MGB41/rwanda-ussd-app

# Rwanda USSD Application A USSD application for Rwanda that provides ticket buying and car marketplace services in both English and Kinyarwanda languages. ## Features - Bilingual support (English and Kinyarwanda) - Multi-level menu navigation - Bus, event, and flight ticket purchasing - Car marketplace for browsing and selling cars - MySQL database integration for data persistence ## Technical Stack - Node.js - Express.js - MySQL database - Africa's Talking USSD API - Hosted on Render ## Setup and Installation 1. Clone the repository: ```bash git clone github.com cd rwanda-ussd-app ``` 2. Install dependencies: ```bash npm install ``` 3. Create a `.env` file with the following variables: ``` PORT=3000 AFRICAS_TALKING_API_KEY=your_api_key_here AFRICAS_TALKING_USERNAME=your_username_here DB_HOST=localhost DB_USER=root DB_PASSWORD=your_password_here DB_NAME=rwanda_ussd ``` 4. Initialize the database: ```bash npm run init-db ``` 5. Start the application: ```bash npm start ``` ## Database Schema The application uses a MySQL database with the following tables: - `bus_tickets`: Stores bus ticket information - `event_tickets`: Stores event ticket information - `flight_tickets`: Stores flight ticket information - `cars`: Stores car listings information - `bookings`: Records ticket bookings - `users`: Stores user information ## Deployment to Render 1. Create a new Web Service on Render 2. Connect your GitHub repository 3. Use the following settings: - Build Command: `npm install && npm run init-db` - Start Command: `npm start` 4. Add the environment variables in the Render dashboard 5. Set up a MySQL database (you can use Render's database service or an external provider) ## Africa's Talking Configuration 1. Log in to your Africa's Talking account 2. Create a new USSD service 3. Set the callback URL to your Render deployment URL + `/ussd` (e.g., `your-app.onrender.com`) 4. Use the provided service code whe …