Luna Backend Technical Documentation

Project Overview

Luna is the web implementation of the research study titled "Forecasting Intra-individual Changes of Affective States Taking into Account Inter-individual Differences Using Intensive Longitudinal Data from a University Student Dropout Study in Mathematics" conducted by Augustin Kelava, Pascal Kilian, Judith Glässer, Samuel Merk, and Holger Brandt at the University of Tübingen. The goal of this web application is to understand and forecast student dropout in German universities using state-of-the-art psychometric methods. Web app backend is a Django-based backend application designed to manage university-related operations, including student management, module handling, and survey systems.

Technical Requirements

Core Requirements

• Python 3.9
• Django 4.2.5
• PostgreSQL Database
• Docker & Docker Compose

Key Dependencies

• Django Rest Framework 3.14.0 (API Framework)
• django-cors-headers 4.2.0 (CORS handling)
• psycopg2-binary 2.9.7 (PostgreSQL adapter)
• django-cron (Scheduled tasks)
• drf_yasg (API Documentation)
• python-decouple (Environment configuration)

Project Structure

luna_backend/
├── luna/                   # Main application directory
│   ├── api/               # API endpoints and views
│   ├── core/              # Core functionality and models
│   ├── modelling/         # Data modeling and analysis
│   └── luna/              # Project settings and configuration
├── documentation/         # Project documentation
├── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies
├── Dockerfile            # Container configuration
├── docker-compose.yml    # Docker services configuration
└── entrypoint.sh         # Docker entrypoint script

Development Setup

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
3. Configure environment variables in .env
4. Run migrations: python manage.py migrate
5. Start development server: python manage.py runserver

Docker Deployment

The application can be deployed using Docker:

docker-compose up --build

Initial Setup with Docker

1. Create Superuser Account

# Create Django superuser inside the running container
docker-compose exec web python manage.py createsuperuser

2. Database Access & Configuration

Access PostgreSQL Database:

# Connect to database container
docker-compose exec db psql -U postgres

# Or use external tools like DBeaver with these connection settings:
# Host: localhost
# Port: 5432
# Database: postgres
# Username: (from .env PGUSER)
# Password: (from .env PGPASSWORD)

Initial Data Setup:

-- Connect to database and create initial university
INSERT INTO core_university (id, name, created_at, updated_at)
VALUES (1, 'University of Tübingen', NOW(), NOW());

3. Access Admin Interface

# Navigate to admin portal
http://localhost/admin

4. Run Migrations

# Apply database migrations
docker-compose exec web python manage.py migrate

# Create new migrations (if models changed)
docker-compose exec web python manage.py makemigrations

5. Development Commands

# View container logs
docker-compose logs web
docker-compose logs db

# Access container shell
docker-compose exec web bash

# Restart specific service
docker-compose restart web

Admin Portal

The application provides a Django admin interface for administrative tasks:

Access

• URL: /admin
• Login with superuser credentials
• Accessible only to users with admin privileges