Update instructions in README and minor code refactor

Signed-off-by: Sachin S. Kamath <sskamath96@gmail.com>

README.md

@@ -3,10 +3,18 @@
 The web application for the Hodor Project
 
 ## Quickstart
+* Install postgresql database. The installation will depend on your operating system and distribution.
 * Clone the repo using `git clone https://git.amrita.edu/hodorsec/hodor-webapp`
 * Create a virtualenv (see below for instructions) and activate it.
 * After activating it, `pip install --user -r requirements.txt` to
 install dependencies.
+* To initialize the database, run the following:
+```bash
+python manage.py db init
+python manage.py db migrate
+```
+This will create a folder called `migrations` in the working environment. In most cases, you do not need to care about what's in there. 
+
 * `./runserver.py` to run the app.
 * Navigate to `http://127.0.0.1:8080` to watch it in action!
 

hodor/__init__.py

@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ db.init_app(application)
 application.config['SECRET_KEY'] = 'blehblehbleh'
 
 
-
-# Delay the application launch to get the user attention if running in testing mode
+# Delay the application launch to get the user attention if running in
+# testing mode
 '''
 if config_name != 'production':
     for x in range(0, 5):
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ if config_name != 'production':
 '''
 print(colored("\n\nRunning app in {} mode..".format(config_name), 'yellow'))
 
-# This disables the HTML API renderer for flask_api when called through browsers.
+# This disables the HTML API renderer for flask_api when called through
+# browsers.
 if config_name == 'production':
     application.config['DEFAULT_RENDERERS'] = [
         'flask.ext.api.renderers.JSONRenderer',

hodor/controllers/user.py

@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ from hodor.models.user import User
 from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError
 
 
-# Get all Users
+#########################################
+# Get all the user from the database    #
+#########################################
 @app.route('/users', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
 def get_all_users():
     # TODO: Authentication for calling this API endpoint. Admin only.
@@ -69,19 +71,19 @@ def check_for_existing_user():
     # If the username field is passed, checl the username field.
     if request.data.get('username'):
         check_username = str(request.data.get('username').strip())
-        user_checkuser = User.query.filter_by(username=check_username).first()
-        if user_checkuser:
+        user_check_user = User.query.filter_by(username=check_username).first()
+        if user_check_user:
             errors.append({
                 'field': 'username',
                 'error': '{} is taken'.format(check_username)
             })
-        del(user_checkuser)
+        del user_check_user
 
     # If the email field is set, check for duplicate email
     if request.data.get('email'):
         check_email = str(request.data.get('email').strip())
-        user_checkmail = User.query.filter_by(email=check_email).first()
-        if user_checkmail:
+        user_check_email = User.query.filter_by(email=check_email).first()
+        if user_check_email:
             errors.append({
                 'field': 'email',
                 'error': '{} exists in the database'.format(check_email)
@@ -96,8 +98,11 @@ def check_for_existing_user():
         )
 
 
+################################################
+# Handle Integrity Exceptions in API           #
+################################################
 @app.errorhandler(IntegrityError)
-def handle_sqlalchemy_assertion_error(err):
+def handle_sql_assertion_error(err):
     try:
         '''
         err.orig.args is from the DBAPIError class of SQLAlchemy. It usually

hodor/models/user.py

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from hodor import db
 from sqlalchemy import inspect
 from sqlalchemy_utils import PasswordType
 
+
 class User(db.Model):
     __tablename__ = 'users'
 

requirements.txt

@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ flask_api
 termcolor
 flask_sqlalchemy
 sqlalchemy_utils
+SQLAlchemy