Live Polls For Feedback

Create polls, collect feedback, and analyze results in real time.

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📖 Overview

Live Polls For Feedback is a comprehensive full-stack platform designed for real-time engagement and feedback collection. Creators can build complex polls with multiple question types, share them via secure or anonymous links, and monitor results live through a dynamic analytics dashboard. The platform ensures data integrity with atomic vote updates and provides a polished, animated user experience across all devices.

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✨ Features

🔐 Authentication

• Secure Registration: Register with email and password with mandatory verification.
• Email Verification: Token-based verification system via Resend.
• Social Login: Seamless Google OAuth integration via Passport.js.
• Session Management: JWT-based authentication using secure httpOnly cookies.
• Password Recovery: Robust forgot/reset password flow with hashed tokens.
• Session Rehydration: Automatic session recovery on page refresh via /auth/me.

📊 Poll Management

• Intuitive Creation: 3-step form with drag-and-drop question reordering.
• Flexible Configuration: Title, description, optional expiry, and privacy modes.
• Question Customization: Required/optional toggles with a minimum of 2 options per question.
• Privacy Control: Support for ANONYMOUS (public) and AUTHENTICATED (verified users) modes.
• Lifecycle Management: Polls transition through ACTIVE → CLOSED → PUBLISHED states.

🗳️ Response Collection

• Smart Voting: Atomically increments votes and decrements previous choices to ensure accuracy.
• Duplicate Prevention: Restricted to one response per user (authenticated) or per IP (anonymous).
• Global Reach: Captures respondent metadata including User-Agent and hashed IP.
• Automatic Enforcement: Responses are blocked if the poll is expired or closed.

📈 Analytics & Real-time

• Live Dashboard: Real-time stats for total responses and total views.
• Dynamic Charts: Visual breakdown of results using Recharts.
• Socket.io Integration: Instant UI updates when votes are cast—no refresh required.
• Result Publishing: Snapshots final results into a dedicated collection for permanent, immutable viewing.

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

• Framework: Express.js + TypeScript
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• Authentication: Passport.js (Google Strategy) + JWT
• Communication: Socket.io (Real-time events)
• Validation: Zod (Schema-based validation)
• Email: Resend API
• Security: Bcryptjs (12 rounds), Helmet.js, express-rate-limit

Frontend

• Framework: React 18 + TypeScript + Vite
• Routing: React Router v6
• Data Fetching: TanStack Query v5
• Forms: React Hook Form + Zod
• Animations: Framer Motion + GSAP (ScrollTrigger)
• UI Components: Tailwind CSS + Shadcn/ui + Lucide React
• Notifications: Sonner

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🏗️ Architecture

Service Layer Pattern

The backend follows a strict Controller → Service → DB architecture to separate concerns:

• Controllers: Handle HTTP request/response logic and input parsing.
• Services: Contain business logic, database interactions, and real-time event triggers.
• Models: Define Mongoose schemas and database-level middleware.

Auth Flow

[Register/Login] --> [Service Layer] --> [JWT Generation]
      |                    |                   |
      v                    v                   v
[Resend Email]      [Hash Password]     [Set httpOnly Cookie]

Poll Lifecycle

ACTIVE (Accepting votes) → CLOSED (Votes frozen) → PUBLISHED (Immutable snapshot created)

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🚀 API Reference

Auth Endpoints

Method	Path	Auth	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	No	Register new user (displayName, email, password)
POST	/api/auth/login	No	Login with email/password
POST	/api/auth/logout	Yes	Clear auth cookies
GET	/api/auth/me	Yes	Get current user profile
GET	/api/auth/verify-email	No	Verify email via ?token=
POST	/api/auth/forgot-password	No	Request password reset email
POST	/api/auth/reset-password	No	Reset password using token
GET	/api/auth/google	No	Start Google OAuth flow
GET	/api/auth/google/callback	No	Google OAuth callback handler

Polls Endpoints

Method	Path	Auth	Description
POST	/api/polls	Yes	Create a new poll
GET	/api/polls	Yes	List all polls created by user
GET	/api/polls/:id	No*	Get poll details (increments views)
PUT	/api/polls/:id	Yes	Update poll (ACTIVE status only)
DELETE	/api/polls/:id	Yes	Cascade delete poll and data
POST	/api/polls/:id/response	Opt	Submit answers (answers: [{ questionId, selectedOptionId }])
GET	/api/polls/:id/responses	Yes	Get raw response list
PATCH	/api/polls/:id/close	Yes	Change status to CLOSED
PATCH	/api/polls/:id/publish	Yes	Snapshot and change status to PUBLISHED
GET	/api/polls/:id/result	No	Get published result snapshot

* Authenticated if privacyMode is AUTHENTICATED

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💾 Database Schema

User

• email (String, Unique)
• passwordHash (String, select: false)
• displayName (String)
• avatarUrl (String)
• isEmailVerified (Boolean)
• oauthProviders (Array: { provider, providerId })
• passwordResetToken / Expires
• emailVerificationToken / Expires

Poll

• creatorId (ObjectId, Ref: User)
• title (String)
• description (String)
• status (Enum: ACTIVE, CLOSED, PUBLISHED)
• privacyMode (Enum: ANONYMOUS, AUTHENTICATED)
• expiresAt (Date, Optional)
• questions (Array: { text, required, options: [{ text, votesCount }] })
• totalResponses (Number)
• totalViews (Number)

Response

• pollId (ObjectId, Ref: Poll)
• respondentId (ObjectId, Optional)
• answers (Array: { questionId, selectedOptionId })
• ipHash (String)
• userAgent (String)
• country (String)
• submittedAt (Date)

Publish

• pollId (ObjectId)
• publishedAt (Date)
• totalResponses (Number)
• questions (Array: Snapshot of poll questions and final counts)

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⚙️ Setup & Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+)
• MongoDB (Local or Atlas)
• Redis (for Rate Limiting)
• Resend API Key

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Asutosh-1234/Live-Polls-For-Feedback.git
cd Live-Polls-For-Feedback

2. Backend Setup

cd Backend
npm install
# Create .env based on the Environment Variables section below
npm run dev

3. Frontend Setup

cd ../Frontend
npm install
# Create .env based on the Environment Variables section below
npm run dev

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🔑 Environment Variables

Backend (/Backend/.env)

Variable	Description	Example
PORT	Server port	5000
NODE_ENV	Environment mode	development
DATABASE_URL	MongoDB connection URI	mongodb://localhost:27017/livepoll
JWT_SECRET	Secret for signing tokens	super-secret-key
JWT_EXPIRES_IN	Token lifespan	7d
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth Client ID	your-id.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth Secret	GOCSPX-...
BASE_URL	Backend base URL	http://localhost:5000
FRONTEND_URL	Frontend base URL	http://localhost:5173
RESEND_API_KEY	Resend email service key	re_123...
SESSION_SECRET	Express session secret	session-secret

Frontend (/Frontend/.env)

Variable	Description	Example
VITE_API_URL	Backend API root	http://localhost:5000/api
VITE_SOCKET_URL	Socket.io server URL	http://localhost:5000

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🛡️ Security Measures

• HttpOnly Cookies: All JWT tokens are stored in httpOnly, secure, and sameSite cookies to prevent XSS.
• Token Hashing: Reset and verification tokens are hashed with SHA-256 before being stored in the database.
• Sensitive Data Protection: passwordHash is excluded from all API responses via Mongoose select: false.
• Strong Hashing: Passwords use bcryptjs with 12 salt rounds.
• Security Headers: Helmet.js implementation for protection against common web vulnerabilities.
• Rate Limiting: Applied to authentication routes to prevent brute-force attacks.
• CORS Policy: Restricted to the specific frontend origin only.
• Auth Privacy: Password login is blocked for users who registered via Google OAuth.

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🌐 Real-time Events (Socket.io)

Room: poll:{pollId}

Clients join this room when viewing a specific poll page.

Event: poll:response:update

Emitted by the server on every successful vote submission. Payload Shape:

{
  "totalResponses": 42,
  "questions": [
    {
      "questionId": "65b...",
      "options": [
        { "optionId": "65c...", "votesCount": 12 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

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📂 Project Structure

Live-Polls-For-Feedback/
├── Backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── controllers/    # Route handlers
│   │   ├── services/       # Business logic
│   │   ├── schemas/        # Mongoose models
│   │   ├── routers/        # Express routes
│   │   ├── middlewares/    # Auth & Rate limiting
│   │   ├── utility/        # Helpers & Configs
│   │   └── types/          # TypeScript definitions
│   └── package.json
└── Frontend/
    ├── src/
    │   ├── @/              # UI components & Shadcn
    │   ├── components/     # Layout & Shared components
    │   ├── pages/          # View components
    │   ├── services/       # API integration
    │   ├── hooks/          # Custom React hooks
    │   └── App.tsx         # Routing & Main logic
    └── package.json