide range of devices
• 🎬 Curated Film Database - Recreated collection preserving information about past screenings
• 🗺️ Location Context - Google Maps integration for historical site reference

Project Structure

lafs/
│
├── app/
│   │
│   ├── blueprints/
│   │   │
│   │   └── main/
│   │       ├── __init__.py
│   │       ├── routes.py
│   │       ├── static/
│   │       └── templates/
│   │
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── __init__.py
│   │
│   ├── crud/
│   │   └── __init__.py
│   │
│   ├── data/
│   │   └── lafs.db
│   │
│   ├── infra/
│   │   └── __init__.py
│   │
│   ├── utils/
│   │   └── __init__.py
│   │
│   └── app.py
│
├── logs/
│
├── assets/
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
└── requirements.txt

Quick Start

For those who want to get up and running quickly with default settings:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/ggeerraarrdd/lafs.git
cd lafs

# Set up environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run app
cd app
flask run

# Navigate to the URL specified in the terminal output

Local Setup

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have met the following requirements:

1. Development Tools

   • Python 3.12 (not tested on other versions)
   • git (for cloning the repository)

2. Google Maps API Key

   For the embedded maps to work, you need to set up a Google Maps API Key. Before you can create one, you will need to create a Google Cloud project, for which you need a Google Cloud account.

   • Set up a Google Cloud account
   • Set up your Google Cloud project
   • Create and configure your API Key

Dependencies

• See requirements.txt

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/ggeerraarrdd/lafs.git
   cd lafs

2. Set up a Python virtual environment

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

3. Install the dependencies

   pip install --upgrade pip
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Configuration

1. Create an .env file

   Place the file in the root directory and add the following as default:

   # Database Path
   DATABASE_NAME='data/lafs.db'
   
   # Database Connection Pool
   POOL_SIZE=5
   MAX_OVERFLOW=10
   POOL_TIMEOUT=30
   POOL_RECYCLE=-1
   ECHO=False
   
   # Custom Database Retry Settings
   MAX_RETRIES=3
   BASE_DELAY=1
   MAX_DELAY=10
   
   # Logging
   IS_LOGGING=False
   
   # Flask Secret Key
   SECRET_KEY='192b9bdd22ab9ed4d12e236c78afcb9a393ec15f71bbf5dc987d54727823bcbf'
   
   # Google Maps API Key
   MAP_API_KEY='your_map_api_key'

2. Database Options Explained

   DATABASE_NAME - path to SQLite database file

   SQLAlchemy Engine/Connection Pool Parameters:

   • POOL_SIZE - max number of persistent connections
   • MAX_OVERFLOW - max number of connections above POOL_SIZE
   • POOL_TIMEOUT - seconds to wait for available connection
   • POOL_RECYCLE - seconds before connection is recycled
   • ECHO - enable SQLAlchemy engine logging

   Custom Retry Mechanism Parameters:

   • MAX_RETRIES - max retry attempts for failed operations
   • BASE_DELAY - initial delay between retries in seconds
   • MAX_DELAY - max delay between retries in seconds

3. Logging Option Explained

   The logging functionality can be controlled through IS_LOGGING:

   IS_LOGGING=False

   When logging is enabled (IS_LOGGING=True):

   • Log files are created and stored in the logs/ directory at the root of the project.
   • SQL query execution times, transaction status and errors are tracked.
   • Each log entry includes the calling function name for better traceability.

4. Flask Secret Key Option Explained

   From Flask's official documentation: A secret key that will be used for securely signing the session cookie and can be used for any other security related needs by extensions or your application. It should be a long random bytes or str. For example, copy the output of this to your config:

   $ python -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex())'
   '192b9bdd22ab9ed4d12e236c78afcb9a393ec15f71bbf5dc987d54727823bcbf'

   The above is the system default and should only be used for local development. You can generate a new one using the secrets module from the Python standard library or using your preferred method.

Usage

1. Go into the app directory and run the command:

   flask run

2. Open the film series website

   Navigate to the URL specified in the terminal output. For example:

   * Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000

Production Setup

• TBD

System Administration

• TBD

Author(s)

• @ggeerraarrdd

Version History

Release Notes

• See https://github.com/ggeerraarrdd/lafs/releases

Initial Release

The original website is archived on the Internet Archive.

Future Work

• Go to Issues and filter for the enhancement label.

License

• MIT License

Contributing

This project is not accepting contributions at this time. It is intended solely for personal learning and exploration. However, feel free to clone the repository and use it as a learning resource.

Acknowledgments

• The distribution code for CS50's Finance pset served as a template for the app.

Screenshots

(Image created using Portfoliofy.)

Frontispiece

Landscape Architecture Film Series. (2002). Screenshot of website [Digital image]. Captured 2023. Retrieved from https://l-a-f-s.org