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The purpose of this document is to provide a detailed documentation for the Eventy mobile application. It includes the functional and non-functional requirements, design considerations, and technical specifications for the application.
Eventy is a mobile application designed to simplify the process of organizing events for groups or organizations. The application provides an easy way to coordinate the preferences of all members and streamline the communication of event details. With Eventy, users can create polls with multiple choices for time and location, invite users to participate in events.
Eventy offers a range of features and functionalities to simplify event organization and coordination. Users can create polls for time and location, invite users to events, search for events based on name, and get notifications of new events. Users can view their upcoming events and polls they created or to which they have been invited in their profile. The application does not include a chat feature, and it is assumed that the poll creator will provide all possible availabilities and intends to be present at the event.
Eventy is designed to cater to a wide range of users who are interested in organizing events in a hassle-free manner. The primary users of Eventy are individuals, groups, and organizations who need to coordinate the organization and creation of events. These users may include event organizers, party planners, business owners, and social groups.
Currently, these users may rely on traditional communication methods such as phone calls, text messages, or emails to organize events. However, these methods can be time-consuming and often result in miscommunication or confusion. Moreover, it can be difficult to gather all the prefereces about time and place from all the members of the group when there are many options to choose from.
To understand the needs and requirements of the users, we have identified the following user stories for Eventy:
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As an event organizer, I want to be able to create a poll for time and location so that all members can vote and we can select the most convenient option.
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As a poll participant, I want to receive notifications of new events so that I can stay up-to-date and not miss any important events.
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As a user, I want to be able to create a group of user for events, I can add users based on their usernames so that I can easily create events and invite a specific group of people each time.
The key use cases for the Eventy application include:
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Creating a poll for time and location: users can create a poll with a set of possible choices for time and location. Members of the group can vote on their preferred options.
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Inviting users to events: users can invite members of the group to participate in events. Invitations can be seen through the application, and users can accept or decline the invitation. If push notifications are enabled, users will also receive notifications of new events.
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Creating groups: users can create groups of users for events. They can add users to the group based on their usernames.
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Getting notifications of new events: users can receive notifications of new events. If push notifications are enabled, users will receive notifications of new events.
An example scenario in which a user would use the Eventy application is as follows:
"Samantha is a busy professional who wants to organize a birthday party for her friend but hasn't much time at hand. She creates a poll for time and location using the Eventy application and sends invitations to her friends. They all vote on their preferred options, and Samantha selects the final option after the deadline. She creates a private event for the selected date and location, and only invited members can view the event details. Samantha and her friends can communicate and coordinate the party details through the Eventy application, making the process of organizing the event much easier and efficient."
Eventy is developed using the Flutter framework. Flutter is an open-source mobile application development framework that allows developers to build high-performance, cross-platform mobile applications for iOS and Android with a single codebase.
Firebase is used as the backend for Eventy. Firebase provides several features and services that we used in our application, such as authentication, real-time database, cloud storage, and push notifications. We chose Firebase because it is easy to integrate with Flutter and provides a scalable, reliable backend infrastructure for our application.
Eventy is designed to run on a wide range of devices, with a focus for smartphones and tablets. The minimum hardware and software requirements for running the application are as follows:
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Android: Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) or higher, with at least 2 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor
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iOS: iOS 12.0 or higher, with at least 2 GB of RAM and an A9 or newer processor
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Mac: macOS 10.13 or higher, with at least 4 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor
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Windows: Windows 7 or higher, with at least 4 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor
The application requires an active internet connection to function properly.
Eventy follows a client-server architecture, where the mobile app acts as the client, and the Firebase backend acts as the server. The client communicates with the server through REST APIs provided by Firebase. The client also communicates with a node server to send push notifications to the users.
In blue we a have db query from the app, in green the handling of notifications.
The system architecture of a Flutter app with Firebase as a backend can be described in three main layers: UI layer, business logic layer, and service layer. This architecture aims to reduce developer time, provide a common structure, and clearly define the app layers.
This layer consists of Flutter widgets, which are the fundamental building blocks of Flutter user interfaces. Flutter allows for reactive user interfaces, meaning that the UI can automatically update as the underlying data changes.
This layer contains all app business and presentation logic. When using Firebase, you'll need to install the required dependencies. For example, you may need the firebase_auth and cloud_firestore packages to enable Firebase authentication and Cloud Firestore.
This layer contains services needed to interact with third-party services such as APIs. For Firebase, this involves integrating the Firebase SDK into your Flutter app, depending on the platform you're targeting (Android, iOS, or web). For Android, for example, you'll need to add specific dependencies to your app-level build.gradle file and configure the Firebase Core plugin.
We use the following external services in our application:
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Open Street Map API: used to show the location of the event on the map
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Firebase: used as the backend for the application
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Node.js: used to send push notifications to the users
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Nominatim:1 used to search for locations and retrieve location data
Eventy uses Firestore Database to store all the data. The database schema is designed to reflect the requirements of the application.
We have the following collections in the Firebase database:
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The group collection stores all the groups created by the users. Each group has a unique group id, which is used to identify the group. The group id is generated by Firebase when a new group is created. A group is used to identify a subset of user in the database.
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The notification collection stores all the notifications sent to the users. Each notification has a unique notification id, which is used to identify the notification. The notification id is generated by Firebase when a new notification is created. A notifications can be made of by one or more notification events.
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The poll_event collection stores all the poll events created by the users. Each poll event has a unique poll event id, which is used to identify the poll event. The poll event id is generated by Firebase when a new poll event is created. A poll event is used to identify a subset of user in the database.
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The poll_event_invite collection stores all the poll event invites sent to the users. Each poll event invite has a unique poll event invite id, which is used to identify the poll event invite. Invites for the same poll event sent to different users will have the same poll event invite id e.g., "event0ofUser0". A poll event invite is a pair of poll event id and invitee id, which is used to associate a user to the event which he is invited.
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The user collection stores all the users registered in the application. Each user has a unique user id, which is used to identify the user. The user id is generated by Firebase when a new user is created. A user have a username attribute and a username_lower attribute, which is used to identify the user in the database. The username_lower attribute is used to perform case insensitive search in the database, e.g., when searching for a user by username to add to a group.
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The vote_date collection stores all the votes for the dates of each poll event. Each vote has a unique vote id, which is used to identify the vote, and each can have four different integer values to express the user's preference for the date.
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The vote_location collection stores all the votes for the locations of each poll event. Each vote has a unique vote id, which is used to identify the vote, and each can have four different integer values to express the user's preference for the location.
For both vote_date and vote_location the votes can assume the following values:
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-1: the user has not expressed any preference
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0: the user is not available
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1: the user is available but prefers another date/location
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2: the user is available but prefers this date/location
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Eventy's user interface is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, with a modern and clean design language that emphasizes simplicity and clarity. The application's UI is designed to be consistent across different platforms, with a responsive layout that adapts to different screen sizes and resolutions.
The navigation flow of the application is designed to be simple and intuitive. The user can navigate between different screens using a bottom navigation bar, which is visible on all screens. The navigation bar consists of icons representing the main features of the application:
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Home
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Groups
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Create Event
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Notifications
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Settings
The navigation flow on first launch is as follows:
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The user is presented with a login screen, where they can enter their username and password or sign up for a new account.
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After logging in or signing up, the user is presented with the home screen, which displays a list of upcoming events. From that point, the user can navigate to any of the other screens using the bottom navigation bar:
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The user can then navigate to the groups screen, where they can view a list of their groups and create new groups.
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The user can then navigate to the create event screen, where they can create a new event.
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The user can then navigate to the notifications screen, where they can view a list of their notifications.
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The user can then navigate to the settings screen, where they can view and edit their profile information and the application settings.
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Navigation flow diagram
The application consists of five primary screens, each designed to address a specific need:
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Home
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Groups
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Create Event
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Notifications
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Settings
They can be accessed from the bottom navigation bar. The other screens are accessed from the main screens, and they are designed to provide additional functionality.
This is the first screen that the user sees when they open the application. It displays a list of the upcoming events, which are filtered in two tabs, one for the event created by the user and one for the events the user is invited to. The user can tap on an event to view its details.
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| Events created by the user | Events the user is invited to |
Tablet home in light mode
This screen displays a list of the user's groups. The user can tap on a group to view its members.
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| Groups screen | Group detail | Create new group |
This screen allows the user to create a new poll. The user can enter a title and add options for the poll. The user can also add a description and set a deadline for the poll. The user can then share the poll with other users or groups by inviting them to the poll.
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| Set title - create screen | Locations or virtual event | Add locations |
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| Add dates | Invite group members | Invite user |
This screen displays a list of the user's notifications. The user can tap on a notification to view its details. Notifications about events, if cliked, will redirect the user to the event details screen.
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| Notifications | Event details |
Tablet event detail in light mode
This screen displays the application settings. The user can edit their profile information and password. The user can also decide to log out from the application.
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| Settings | Edit profile | Change password |
The visual design of the application is based on a modern and minimalist design language, with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. The application uses a consistent color scheme throughout, with a light and a dark theme. The color and basic shapes are Material Design 3 compliant, thanks to the use of the FlexColorScheme package2.
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| Dark theme | Light theme |
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User profile with name, username, and profile picture
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Poll creation with date and location options
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Ability to invite users to an event
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Home page with upcoming events and polls
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Storage of user data and preferences
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Updates of event and poll statuses through push notifications
The following functional requirements must be met in order for Eventy to perform as expected:
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Users can create polls for events with date and location options.
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Users can invite other users to events and polls.
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Users can create private events that are only visible to invited users.
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Users can view their home page with upcoming events and polls.
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Users can authenticate and authorize with their account.
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User data are securely stored in a database.
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User app preferences are stored locally on the device.
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Users receive notifications of event and poll statuses.
The following non-functional requirements must be met in order for Eventy to perform as expected:
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The application must be responsive and fast.
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The application must be available 24/7 with minimal downtime for maintenance.
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The application must be secure and protect user data and preferences.
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The application must be easy to use and intuitive for users of all technical abilities.
The testing methodology for Eventy will be a combination of manual and
automated testing. Manual testing will be performed by the development
team. Automated testing will run through the flutter test command.
The test plan for Eventy includes a comprehensive set of test cases that will be executed throughout the development process. The goal is to ensure that the application functions as expected and meets the user requirements. In particular we will test different aspects of the application: unit, widget and integration tests.
Unit tests are run to verify the correctness of a single function, method, or class under a variety of conditions. The main goal of a unit test is to ensure that a specific "unit" of logic in your codebase works as expected.
The goal of a widget test is to verify that the widget's UI looks and interacts as expected. This involves testing multiple classes and requires a test environment that provides the appropriate widget lifecycle context.
Integration tests are run to test a complete app or a large part of an app. The goal of an integration test is to verify that all the widgets and services being tested work together as expected. Here we show the most significant tests with the corresponding sequence diagrams
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Sign Up This test case verifies that the user can sign up to the application.
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Log In This test case verifies that the user can log in to the application using the correct credentials.
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Create Poll This test case verifies that the user can create a poll.
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Vote Poll This test case verifies that the user can vote a poll.
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Create Group This test case verifies that the user can create a group.
Through the flutter coverage library, we managed to achieve a test coverage of 80%. The untested lines were manually tested and consist of mostly fallback widgets and methods in case of server errors (e.g. Firebase excpetions) or internet connection errors.
Testing coverage
Automation testing is the process of testing software and other tech products to ensure it meets strict requirements. In our case, this will be performed through GitHub CI/CD and GitHub actions. We will work on different branches, mainly:
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For each functionality and main screen we will do a dedicated branch
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Each time a feature has been completed, relative tests will be written (the ones mentioned before) and tested first manually in local, then automatically through GitHub actions once they have been pushed on the repository
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If the tests are successful, we will open a pull request and merge the changes onto the main branch
The automatic pipeline will also check if the code is correctly formatted and if there are no warnings according to Very Good Analysis' definition.
In this design document, we have presented the technical details of Eventy, an application designed to help users easily organize events and coordinate with others. We have covered the user requirements, system architecture, user interface design, and testing and quality assurance processes, among other important aspects of the application's development.
Moving forward, we plan to continue refining and improving Eventy based on user feedback and usage patterns. Specifically, we will be focusing on improving the app's performance and scalability, enhancing the user interface and user experience, and adding new features and capabilities.
Some potential future enhancements include adding support for in-app messaging and chat functionality, incorporating location-based recommendations and search capabilities, and leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics to help users better plan and organize events.
Overall, we are excited about the potential of Eventy to help users more easily plan and coordinate events.
Footnotes
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The documentation of Nominatim service is available at https://nominatim.org ↩
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The FlexColorScheme package documentation is available at https://docs.flexcolorscheme.com/ ↩