adopt-a-street/NOTIFICATION_IMPLEMENTATION.md

Notification Toast System - Implementation Summary

Overview

Implemented a comprehensive real-time notification toast system for the Adopt-a-Street frontend application. The system integrates Socket.IO events with react-toastify to provide user-friendly notifications for all real-time events.

Files Created

1. NotificationProvider Component

Path: frontend/src/context/NotificationProvider.js

• Integrates with SocketContext and AuthContext
• Automatically listens to Socket.IO events and displays toasts
• Provides notify utility for manual toast triggering
• Handles connection status, events, tasks, streets, achievements, and social updates

2. Custom Toast Styles

Path: frontend/src/styles/toastStyles.css

• Custom CSS matching Bootstrap theme colors
• Mobile-responsive design (full-width on screens ≤480px)
• Support for success, error, info, and warning toast types
• Smooth animations and hover effects
• Dark mode support

3. Usage Examples

Path: frontend/src/examples/notificationExamples.js

• Comprehensive examples of using the notification system
• Demonstrates notify utility, toast API, promises, and async patterns
• Example component showing real-world usage

4. Documentation

Path: NOTIFICATION_SYSTEM.md

• Complete documentation of the notification system
• Usage instructions and examples
• Socket.IO event mappings
• Configuration options
• Troubleshooting guide

5. Tests

Path: frontend/src/__tests__/context/NotificationProvider.test.js

• 16 passing tests covering all functionality
• Tests for event subscriptions, toast triggering, cleanup
• Tests for notify utility functions

Files Modified

1. App.js

Changes:

• Added import for NotificationProvider and custom styles
• Wrapped Router with NotificationProvider
• Enhanced ToastContainer configuration:
  • Increased autoClose to 5000ms
  • Set newestOnTop to true
  • Added theme="light"
  • Added limit={5} to prevent toast spam

2. setupTests.js

Changes:

• Added global axios mock to prevent test import errors

How to Trigger Toasts from Components

Method 1: Using notify utility (Recommended)

import { notify } from "../context/NotificationProvider";

notify.success("Operation completed!");
notify.error("Something went wrong!");
notify.info("Here's some info");
notify.warning("Be careful!");

Method 2: Using toast directly

import { toast } from "react-toastify";

toast.success("Success message");
toast.error("Error message", { autoClose: 3000 });

Method 3: For async operations

const toastId = toast.loading("Processing...");
// ... do work ...
toast.update(toastId, {
  render: "Completed!",
  type: "success",
  isLoading: false,
});

Socket.IO Events That Trigger Notifications

Connection Events

• connect → Success: "Connected to real-time updates"
• disconnect → Error/Warning: Connection lost messages
• reconnect → Success: "Reconnected to server"
• reconnect_error → Error: "Failed to reconnect"

Event Updates (eventUpdate)

• new_event → Info: "New event: [event title]"
• event_updated → Info: "Event details have been updated"
• event_deleted → Warning: "An event has been cancelled"

Task Updates (taskUpdate)

• new_task → Info: "New task available: [task description]"
• task_completed → Success: "Task completed by another user"
• task_updated → Info: "A task has been updated"
• task_deleted → Warning: "A task has been removed"

Street Updates (streetUpdate)

• street_adopted → Info: "[Street] was adopted by [User]"
• street_unadopted → Info: "[Street] is now available"

Achievements

• achievementUnlocked → Success: Custom achievement toast with badge details
• badgeUnlocked → Success: Custom badge toast with details

Social Updates

• newPost → Info: "[User] created a new post"
• newComment → Info: "[User] commented on a post"

Generic Notifications

• notification → Type-based: Fallback for custom notifications

Configuration Options

ToastContainer Options (in App.js)

• position: top-right (also available: top-left, top-center, bottom-*)
• autoClose: 5000 (5 seconds, set to false for persistent)
• hideProgressBar: false (show progress bar)
• newestOnTop: true (stack newest on top)
• limit: 5 (max 5 toasts at once)
• theme: light (also available: dark, colored)
• pauseOnHover: true (pause auto-dismiss on hover)
• draggable: true (can drag to dismiss)

Individual Toast Options

notify.success("Message", {
  autoClose: 3000,
  position: "bottom-right",
  toastId: "unique-id", // Prevent duplicates
  pauseOnHover: false,
  closeOnClick: true,
});

Mobile Responsiveness

• Desktop: Positioned in top-right corner with 320px width
• Mobile (≤480px): Full-width toasts at the top of screen
• Touch-friendly dismissal
• Optimized animations for mobile

Testing

All tests passing (16/16):

cd frontend && npm test -- --testPathPattern="NotificationProvider" --watchAll=false

Build Status

✅ Production build successful ✅ No errors or breaking changes ✅ All existing tests still passing

Next Steps (Optional Enhancements)

1. Add notification sound effects (configurable)
2. Add notification history/center
3. Add user preferences for notification types
4. Add desktop notifications API integration
5. Add notification grouping for similar events
6. Add undo/action buttons in toasts

Backend Integration Notes

To trigger notifications from backend, emit Socket.IO events:

const io = req.app.get("io");

// Notify all users
io.emit("notification", {
  type: "info",
  message: "System maintenance in 5 minutes",
});

// Notify specific user
io.to(userSocketId).emit("achievementUnlocked", {
  badge: { name: "Badge Name", description: "Description" },
});

// Notify room
io.to(`event_${eventId}`).emit("eventUpdate", {
  type: "participants_updated",
  eventId,
  participants: [...],
});

Resources

• Full documentation: NOTIFICATION_SYSTEM.md
• Usage examples: frontend/src/examples/notificationExamples.js
• Tests: frontend/src/__tests__/context/NotificationProvider.test.js
• react-toastify docs: https://fkhadra.github.io/react-toastify/