Learning Management System (LMS)

A full-featured web-based Learning Management System where students can discover, enroll in, and complete structured courses with video lessons, while teachers/admins create and manage course content. Includes secure authentication, payment processing for paid courses, real-time progress tracking, and comprehensive course search.

✨ Features

🎓 Student Features

• Browse and search all courses by title, description, or instructor
• Enroll in free courses instantly or paid courses with secure payment links
• Watch video lessons in proper 16:9 aspect ratio format
• Complete lessons and unlock the next lesson sequentially
• Track progress across all enrolled courses
• Reset forgotten passwords with secure email links (1-hour expiry)
• Responsive dashboard showing enrolled courses
• Password visibility toggle for secure credential entry

👨‍🏫 Teacher/Admin Features

• Create courses with title, description, instructor name, and custom thumbnails
• Manage course pricing (free or paid with custom price)
• Create ordered lessons with video embeds (YouTube, etc.)
• Edit course details including title, description, and thumbnail URL
• Delete courses and manage lesson order
• Track enrollments and completion rates
• View all courses and search functionality on dashboard
• Edit pricing and course metadata in real-time

🔐 Security & Authentication

• Student signup with email, username, and password validation
  • Email must be @gmail.com with proper format
  • Password minimum 10 characters with confirmation
• Admin signup with secret code ADMIN2026
• JWT-based stateless authentication
• Secure password reset flow with 1-hour expiring email links
• Rate-limited link generation (1 new link per hour per user)
• Logout functionality with token invalidation
• Role-based access control (student vs admin)

💳 Payment & Enrollment

• Paid course support with admin-configurable pricing
• Secure payment link generation and email delivery
• Payment links expire after 1 hour for security
• Only 1 active payment link per user per course per hour
• Automatic enrollment upon successful payment
• Free course instant enrollment

📧 Email Notifications

• Welcome email upon signup (student and admin)
• Course enrollment confirmation for paid courses
• Password reset email with secure token
• New lesson notification to enrolled students
• Payment receipt upon successful transaction

🔍 Search & Discovery

• Real-time course search across all courses
• Filter by title, description, or instructor name
• Available on public index page and student/admin dashboards
• Case-insensitive filtering with instant results

🧱 Tech Stack

• Backend: Python 3.10+, Flask 3.x, Flask-CORS
• Database: PostgreSQL (production), SQLite (local development)
• ORM: SQLAlchemy 2.0 with Flask-SQLAlchemy
• Authentication: JWT (PyJWT) with token expiry
• Email: SMTP with Jinja2 templating
• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, Vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
• Deployment: Vercel (serverless) with automatic schema migrations

📁 Project Structure

Learning_Management_System/
├── backend/
│   ├── app.py                    # Flask app initialization & schema migration
│   ├── database.py               # SQLAlchemy setup & DB URI handling
│   ├── models.py                 # ORM models (User, Course, Lesson, etc.)
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   └── api.py                # All API endpoints
│   └── services/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── auth_service.py       # JWT token generation & verification
│       └── email_service.py      # Email sending & template rendering
├── frontend/
│   ├── index.html                # Public course browsing
│   ├── login.html                # Login with password toggle
│   ├── signup.html               # Student signup with validation
│   ├── dashboard.html            # Student/Admin dashboard with search
│   ├── course.html               # Course details & enrollment
│   ├── lesson.html               # Video lesson player & completion
│   ├── profile.html              # User profile management
│   ├── forgot_password.html      # Password reset request
│   ├── reset_password.html       # New password entry
│   ├── forgot_password_mail.html # Email template for reset
│   ├── course_payment_mail.html  # Email template for payment link
│   └── welcome_*_mail.html       # Welcome email templates
├── static/
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── style.css             # Global styles with responsive design
│   ├── js/
│   │   └── app.js                # Utility functions & shared logic
│   └── img/
│       └── lms-logo.svg
├── database/
│   └── lms.db                    # SQLite database (local only)
├── requirements.txt              # Python dependencies
├── vercel.json                   # Vercel serverless config
└── README.md

🚀 Quick Start (Windows PowerShell)

1. Clone and enter project

git clone https://github.com/bikram73/Learning_Management_System.git
cd Learning_Management_System

2. Create and activate virtual environment

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

3. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set up environment variables

Copy-Item .env.example .env
# Edit .env and set:
# - SECRET_KEY (JWT signing key)
# - MAIL_HOST, MAIL_PORT, MAIL_USERNAME, MAIL_PASSWORD (SMTP)
# - MAIL_FROM, SUPPORT_EMAIL (email addresses)
# - DATABASE_URL (PostgreSQL connection in production)

5. Run the app

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe backend/app.py

6. Open in browser

• http://127.0.0.1:5000

🔐 Authentication & Signup

Student Signup

• Email must be @gmail.com format (validated client & server)
• Username required
• Password minimum 10 characters
• Password confirmation must match
• Endpoint: POST /api/signup/student

Admin Signup

• Requires secret admin code: ADMIN2026
• Same email/password requirements as students
• Endpoint: POST /api/signup/admin

Login

• Email and password
• Returns JWT token valid for 7 days
• Endpoint: POST /api/login

Password Reset

1. Click "Forgot Password?" on login page
2. Enter @gmail.com email address
3. Receive reset email with 1-hour expiring link
4. Set new password and auto-redirect to login
5. Reset links expire after 1 hour
6. Can only request 1 new link per hour (rate limited)

📚 Core API Endpoints

Authentication

• POST /api/signup/student - Student registration
• POST /api/signup/admin - Admin registration (requires ADMIN2026)
• POST /api/login - Login & get JWT token
• POST /api/logout - Invalidate session
• POST /api/forgot-password - Request password reset email
• GET /api/reset-password/<token> - Verify reset token & return user email
• POST /api/reset-password - Set new password

Courses

• GET /api/courses - List all courses (public)
• GET /api/course/<id> - Get course details
• POST /api/course - Create course (admin only)
• PUT /api/course/<id> - Update course (owner admin only)
• DELETE /api/course/<id> - Delete course (owner admin only)
• GET /api/my-courses - Get user's enrolled/created courses

Lessons

• GET /api/course/<course_id>/lessons - Get all lessons for course
• POST /api/lesson - Create lesson (owner admin only)
• PUT /api/lesson/<id> - Update lesson (owner admin only)
• DELETE /api/lesson/<id> - Delete lesson (owner admin only)

Enrollment & Progress

• POST /api/enroll - Enroll in course (student)
• GET /api/payment/<token> - Get payment link details
• POST /api/payment/<token> - Process payment
• POST /api/lesson/complete - Mark lesson as complete
• GET /api/course-progress/<course_id> - Get course completion progress

🖥️ UI Pages

Page	Route	Purpose
Home	/index.html	Browse all courses with search
Signup	/signup.html	Student/Admin registration
Login	/login.html	Authentication with password toggle
Dashboard	/dashboard.html	Student courses / Admin controls
Profile	/profile.html	User profile & settings
Course	/course.html?id=<id>	Course details & enrollment
Lesson	/lesson.html?id=<id>&course=<id>	Video lesson player
Forgot Password	/forgot_password.html	Password reset request
Reset Password	/reset_password.html?token=<token>	New password entry

💳 Paid Courses & Payments

Creating a Paid Course

1. Login as admin
2. Go to Dashboard > Admin Panel > Create Course
3. Select "Paid" for pricing type
4. Enter course price in USD
5. Courses automatically get thumbnail, title, and description

Enrolling in Paid Course

1. Click "Open Course" from course card
2. For paid courses, "Enroll" sends payment link to email
3. Click "Pay Now" button in email (valid for 1 hour)
4. Process payment
5. Automatic enrollment upon successful payment
6. If payment link expires, can request new one (1 per hour)

🎬 Lesson Video Format

• Videos are embedded in 16:9 aspect ratio containers
• Supports iframe embeds (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
• "Next Lesson" button appears after lesson completion
• Students must complete lesson to unlock next one
• Completion marked by clicking "Mark Complete" button

🧪 Example Admin Workflow

1. Signup: Go to /signup.html, select Admin, enter code ADMIN2026
2. Login: Use credentials from signup
3. Create Course: Dashboard > Admin Panel > Create Course
   • Title: "Python Basics"
   • Description: "Learn Python fundamentals"
   • Instructor: "John Doe"
   • Pricing: "Paid" with price "49.99"
   • Thumbnail: Paste image URL
4. Add Lessons: Click course, add lesson with video embed
5. Test Student Path: Logout, signup as student, enroll, complete lessons

🛠️ Troubleshooting

App does not start

# Ensure you're using the correct Python interpreter
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe backend/app.py

Module not found errors

# Reinstall dependencies
pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt

Database column missing error

The app automatically migrates schema when it starts. If you see "column X does not exist":

1. Ensure DATABASE_URL is correct
2. App will auto-create missing columns on next startup
3. No manual migration needed

SMTP email not sending

1. Check .env has correct MAIL_HOST, MAIL_USERNAME, MAIL_PASSWORD
2. Gmail requires "App Passwords" for SMTP (not regular password)
3. Verify MAIL_FROM address is authorized to send

JWT token expired

• Tokens valid for 7 days
• Reset links valid for 1 hour
• Payment links valid for 1 hour
• After expiry, user must login again or request new reset link

Required Vercel Environment Variables

SECRET_KEY=<random-secret>
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@host/dbname
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your-email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=<app-password>
MAIL_FROM=noreply@lms.com
SUPPORT_EMAIL=support@lms.com
CRON_SECRET=<random-secret>
APP_BASE_URL=https://your-vercel-domain.com

📝 Git Workflow

# Commit changes
git add .
git commit -m "feat: add course search functionality"

# Push to GitHub
git push -u origin main

🤝 Contributing

1. Create features on feature branches
2. Test locally before pushing
3. Update README for major features
4. Keep code DRY and maintainable

📄 License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.

If you already created a remote and get an error, verify remotes with:

git remote -v

📌 Future Improvements

• Quiz and assignments
• Certificates
• Discussion forums
• Analytics dashboard enhancements
• Better deployment pipeline (CI/CD)

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Built for learning and experimentation with full-stack web development.