Deploy a Simple React Web Application using AWS Amplify featuring chatGPT as the debugging guide
Find link to detailed tutorial here
If you had told me one month ago that I can build a full stack React application from start to finish by myself, I would have told you it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for me to accomplish that (maybe I’m being too dramatic here). I’m one person that loves to know how to do everything and at the same time, I’m smart enough to recognize that I cant be an expert at everything. Completing this project gave me an insight into the entire process of building a web app and of course made me respect Web app developers more.
The online documentation was quite helpful but I’m going to list out some of the issues I encountered. It was stated that this project will take 50 minutes to complete all things being equal but since all things can never be equal- including our fingers, I ended up spending 5 hours. Felt good to see that the projected time and actual time had 1 thing in common- the number 5 and I’m glad it didn’t get to 5 days.
Some things you should look out for:
1. Installing React- The first thing I needed to do was install React but for some reason, I didn’t find the install button on the React website so I went the longer route of installing Node.js first and was able to install React on it
2. Installing Amplify CLI- I successfully moved to Module 2 and it was time to install and configure Amplify CLI. I put in the installation command on my IDE terminal and it gave an error message that reads “cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system”. Rather than fix the permission issue on my IDE, I decided to try out the command on my CMD and it worked so I moved on with the project .
Now I was in Module 3 and everything was going fine until it was time to run the app locally (more like moment of truth). Tried creating an account to log in to the app and it kept giving an error message and an instruction to contact the administrator (I wish the app knew I was the administrator-now I had to be the patient and the doctor at the same time).
I decided to start all over from the scratch in order to retrace my footsteps. When I got to the point of installing the Amplify CLI, I went ahead to ask chatGPT how to fix the error message I was getting on my IDE and it gave the response below which I followed
This time, I made away with my CMD and performed all the command operations on my IDE and when I got to the moment of truth in Module 3, IT WORKED!!
So key mistake here was thinking it was a smart idea to run commands for the same project on different terminals
You can check out the final outcome here. Its a public note app so bear in mind that whatever note you add will be accessible to everyone.
In summary, if you follow the steps in the tutorial and have no ‘permission issues’ like me, you should be able to create a simple web app between 50 minutes to 5 hours and hopefully not 5 days
Disclaimer: This article describes my personal journey and recommendations made are merely suggestions.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, feedback or criticisms. Look forward to hearing from you
