Dress to Impress

Dress to Impress (DTI) is a tool for designing Neopets outfits. Load your pet, browse items, and see how they look together—all with a mobile-friendly interface!

Architecture Overview

DTI is a Rails application with a React-based outfit editor, backed by MySQL databases and a crowdsourced data collection system.

Core Components

• Rails backend (Ruby 3.4, Rails 8.0): Serves web pages, API endpoints, and manages data
• MySQL databases: Primary database (openneo_impress) + legacy auth database (openneo_id)
• React outfit editor: Embedded in app/javascript/wardrobe-2020/, provides the main customization UI
• Modeling system: Crowdsources pet/item appearance data by fetching from Neopets APIs when users load their pets

The Impress 2020 Complication

In 2020, we started a NextJS rewrite ("Impress 2020") to modernize the frontend. We've since consolidated back into Rails, but Impress 2020 still provides essential services:

• GraphQL API: Some outfit appearance data still loads via GraphQL (being migrated to Rails REST APIs)
• Image generation: Runs a headless browser to render outfit thumbnails and convert HTML5 assets to PNGs

See docs/impress-2020-dependencies.md for migration status.

Key Concepts

Customization Data Model

The core data model powers outfit rendering and item compatibility. See docs/customization-architecture.md for details.

Quick summary:

• body_id is the key compatibility constraint (not species or color directly)
• Items have different swf_assets (visual layers) for different bodies
• Restrictions are subtractive: start with all layers, hide some based on zone restrictions
• Data is crowdsourced through "modeling" (users loading pets to contribute appearance data)

Modeling (Crowdsourced Data)

DTI doesn't pre-populate item/pet data. Instead:

1. User loads a pet (via pet name lookup)
2. DTI fetches appearance data from Neopets APIs (legacy Flash/AMF protocol)
3. New SwfAsset records and relationships are created
4. Over time, the database learns which items fit which pet bodies

This "self-sustaining" approach means the site stays up-to-date as Neopets releases new content, without manual data entry.

Directory Map

Key Application Files

app/
├── controllers/
│   ├── outfits_controller.rb       # Outfit editor + CRUD
│   ├── items_controller.rb         # Item search, pages, and JSON APIs
│   ├── pets_controller.rb          # Pet loading (triggers modeling)
│   └── closet_hangers_controller.rb # User item lists ("closets")
│
├── models/
│   ├── item.rb                     # Items + compatibility prediction logic
│   ├── pet_type.rb                 # Species+Color combinations (has body_id)
│   ├── pet_state.rb                # Visual variants (pose/gender/mood)
│   ├── swf_asset.rb                # Visual layers (biology/object)
│   ├── outfit.rb                   # Saved outfits + rendering logic (visible_layers)
│   ├── alt_style.rb                # Alternative pet appearances (Nostalgic, etc.)
│   └── pet/
│       └── modeling_snapshot.rb    # Processes Neopets API data into models
│
├── services/
│   ├── neopets/
│   │   ├── custom_pets.rb          # Neopets AMF/Flash API client (pet data)
│   │   ├── nc_mall.rb              # NC Mall item scraping
│   │   └── neopass.rb              # NeoPass OAuth integration
│   ├── neopets_media_archive.rb    # Local mirror of images.neopets.com
│   └── lebron_nc_values.rb         # NC item trading values (external API)
│
├── javascript/
│   ├── wardrobe-2020/              # React outfit editor (extracted from Impress 2020)
│   │   ├── loaders/                # REST API calls (migrated from GraphQL)
│   │   ├── WardrobePage/           # Main editor UI
│   │   └── components/             # Shared React components
│   └── application.js              # Rails asset pipeline entrypoint
│
└── views/
    ├── outfits/
    │   └── edit.html.haml          # Outfit editor page (loads React app)
    ├── items/
    │   └── show.html.haml          # Item detail page
    └── closet_hangers/
        └── index.html.haml         # User closet/item lists

Configuration & Docs

config/
├── routes.rb                       # All Rails routes
├── database.yml                    # Multi-database setup (main + openneo_id)
└── environments/
    └── *.rb                        # Env-specific config (incl. impress_2020_origin)

Documentation:

• docs/customization-architecture.md - Deep dive into data model & rendering
• docs/impress-2020-dependencies.md - What still depends on Impress 2020 service

Tests:

• test/ - Test::Unit tests (privacy features)
• spec/ - RSpec tests (models, services, integrations)
  • Coverage is focused on key areas: modeling, prediction logic, external APIs
  • Not comprehensive, but thorough for critical behaviors

Tech Stack

• Backend: Ruby on Rails (Ruby 3.4, Rails 8.0)
• Frontend: Mix of Rails views (Turbo/HAML) and React (for outfit editor)
• Database: MySQL (two databases: openneo_impress, openneo_id)
• Styling: CSS, Sass (moving toward modern Rails conventions)
• External Integrations:
  • Neopets.com: Legacy Flash/AMF protocol for pet appearance data (modeling)
  • Neopets NC Mall: Web scraping for NC item availability/pricing
  • NeoPass: OAuth integration for Neopets account linking
  • Neopets Media Archive: Local filesystem mirror of images.neopets.com (never discards old files)
  • Lebron's NC Values: Third-party API for NC item trading values (lebron-values.netlify.app)
  • Impress 2020: GraphQL for some outfit data, image generation service (being phased out)

Development Notes

OpenNeo ID Database

The openneo_id database is a legacy from when authentication was a separate service ("OpenNeo ID") meant to unify auth across multiple OpenNeo projects. DTI was the only project that succeeded, so the apps were merged—but the database split remains for now.

Implications:

• Rails is configured for multi-database mode
• User auth models live in auth_user.rb and connect to openneo_id
• ⚠️ CRITICAL: Impress 2020 also directly accesses both openneo_impress and openneo_id databases via SQL
• Database migrations affecting these schemas must consider Impress 2020's direct access
• See docs/impress-2020-dependencies.md for full details on this dependency

Rails/React Hybrid

Most pages are traditional Rails views using Turbo for interactivity. The outfit editor (/outfits/new) is a full React app that:

• Loads into a #wardrobe-2020-root div
• Uses React Query for data fetching
• Calls both Rails REST APIs (in loaders/) and Impress 2020 GraphQL (being migrated)

The goal is to simplify this over time—either consolidate into Rails+Turbo, or commit fully to React. For now, we're in a hybrid state.

Deployment

• Main app: VPS running Rails (Puma, MySQL)
• Impress 2020: Separate VPS in same datacenter (NextJS, GraphQL, headless browser for images)
• Shared databases: Both services directly access the same MySQL databases over the network
  • openneo_impress - Main application data
  • openneo_id - Authentication data
  • ⚠️ Any database schema changes must be compatible with both services

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Project maintained by @matchu • OpenNeo.net