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Ask Parliament app

This is a very basic start for the Ask Parliament app (formerly known as Right To Ask), intended to be used for testing the UI to gather user feedback.

Setup Instructions

On Mac or Windows, you'll need something to compile Xamarin: Visual Studio, VS Code, or JetBrains Rider. Both Android and iOS should work (the latter if you're compiling on a Mac), but UWP is not currently expected to work. You'll need the Xamarin.Essentials and Portable.Bouncycastle Nuget packages.

On Linux, follow @eleanor-em's Xamarin-on-Linux setup instructions.

Setting up the Right to Ask Server Files

The app expects an instance of the Right To Ask Server. This can run either remotely or (for development and testing) locally. If you don't use the server, the app will still load but will not have access to the data it needs about Parliamentary structures etc, and will not be able to establish an account or read or upload questions.

Check that the server is running by visiting http://localhost:8099 via your web browser. You should see a web page headed "Right To Ask API" and some html links.

We'll need 2 files from the Right To Ask server:

  • MPs.json
  • PublicServerKey

With the RightToAsk server running, you can get the MPs.json file from http://localhost:8099/MPs.json. (Or yourremoteUrl/MPs.json if you're running the server remotely.) Add it to the righttoask-app project's "Resources" folder (righttoask-app/RightToAskClient/RightToAskClient/RightToAskClient/Resources). In your IDE, under properties for that file, set the build action to be "Embedded Resource".

Next, configure the app's server setup:

  • Make a file called server.config in the Resources folder. It should have this form
{"remoteServerUse":true,
"url":"URL-of-your-remote-server-goes-here",
"remoteServerPublicKey":"remote-servers-base64-encoded-public-key-goes-here",
"localServerPublicKey":"local-servers-base64-encoded-public-key-goes-here"}

If you want to use a local server, set "remoteServerUse":false. It will then ignore the "url" field and default to localhost:8099.

  • The Right To Ask server's public key is printed on the command line when you run it. Alternatively, visit your server, (either localhost:8099 or the remote url) and under the "Info" section click on the 3rd link: "Get the server public key, base64 encoded 32 bytes ED25519".
  • Copy the key with the quotation marks into the server.config file, either remoteServerPublicKey or localServerPublicKey as appropriate.

You need either

  • a complete local config, with remoteServerUse set to false and a valid localServerPublicKey, or
  • a complete remote config, with remoteServerUse set to true, a valid remote url, and a valid remoteServerPublicKey.

Place server.config into the app's Resources folder (like "MPs.json") and set the build action to be "Embedded Resource".

Setting up Geoscape access

You need one file for Geoscape:

  • GeoscapeAPIKey

The app uses Geoscape's electorate-identifying service, which tells the user which electorates they live in when they enter their address. You may need a Geoscape API key - the Free account should suffice. (Geoscape's terms of service can change, and it is possible that this will work for free without an API key, but if it's not working for you, try getting one.)

Then, make a file in the Resources directory called GeoscapeAPIKey, copy your Geoscape API Key into the GeoscapeAPIKey file, without the quotation marks, and set the build action to "Embedded Resource".