Real case

GODOT Magazine: a theatre play finder that updates itself

Revista GODOT works finder: list of works with filters by actor, company and date.

Readers search for any play by actor, company or date. The magazine uploads nothing by hand: every play appears in the search tool without anyone having to load it.

Context

Client
Revista GODOT
Industry
Media

The challenge

Revista GODOT publishes on its website every play that opens on stage. It lists who performs in it, which company is staging it, its genre and its performance dates. The magazine wanted to give its readers a search tool covering the entire theatre listings, including plays that are no longer running, and the ability to search by any of those details.

There was one condition: it could not create extra work. The team would not maintain two websites or re-enter each play into a second tool.

What we built

A web application with a search tool for theatre plays. It includes plays currently on stage and those that have already closed. Users can search by actor, company, genre, date and any other detail of the play.

Nobody has to update it manually. When the team publishes or changes a play on the magazine’s website, all of its information appears in the search tool with no extra work. It holds up as more people use it, without changing servers. It was delivered in three weeks.

Results

  • 3 weeks from start to delivery

For technical readers: how it is built
1 2 3 4
How the system is built inside.
  1. The magazine publishes a show on its website.
  2. The show’s data is transferred automatically to the search database.
  3. When somebody searches, the search engine queries that database.
  4. The reader sees the result on the search website.

The application was built on managed AWS services. Each component has a specific role:

  • API Gateway receives the search requests and routes them to the application logic.
  • Lambda runs that logic, written in Node.js, only when there is a request: there are no servers sitting idle, waiting.
  • DynamoDB stores the plays and their attributes, and answers the searches.
  • S3 stores the application files, and CloudFront delivers them from locations close to the visitor.

With this foundation, the system grows with use without changing servers.

What it was built with and how long it took

  • AWS API Gateway
  • AWS Lambda
  • AWS S3
  • CloudFront
  • DynamoDB
  • Node.js

Duration: 3 weeks

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