Blog Search Engine Project

A simple blog platform that uses Elasticsearch for fast search capabilities. Users can add blog posts and search them efficiently. The project integrates Tailwind CSS for a clean and modern UI.

Features

• Add Blog Posts: Create and store blog posts in Elasticsearch.

• Search Blog Posts: Perform full-text search on blog titles and content.

• Modern UI: Styled with Tailwind CSS.

Project Structure

blog-search/
├── public/                         # Publicly accessible files
│   ├── index.php                   # Homepage linking to other pages
│   ├── post.php                    # Add blog post page
│   ├── search.php                  # Search blog posts page
│   ├── output.css                  # Tailwind CSS output file (auto-generated)
│   ├── styles.css                  # Tailwind CSS input file
│   ├── assets/                     # Static assets folder
│   │   ├── images/                 # Images folder (optional)
│   │   └── favicon.ico             # Favicon (optional)
├── src/                            # Source files for backend logic
│   ├── config.php                  # Configuration for Elasticsearch and SQLite
│   ├── functions.php               # Helper functions for database and search
├── database/                       # Database-related files
│   └── blog.sqlite                 # SQLite database file
├── node_modules/                   # Node.js dependencies (auto-generated)
├── tailwind.config.js              # Tailwind CSS configuration file
├── package.json                    # Node.js package configuration
├── package-lock.json               # Node.js dependency lock file
├── composer.json                   # PHP dependencies file
├── composer.lock                   # PHP dependency lock file

Requirements

• PHP 7.4 or later

• Elasticsearch 7.x or 8.x

• Node.js 14.x or later

• SQLite

Installation

1. Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone [blog-search](https://github.com/khouloudhaddad/blog-search.git)

cd blog-search

2. Step 2: Install PHP Dependencies

composer install

3. Step 3: Install Node.js Dependencies

npm install

4. Step 4: Set Up Tailwind CSS

Generate the Tailwind CSS file:

npx tailwindcss -i ./public/styles.css -o ./public/output.css --watch

5. Step 5: Start Elasticsearch

   Ensure Elasticsearch is running locally on http://localhost:9200.

6. Step 6: Start the PHP Server

   Run the project locally:

php -S localhost:8000 -t public

Usage

Add a Blog Post

1. Open http://localhost:8000/post.php.

2. Enter the title and content of the blog post.

3. Click "Add Post" to save it.

Search Blog Posts

1. Open http://localhost:8000/search.php.

2. Enter a search query (e.g., keywords from the blog post).

3. View the results below the search bar.

Run npx tailwindcss Inside the Container

1. Get the Container Name First, ensure that your container is running:

docker ps

This will list all running containers. Look for the blog-search-app container or whatever name you've given your app's container.

2. Enter the Running Container Next, you need to exec into the running blog-search-app container. Run the following:

docker exec -it blog-search-app bash

This will give you a shell inside the container.

3. Run Tailwind CSS Build with npx Now, inside the container, you can run the Tailwind CSS build process:

npx tailwindcss -i ./public/styles.css -o ./public/output.css --watch

This should start watching for changes in your styles.css and output to output.css.

Technologies Used

• PHP: Backend logic.

• Elasticsearch: Search engine.

• SQLite: Lightweight database for storing blog metadata.

• Tailwind CSS: Frontend styling.

• Composer: PHP dependency management.

• Node.js: For Tailwind CSS.

Future Enhancements

• Add user authentication.

• Implement pagination for search results.

• Dockerize the application.

• Add richer search features like filtering and sorting.

• Deploy to a cloud platform.

License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.