Placement Application Portal

A comprehensive placement management system built with Flask (Backend) and Vue.js (Frontend) for colleges to manage student placements, company interactions, and application processes.

🚀 Features

• Multi-role Authentication: Student, Company, and Admin roles with JWT-based security
• Student Portal: Profile management, drive browsing, application tracking
• Company Portal: Drive creation, applicant management, profile management
• Admin Dashboard: System oversight, user management, reports
• Automated Notifications: Email reminders for deadlines and interviews
• Background Processing: Celery + Redis for async tasks
• Responsive Design: Modern Bootstrap-based UI

🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

• Flask 3.1.3 - Web framework
• Flask-SQLAlchemy - ORM
• Flask-JWT-Extended - Authentication
• Flask-Mail - Email notifications
• Celery 5.4.0 - Background tasks
• Redis 5.0.1 - Message broker
• SQLite - Database

Frontend

• Vue.js 3 - Progressive framework
• Vite - Build tool
• Pinia - State management
• Axios - HTTP client
• Bootstrap 5 - UI framework

📋 Prerequisites

Before running this application, make sure you have the following installed:

• Python 3.8+
• Node.js 16+
• Redis Server
• Git

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone and Setup

git clone <repository-url>
cd placement-application-portal

2. Environment Setup

# Copy environment template
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env with your configuration
nano .env

3. Backend Setup

# Navigate to backend
cd backend

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Seed database with test data
python seed_db.py

# Start backend server
python app.py

4. Frontend Setup

# In a new terminal, from project root
cd frontend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start development server
npm run dev

5. Redis & Celery Setup

# Terminal 1: Start Redis server
redis-server

# Terminal 2: Start Celery worker
cd backend
celery -A celery_worker.celery worker --loglevel=info

# Terminal 3: Start Celery beat (scheduled tasks)
celery -A celery_worker.celery beat --loglevel=info

6. Access the Application

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• Backend API: http://localhost:5000

🔐 Test Accounts

Admin

• Email: admin@placement.com
• Password: admin123
• Role: admin

Companies

• TCS: hr@tcs.com / company123
• Infosys: hr@infosys.com / company123
• Role: company

Students

• Rahul: rahul@student.com / student123
• Priya: priya@student.com / student123
• Role: student

📁 Project Structure

placement-application-portal/
├── backend/                 # Flask backend
│   ├── app.py              # Main application
│   ├── config.py           # Configuration
│   ├── models/             # Database models
│   ├── routes/             # API endpoints
│   ├── tasks.py            # Celery tasks
│   ├── celery_worker.py    # Celery worker
│   └── requirements.txt    # Python dependencies
├── frontend/               # Vue.js frontend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── views/          # Page components
│   │   ├── components/     # Reusable components
│   │   ├── services/       # API services
│   │   └── stores/         # Pinia stores
│   └── package.json        # Node dependencies
├── static/                 # Static assets
├── templates/              # HTML templates
├── .env.example           # Environment template
├── SETUP.md               # Detailed setup instructions
└── README.md              # This file

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables (.env)

# Flask Configuration
SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///placement.db

# Email Configuration (Gmail SMTP)
MAIL_USERNAME=your-email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-password

# Celery Configuration
CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND=redis://localhost:6379/0

Gmail App Password Setup

1. Go to Google Account settings
2. Enable 2-Factor Authentication
3. Generate an App Password for "Mail"
4. Use this password in MAIL_PASSWORD

🎯 API Endpoints

Authentication

• POST /api/auth/login - User login
• POST /api/auth/register - User registration

Student Endpoints

• GET /api/student/dashboard - Student dashboard
• GET /api/student/profile - Get student profile
• PUT /api/student/profile - Update student profile
• GET /api/student/drives - List placement drives
• POST /api/student/apply/{drive_id} - Apply to drive

Company Endpoints

• GET /api/company/dashboard - Company dashboard
• POST /api/company/drives - Create placement drive
• GET /api/company/drives/{drive_id}/applications - View applicants

Admin Endpoints

• GET /api/admin/dashboard - Admin dashboard
• GET /api/admin/students - List all students
• GET /api/admin/companies - List all companies

📧 Background Tasks

The system includes automated background tasks:

• 24-hour reminders: Email notifications for upcoming deadlines
• Interview reminders: Notifications for scheduled interviews
• Monthly reports: Statistical reports sent to admins
• Application exports: CSV exports of student application history

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Port already in use

   # Kill process on port 5000
   lsof -ti:5000 | xargs kill -9

2. Redis connection error

   # Start Redis server
   redis-server

3. Email not sending

   • Check Gmail credentials in .env
   • Ensure app password is correct
   • Check spam folder

4. Database issues

   # Reset database
   cd backend
   rm instance/placement.db
   python seed_db.py

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

📞 Support

For support or questions, please open an issue on GitHub or contact the development team.