Unit 4 Overview

Unit 4 marks the start of your final project journey. In this unit, you will choose which project path to follow (Project A or Project B, as outlined in Canvas) and begin applying your web development skills to create a complete, working application. The purpose of this unit is to transition you from practicing individual concepts to building a cohesive project that demonstrates your understanding of the full development process.

Part 1 introduces the final set of required concepts you will need for your project, including flash messaging, account management, and refactoring for better organization. Once those are complete, Part 2 begins your ongoing development phase, where you will make steady progress on your project each week while exploring advanced topics and challenges designed to expand your skills in both breadth and depth. These experiences will help you grow as a software developer and prepare you for the expectations and problem-solving mindset of the industry.

Part 1

Complete the following in the specified order by the due dates listed in Canvas or before the end of the unit if no date is listed:

• Application Deployment
  Deploy your Express application to Render, a cloud platform that hosts web applications, and set up continuous deployment with GitHub.
• Flash Messaging
  Learn how flash messages in web applications use sessions to provide temporary feedback to users that remains available after redirects.
• Flash Messaging Implementation
  Implement flash messaging in your application to provide better user feedback after important actions such as form submissions.
• Advanced Form Validation
  Enhance the validation rules for your forms to ensure data quality, prevent common errors, and improve security with comprehensive validation rules.
• Access Controls and Accounts
  Understand the differences between authentication and authorization, explore various access control methods, and learn about role-based access control using relational databases.
• Account Management
  Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to manage user permissions based on assigned roles, enhancing security and functionality in your application.

Part 2

Complete the following in the specified order by the due dates listed in Canvas or before the end of the unit if no date is listed:

• Capstone Refactoring
  Refactor your application to follow professional organizational patterns, separating validation middleware and enhancing faculty pages with profile images.
• Capstone Code Review
  Review your teammates' practice projects and final project repositories to provide constructive feedback and reflect on your growth as a developer.