Mini Project Report

Online Discussion Forum

By

Under the Guidance of

Submitted to the name of the Institute, IGNOU

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Computer Applications (MCA)

Indira Gandhi National Open University

Maidan Garhi

New Delhi – 110068

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICATED WORK

This is to certify that the project report entitled Online Discussion Forum submitted to Indira Gandhi National Open University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of MASTER OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS (MCA) is an original work carried out by Mr. Name of the Student, enrolment no. 000000000, under my guidance. The matter embodied in this project is authentic and is genuine work done by the student and has not been submitted whether to this University or to any other University / Institute for the fulfillment of the requirement of any course of study.

....................................... ............................................

Signature of the Student Signature of the Counselor

Date: …………………………. Date: …………………………

Name and Address Name, Designation

Of the Student and Address of the Counselor

ABSTRACT

Online Reminder is primarily meant for an individual who is interested in getting his reminders on various occasions to his email and is intended to enable the members of the system to add, view, delete reminders for various occasions using an online web-based interface through the system. In the process, the reminders set by user would be handled by the system itself. Through this way an email alert will be send by system to the users email address. By successfully implementing the Online Reminder, a substantial knowledge has been acquired regarding the implementation of a dynamic web based database system using open source technologies. This knowledge will be useful in the future in creating any type of e-commerce application or online database systems in the web.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my project guide, Mr. Name for his valuable guidance and advice.

Besides, I would like to thank the authority of the centre, IGNOU Study Centre for providing me with a good environment and facilities to complete this project.

Finally, an honorable mention goes to my family and friends for their understanding and support in completing this project, without which this endeavor could not have been successful.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 10

1.1 Background 10

1.2 Objective 10

1.3 Purpose, Scope and Applicability 10

1.3.1 Purpose 10

1.3.2 Scope 11

1.4 Achievements 11

1.5 Organization of Report 12

CHAPTER 2: SERVEY OF TECHNOLOGY 13

CHAPTER 3: REQUIREMENTS AND ANALYSIS 15

3.1 Problem Definition 15

3.2 Requirement Specification 16

Table of contents 16

3.3 Planning and Scheduling 51

3.3.1 GANTT Chart 51

3.3.2 PERT Chart 52

3.4 Software and Hardware Requirements 53

3.4.1 Hardware Requirements 53

3.4.2 Software Requirements 53

3.5 Preliminary Product Description 54

3.6 Conceptual Models 61

3.6.1 Module Specifications 61

3.6.2 Screen Views 61

3.6.3 Data Flow Diagrams 63

CHAPTER 4: SYSTEM DESIGN 70

4.1 Basic Modules 70

4.2 Data Design 70

4.2.1 Schema Design 70

4.2.2 Data Integrity and Constraints 71

4.3 Procedural Design 72

4.3.1 Logic Diagrams 72

4.4 User Interface Design 74

4.5 Security Issues 74

4.6 Test Cases Design 74

CHAPTER 5: IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING 78

5.1 Implementation Approaches 78

5.2 Coding Details and Code Efficiency 78

5.2.1 Coding 78

5.2.2 Code Efficiency 93

5.3 Testing Approach 93

5.3.1 Unit Testing 93

5.3.2 Integrated Testing 96

5.4 Modifications and Improvements 96

CHAPTER 6: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 97

6.1 Test Reports 97

6.2 User Documentation 98

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 101

7.1 Conclusion 101

7.2 Limitations of the System 101

7.3 Future scope of the Project 101

REFERENCES 102

GLOSSARY

1. INTRODUCTION

The Online Reminder is a Web Based Reminder which efficiently handles the reminders set by its users.

1.1 Background

Online Reminder is a Web Based Reminder, intended to enable the members of the system to set their reminders for example such as birthdays, Anniversaries, important days of the whole year, month. On that specific date, the system will send a reminder to the users email account on predefined date and inform the importance of that date.

1.2 Objective

The Online Reminder would provide a basic set of features to its users to add, view and delete reminders in electronic form.

1.3 Purpose and Scope

1.3.1 Purpose

Online Reminder would have the following goals.

Provide an online user interface to add, view, delete events in different categories such as birthdays, Anniversaries, important days of whole year, month.

Provide an online user interface to request for membership. Provide an online user interface to change user settings like password and

their profiles. Provide an online user interface for administrator to manage the accounts and

database. Enable the system to send email on the date set by its member to their email

account.

1.3.2 Scope

The main scope and deliverables of the project would be to:

Understand and prepare detailed requirement and specifications Prepare high level and detailed design specifications of the system Prepare Test Plan and Test cases Develop the system and coding Perform unit testing, integration and system testing Demonstrate a bug free application after suitable modification if needed.

1.4 Achievements

By successfully implementing Online Reminder, a substantial knowledge has been acquired on the implementation of a dynamic web based database system using open source technologies. This knowledge will be useful in the future in creating any type of e-commerce application or online database systems in the web.

The objective of Online Reminder was the creation of a Web Based Reminder for users which has been fulfilled. This system can be easily modified to serve the needs of any reminder.

1.5 Organization of Report

This report is organized in seven chapters, as indicated in the Table of Contents. These chapters deal with the important aspects of the Systems Development Cycle. Each of the chapters is divided into Headings and Sub-Headings. Chapter 1 introduces the project, its background and purpose. The technologies used in the project and the reason thereof are explained in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 broadly deals with the requirements, analysis and planning of the project. All the design aspects have been dealt with in Chapter 4 including schema design, interface design, security and test cases. The actual implementation has been discussed in Chapter 5, which includes coding and testing of the working of the system. Chapter 6 discusses the test reports and project documentation and finally the conclusions have been drawn in Chapter 7. At the end of the report, the references made and the glossary has been included.

2. SURVEY OF TECHNOLOGY

In a web based application like Online Reminder, there is a scope for a large number of platforms, languages, web servers and frameworks to choose from. Before selecting from this large array of technologies, the following aspects, which are characteristic to web based application like this one, have been kept in mind:

Dynamic page generation Data validation Performance Reliability Scalability Security Portability Performance Time constraint Cost constraint

The various technologies available for consideration are as follows:

Web Server : IIS

Backend Database : SQL Server

Server-side programming : ASP.net

Client-side programming : HTML, JavaScript, XML, VBScript

Apart from above, there is lot of other technologies available. However these were not taken into consideration keeping the time constraint view of project.

3. REQUIREMENTS AND ANALYSIS

3.1 Problem Definition

Online Reminder is conceived as a Web Based Reminder to adhere the reminder to its users. The users of such application can be anyone who is interested in having their reminders online on their email.

Using Online Reminder user can access the system through the internet or Intranet and can add, view, delete their reminder for birthdays, anniversaries etc for which the system will send a reminder to their email account. This is an alternative to a personal assistant. his will enable user to have the reminder right in their mailbox if they are very much nterested to be online every time.

3.2 Requirement Specification

The Online Reminder is a Web Based Reminder which efficiently handles the reminders

set by its users.

* Purpose

The Software Requirements Specification (SRS) is designed to express the behavioral, erformance, and development requirements of Online Reminder and serves as the undamental requirements document for the development of the product. The Software equirements Specification includes a description of every input into the system, every utput from the system and all functions performed by the system in response to input or in upport of an output. This SRS meets IEEE-830 standards [8] and is the exclusive equirements document to be used in development of Online Reminder by the developers f his Web Based Reminder System; all design and testing choices must be compatible with his document.

* Scope

The scope of the SRS identifies the magnitude of what Online Reminder will cover.

The Software Requirements Specification is intended for review by the client to ensure hat ll desired functional, performance and development Requirements have been stated in a ay such that they are:

Readable: minimizes misinterpretations by developers and testers by using clear, concise, unambiguous, and complete language.

Testable: will be used for strategies in Master Test Plan, Functional Test Plan, and other formal testing documents.

Modifiable: changes easily as requirements change, accommodates Requirements Traceability Matrix, and Change Management Policy.

Useable for Operations: will be used as a living document after project is completed for operations and maintenance. Maintenance projects use the SRS to obtain a greater understanding of the system when changes need to be made.

Traceable: works with the Requirements Traceability Matrix to ensure components, responsibilities, and test cases link to minimize impact for requirements change and localize defects.

Buildable: Specifications will be used by developers to write code. Documentable: will be used to write user manual and technical manual to help

train new staff.

* Product and its function

Online Reminder is a Web Based Reminder which enables efficient handling of the Reminder related entries made by its users. Online Reminder enables members of the system to add, view and update reminder events on for a particular date using an online web-based interface and to request for email on the day prior to an event to their email account. In the process, much of reminder entries will be handled by system itself minimizing the presence of a personal assistant for busy persons. The system also enables administrator to manage the uses through an online interface.

* Benefits and Goals

The successful implementation of Online Reminder would not only enable the users to fully computerize his reminders but will also enable its members to add, view, update his reminders over the internet or over intranet and request for email to their email account.

The goal is to develop a reliable, secure and easy-to-navigate web-based reminder system which would save time for the users.

* Overview

This SRS document is intended for the developers of the Online Reminder System and includes an overall description and specific requirements for the Online Reminder System. This document elaborates the product description, its functioning, intended users and assumptions made. The requirement part includes both the functional and non-functional requirements and also specifies interface requirements, user requirements, hardware and software requirements and logical database requirements. The SRS document also specifies the Input / Output formats, security specifications, results of fact finding, the data and functional models and process specifications. These include the Data Flow Diagrams, Entity- Relationship Diagrams and Data Dictionary for the Online Reminder System.

Overall Description

Product Description

Online Reminder is a Web Based Reminder and hence it will be require handling the job of the computerized reminder system along with some extensions which are necessary to make it function as a secure web based system. In this system, the members should be able to add, view, update, delete reminder after logging into the system and then request for mail to their email account. The system will keep track of all reminders for which email has to send or has been sent.

Product Functioning The Administrator of the system will be able to manage user. The members can log in to the system and they will be taken to their members

page which displays various functionality to add, view, update, delete reminders and change password. The members will be barred from the administrative roles.

The users will first register themselves with the system. A confirmation message will be displayed on the home page for successful completion of registration. In this way a unique id for the particular user has been assigned by system which will be used for various purposes in the system.

The user when he is a member can add, view, update and delete reminder events. While adding reminder a unique serial number for reminder event will be issued by the system and will be used to identify the id for mailing system, updating, deleting, and viewing. At the time of addition of the reminder the system sets its status as not sent.

The system will select the entire reminder at 11:59 PM for the next day, for which reminders are to be send. After successful sending of mail the system will set status to sent.

Functions in the Project

The Online Reminder System has the following functionalities.

Members Registration

The user registers them to use system resources by entering their details.

User Account Management

The administrators activate or deactivate account for administrative purposes.

User verification/authentication and logout

The user logs in with his/her username and password and is granted access to the system at their home page. A session tracking authentication is to be made for handling login and logout.

Reminders Management

The users/members after successful logging into the system will be able to add, view, update and delete reminders.

User Requirement

A careful study of the requirement of the end user, i.e. the reminder system revealed the following specific user requirements:

New user registration to the system Log in to the system Changing of Password and their personal setting Recovering of forgotten password Addition of new reminder in different categories Viewing of reminders Editing of old reminders Deleting of reminders

Administrative Requirement Maintaining the user’s record. Maintaining the Website Sending the email on required date automatically to remind user Addition of any new feature

Hardware Requirement

The server on which this project is to be installed may have the following minimum hardware requirements:

Intel Core2duo 2.2 GHz or more 1 GB RAM At least 500MB free space CD/DVD writer for backup purpose

Leased line internet access with a bandwidth of at least 2 Mbps since this system is to be on internet

The client side any low end computer with internet access facility can be used.

Software Requirement

The software platform on the server side may be as follows:

Microsoft SQL Server Relational Database Management System ASP.net server side scripting language IIS web server

Logical Database Requirement

The database of Online Reminder should have a master table containing the reminder details and another table containing the member’s details. A third table will be required to eliminate user from administrator privileges.

Keeping in view these requirements, the following data dictionary of the system is conceived:

Data Dictionary

Member = username +

Password +

Name +

Address +

Phone +

Email

Log = username +

Logtime

Service = username +

Category +

Rdate +

Msg +

Status

Admin = userid +

Name +

Password

Performance Requirements

Because Online Reminder is used via the web interface, from a user’s point of view it should be enough to have an internet access. However, as the software is placed on a network server, usage of the software should not cause too much resource consumption. This is especially a concern of the members section where users are likely to interact with database. We must note that defining the optimal consumption level is difficult, but whenever possible such alternatives should be considered that will decrease resource usage.

Design Constraints

User Interface Constraints

User Interface Constraints consists of 2 parts: the logical characteristics of each interface between the software product and its users and all the aspects of customizing (preferences) the interface with the person who is using the system.

The system’s Graphical User Interface (GUI) should adhere to Industry standards so that the GUI will look the same on a variety of web browsers such as Internet explorer, Firefox, Opera etc.

The System shall have a free flowing interface to promote usability. The system will utilize buttons to login, logout etc. The system will utilize the “column” based fields interface to

display information in tables.

The System will use Cascading style sheet to maintain uniformity in looks. It should take a user approximately 30 minutes to become

familiar with the features of the system.

Operational Constraints

Below is a list of restrictions on how the product will run when its environment.

The system must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.

The system shall allow all users to log in simultaneously. The system shall accommodate a minimum of 20 users daily. The system shall accommodate a minimum of 10000 users.

Hardware Constraints

Any hardware with specification equal to or higher than determined in Hardware Specifications may be used. There might be problems in operating the system with a lower specification.

Software Constraints

A W3C compliant web browser must be installed on the system (Internet

Explorer, Firefox, Opera etc). JavaScript must be enabled on the users web browser System must interface with MySQL Database

Software System Attributes

Security

As per Appendix A to the SRS

Reliability

The system must be reliable as it processes data that is important for its clients. The method discussed in security also improves reliability.

Maintainability

Because Online Reminder has been designed to be flexible, maintenance of the system should not require subsequent changes in the program code. It should be enough to change control information in webpage layout files.

Portability

As Online Reminder will work via Internet interface, it will work from various operating systems. Furthermore, as the web page creation is designed to be flexible, the system can be transferred to other environments.

Extensibility

The system can be easily extended, because the design is based on software components.

Reusability

The design based on software components this will increase also reusability, because software components may be utilized also for other purposes.

Serviceability

Because Online Reminder should be always available, the system should be quickly serviced whenever needed. Our recommendation is to implement a backup system that can replace the original system becomes unusable.

DATA FLOW DIAGRAM: LEVEL