ALISS

ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) is a service to help you find help and support close to you when you need it most.

JS Plugin

Embed ALISS search features on your own site with the aliss.js plugin.

Links

• Production site: https://www.aliss.org
• Search API endpoint (v4): https://www.aliss.org/api/v4/services/search/
• API docs: http://docs.aliss.org
• API docs repo: https://github.com/aliss/Docs

How to install ALISS

Requirements

• Python 3
• pip3
• NPM (Node package manager)
• See requirements.txt for pip packages
• See package.json for node packages
• Elasticsearch >=6.1.3
• Postgres >= 9.0
• Heroku toolbelt (only if deploying to Heroku)

Install steps

1. Install requirements e.g. Python 3 https://www.python.org/downloads/.
2. Clone repository https://help.github.com/en/articles/cloning-a-repository.
3. If not installed download pip3 https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/.
4. Use pip3 to install the dependencies in requirements.txt on MacOS this can be achieved with pip3 install -r requirements.txt.
5. If not already installed download NPM https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm.
6. Install the npm packages using command npm i.
7. Run gulp to compile assets
8. Run migrations e.g. python3 manage.py migrate
9. Configure environment variables & seed data (see 'Configuring ALISS')

Configuring ALISS

To run the ALISS project it is necessary to setup the environment on your machine and import data. NB if you are using heroku / heroku toolbelt you may need to preface these commands with heroku local:run e.g. heroku local:run python3 manage.py shell.

1. Create a hidden file .env this will store necessary environment variables.
2. With the use of .env.example copy the contents and customise with the relevant information for your environment.
3. Ensure elasticsearch server is running systemctl start elasticsearch.service
4. Import the place name/postcode data with management command python3 manage.py loaddata aliss/data/postcodes/postcodes.json.zip.
5. Import geo-boundary data with management command python3 manage.py extract_geodata.
6. Create a super_user account for local admin privileges using command python3 manage.py createsuperuser inputting an email address and password as per the prompts.

Common Commands

Command	Description	Further Information
heroku local -i Procfile.dev	Start the local server for running the app at localhost:5000 in your browser.	https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/ref/django-admin/#runserver
heroku local:run python3 manage.py test	Run the automated tests	https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/topics/testing/
heroku local:run python3 manage.py shell	Run the Django shell	https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/ref/django-admin/#shell

Notes on data

Regarding boundaries and service areas see https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/geography-codes-and-labels