PADS was a time tracker web app (a website in old school terms) that kept and displayed the amount of time that had happened since a user-defined point in time. For example, one could make timers that counted the days since they quit a habit, or filed a complaint. It also allowed the creation of historical timers that were intended to count the time passed since a past event.
Timers could be kept private or shared with the general public. Registration was needed to create and share timers. Quick Lists could be created as a temporary alternative to a full registration. The ability to import Quick Lists into a full account was planned, but never implemented.
This app project was my first serious attempt at building a web application and was intended to be a submission for an undergraduate assignment (an alternate submission was made instead). PADS evolved into a challenge to implement as much functionality as possible without JavaScript.
Upon realising that the project was out of touch with the evolution of web app tech, PADS was scrapped in 2018 to make way for other projects. This project has been both a pride and an embarrassment; I really believe something like PADS would be really popular and useful, and I reckon the only way to redeem the project is to start from scratch with a more up-to-date architecture.
This project will not be updated. Any further endeavours will be carried on in a successor project.
- Python 3.6
- Django == 2.2.28
- pytz (>= 2017.2)
This app was only ever tested on Linux servers. Windows users are encouraged to run the app on a GNU/Linux distro with WSL.
A more robust depolyment is possible with a dedicated, load-balancing web and database servers. PADS has been deployed in the past with the Apache HTTP Server (httpd) with mod-wsgi (tested on 4.5.15). As a Django app, a dedicated SQL database server can be hooked up using the optional mysqlclient (tested on 1.3 with MariaDB) pip package.
The old Installation Instructions remain in the Wiki as a historical reference.
A Dockerfile has been included to let you skip the rather long-winded (by 2020s standards) setup process; just run:
docker build -t padsweb:0.5-demo .
docker run -dp 9180:80 --rm --name pads padsweb:0.5-demoHere's the non-volatile version that retains accounts and timers:
docker volume create padsweb-data
docker build -t padsweb:0.5-demo .
docker run -dp 9180:80 -v padsweb-data:/usr/share/ --rm --name pads padsweb:0.5-demoBoth versions will set up a running instance on port 9180 on the host at /pads. When running on a local machine, try http://localhost:9180/pads. The port can be overidden with the PADS_PORT environment variable on the host when building the container image.
Remember to docker stop pads when you are done, and docker volume rm padsweb-data to delete data left behind by the non-volatile version.
Use podman in place of docker as appropriate.
PADS is Free Software, licensed under the terms and conditions of the MIT License.