INSTALLING THE REQUIRED SOFTWARE

Installing XAMPP

Our XAMPP tutorial will take you through the installation process for the software package on Windows.

Step 1: Download
XAMPP is a release made available by the non-profit project Apache Friends. Versions with PHP 5.5, 5.6,
or 7 are available for download on the Apache Friends website.

Step 2: Run .exe file

Once the software bundle has been downloaded, you can start the installation by double clicking on the
file with the ending .exe.

Step 3: Deactivate any antivirus software

Since an active antivirus program can negatively affect the installation process, it’s recommended to
temporarily pause any antivirus software until all XAMPP components have successfully been installed.

Before installing XAMPP, it is advisable to disable the anti-virus program temporarily

Step 4: Deactivate UAC

User Account Control (UAC) can interfere with the XAMPP installation because it limits writing access to
the C: drive, so we recommend you deactivate this too for the duration of the installation process. To find
out how to turn off your UAC, head to the Microsoft Windows support pages.
User account control can affect the installation of XAMPP

Step 5: Start the setup wizard

After you’ve opened the .exe file (after deactivating your antivirus program(s) and taken note of the User
Account Control, the start screen of the XAMPP setup wizard should appear automatically. Click on ‘Next’
to configure the installation settings.

You can start the setup on the startup screen

Step 6: Choose software components
Under ‘Select Components’, you have the option to exclude individual components of the XAMPP
software bundle from the installation. But for a full local test server, we recommend you install using the
standard setup and all available components. After making your choice, click ‘Next’.

In the
dialog window entitled 'select components', you can choose the software components before installation

Step 7: Choose the installation directory

In this next step, you have the chance to choose where you’d like the XAMPP software packet to be
installed. If you opt for the standard setup, then a folder with the name XAMPP will be created under C:\
for you. After you’ve chosen a location, click ‘Next’.
For the next step, you need to select the directory where XAMPP should be installed

Step 8: Start the installation process

Once all the aforementioned preferences have been decided, click to start the installation. The setup
wizard will unpack and install the selected components and save them to the designated directory. This
process can take several minutes in total. You can follow the progress of this installation by keeping an
eye on the green loading bar in the middle of the screen.
 According
to the default settings, the selected software components are unpacked and installed in the target folder

Step 9: Windows Firewall blocking

Your Firewall may interrupt the installation process to block the some components of the XAMPP. Use the
corresponding check box to enable communication between the Apache server and your private network
or work network. Remember that making your XAMPP server available for public networks isn’t
recommended. 

Step 10: Complete installation

Once all the components are unpacked and installed, you can close the setup wizard by clicking on
‘Finish’. Click to tick the corresponding check box and open the XAMPP Control Panel once the
installation process is finished.
By clicking on 'finish', the XAMPP Setup Wizard is completed.

Installing NodeJS

1. Download nodeJS installer file from NodeJS website, nodejs.org

2. Run the installer (the .msi file you downloaded in the previous step.)
3. Follow the prompts in the installer (Accept the license agreement, click the NEXT button a
bunch of times and accept the default installation settings).

4. Restart your computer. You won’t be able to run Node.js until you restart your computer.

Make sure you have Node and NPM installed by running simple commands to see what version of each is
installed:

 Test Node. To see if Node is installed, open the Windows Command Prompt, Powershell or a
similar command line tool, and type  node -v . This should print the version number so you’ll see
something like this  v0.10.35 .
 Test NPM. To see if NPM is installed, type  npm -v  in Terminal. This should print the version
number so you’ll see something like this  1.4.28
 Create a test file and run it. A simple way to test that node.js works is to create a simple
JavaScript file: name it hello.js, and just add the code  console.log('Node is installed!'); . To run the
code simply open your command line program, navigate to the folder where you save the file and
type  node hello.js . This will start Node.js and run the code in the  hello.js  file. You should see the
output  Node is installed! .
Setting up Application Files

a. Extract the contents of htdocs.zip to C:/xampp/htdocs

The htdocs folder must contain these folders

b. Setup MySQL Database

a. To setup mysql database, go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin

b. Click new and enter a database name

c. Click the ‘Create’ button to create the database.

c. Setup software to connect to Database

a. Go to C:/xampp/htdocs/gate-backend directory.
b. Edit the .env file using any text editor. Fill out the information needed
such as DB_HOST, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD. If you
are using xampp with default settings, the username will be “root” and the password is
blank.

c. Now open command prompt and type this command “cd

C:/xampp/htdocs/gaste-backend” then hit Enter key.

d. Next run this command “php artisan config:cache”

 e. Then the next command will be “php artisan migrate –seed”. This will
migrate the database schema and seed it with initial data.

d. Setup Websocket server

a. To setup the socket server simply open a new command prompt window
and type
cd “C:/xampp/htdocs/websockets”.

b. Then run it using the command “node server.js”

5. Setup RFID proxy server

a. To setup the rfid proxy simply open a new command prompt window and
type
cd “C:/xampp/htdocs/RFID-JS”.
 b. Then run is using the command “node app.js COM8”
COM8 is the serial communication port where the USB of the RFID scanner is
plugged. You can check the port assignment in device manager. Under Ports you
should see a device with name “USB Serial 2.0” at the right side of this you can see
which COM port it is using.

6. Accessing the system

a. You can use this link to access the test server admin panel
http://locahost/gate-backend/public/index.php

b. Click this link to open the face recognition screen

http://locahost/gate-backend/public/index.php/gate-access