I would like to know what should be a good option to implement a system like that:
The system will be use by teachers in a school. They can login and see a list of the pupils that they have in the current class/subject. In this list they could mark the pupils that are not attending the class, and some other options...
The system should also give the option to parents to justify the absences of their childs.
The secretary can access to print some reports related.
This is more or less the system I would like to create.
As you see, doesn't look so complex, but I would like to have an idea about the tools I should use.
As I said before, this is not HOMEWORK, so I hope the next answers take this in consideration.
I'm developing this real system, but I'm confuse about what to use. I was thinking in mysql and php. So I would like to know, even if looks so easy for you, the steps to follow or the different alternatives that I should consider.
UPDATE:
I'm talking with my tutor, and we will go to the company that provides services with the servers, so I can ask them what we need. So normally I thinks the best is to ask for a phpmyadmin (cos we already have sql server). Should I ask sth else that I will need or will make it easier?
Greets
I would use a web front end, with a database containing tables for Classes (which contains the teacher), a table for students, a table hanging off that with details of classes the student takes, and a table for absence details.
You can then set it up so that when a teacher accesses the system they can see the classes they teach, then they select a class it will show the students who take that class. Clicking on a student's name will take you to page where you can enter the absence.
It's a fairly simple set up, but I've developed something similar and it works very well.
By and large there are no tools for developing a certain kind of application. Tools are graded by complexity of application, choice of OS / platform and what programming languages you know.
So if you are a Windows kind of guy you might choose to use SQL Server Express, VB.Net and maybe Visio. Whereas if you're a FOSS fan then perhaps MySQL, PHP and Dia would suit you better. (Of course many FOSS products - including the three I mention - are available in versions which run in Windows, so it is not necessarily clear cut).
This is part of your internship? If so, you ought to use something which is compatible with what your employers use.
edit
Okay, so your internship is with a school, and they don't do much in the way of IT. In that case, if your skillz are mad enough I would suggest you go for the LAMP stack, as it is cheaper.
I would be careful about looking to roll this out to parents. That will elevate your application to a whole new world of concerns: unauthorised access to citizens' private data is a big deal right now, so this will land you with a lot of complexities you do not want to have to handle. Build an app for the teachers only. Get that working. Then if you have time on your hands look at deploying it to a wider audience.
A simple GUI and MySQL Backend should suffice.
Create a List of pupils, put 4 buttons next to each pupil (there, missing, excused, late) and just store it in a database for each class.
Report generation isn't that hard either, just execute the necessary selects (something like: select pupil_id, count(*) from class where state='missing') whenever someone clicks the reports->[...] menu items.
Of course it greatly depends on which other specs exist, but since this sounds like homework i think this should suffice.
OK, so you'll need access from multiple clients, so web based would be ok. You'll need persistent data that is rather primitive. So you might use almost any persistence solution. A RDBMS would be the most common choice, but CouchDB or other BigTable'ish implementations would also suffice.
Other than that you're free in your choice. Java, PHP, Ruby, C++ use whatever you like. Mysql, postgres, couchdb, xml flatfile are all valid choices for persistence.
Without more informations it's not possible to pinpoint a set of technologies ;-)
Related
My lab is doing a lot of sequencing, but the way the sequences are documented makes it difficult to retrieve them or keep track of the data. I would like to create a database that has following features:
-A Graphical user interface to allow one to upload/retrieve/view data, and can incorporate links to quickly BLAST or analyse the sequences with other online tools.
-allows one to access it in the command line
-that has another section on the GUI that has records of what's in the lab, what needs to be ordered etc.
I wanted to know if there are general database templates I can adopt and modify to suit my lab needs? I have no experience in database design but have read about mySQL.
What are the first steps I should take in embarking on this project?
Thank you!
This is an interesting question and problem domain (one I now have expierence with btw). Your first step is to decide on a general architecture and then select technologies for this.
For the web/graphical side, there are lots of off the shelf components (I assume you are aware of tools like AntiSMASH, JBrowse, etc). But you will need to evaluate these. That is way outside the scope of the db side however.
On the database side, PostgreSQL performs admirably here. I have worked on a heavily loaded 10+TB db which was specifically storing sequencing data, BLAST reports, and so forth. If you add stuff like PostBIS on top of that, you get something quite functional.
A lot of the heavier portions of the industry however are using Hadoop because of the fact that the quantity of data available is increasing very rapidly but the amount of expertise required to make that work is also appropriately higher.
I have recently complete Hartl's Rails tutorial, and have devised a little app that I would like to try to build out. I would like to understand whether I would need to learn, and integrate a separate database (such as PostgreSQL) to my Rails model in order to model the functions that involves matching users based on shared qualities with each other.
For example, if user a and user z both indicates that they like chinese food as well as like spicy meatballs, they would be "matched" with each other, where either users could initiate a "friendship request". However, if a were to like the food items described, but user b like spicy meatballs and like tapas, a and b would not be matched with each other (because they only like 1 thing in common.. or some other stupid matching logic :) ). Of course, the actual model may be slightly more complicated than this, where there may be other factors like "music" or "sport", in which a matching process would consider certain qualities superior, and weighs them more than others in a matching process.
My questions are -
Would Rails be sufficient to handle the slightly complex database described above, where users enter their info, and a "black box" model would then spit out matches? Are there any resources that I could look into to learn more about databases in Rails?
If not, which type of database would you recommend that I learn more about? Would PostgreSQL be a good candidate?
Thanks!
Edit -
For clarification, my question stems from the topic discussed in this part in the tutorial, where it noted about how working with Rails could enable one to "barely ever have to think about how Rails stores data". I was wondering if this would still be the case when the database would need to perform some type of work, such as matching, on its own.
Wow wow wow. Firstly rails isn't a db. Models are reflections of databases and a structured way to view records as instance variables.
So yes you need a db. Recommend you start yourself off with SQLite since its nice and small and data lives as a file within your app. Then upgrade MySQL later on (NB: this is generic advice without knowing what projects you might do next).
Resources:
I highly recommend Railscasts.com
Start with this one and work your way up:
http://railscasts.com/episodes/310-getting-started-with-rails
I need to implement yet another database website. Let's say roughly 5 tables, 25 columns, and (eventually) thousands to tens of thousands of rows. Easy data entry and maintenance are more important than presentation of the data to non-privileged users. It's a niche site, so performance is not a concern. We'll have no trouble finding somewhere to host it.
So: what's a good platform for this? Intituitively I feel that there ought to be some platform that allows this to be done with no code written - some web version of MS Access. Obviously I'm happy to code business rules, and special logic that distinguishes this from every other database app.
I've looked at Drupal (with Views) and it looks possible, but with quite a bit of effort. Will look at Al Fresco next. A CMS-y platform helps because then you can nicely integrate static content, you get nice styling, plugins, etc etc.
Really good data entry (tracking changes, logging, ability to roll back, mass imports...) would be great. If authorised users could do arbitrary SQL queries (yes, I know...) that would be a big bonus. Image management support a small bonus.
Django is what you are looking for. In fact, you could probably set up what you ask without much coding at all, just configuration.
Once complete, authorised users can add 'rows' with a nice but simple GUI, or, of course, you can batch import via database commands.
I'm a Python newbie, and I've already created 2 Django-based sites. I have created more than a dozen Drupal-based sites, and Django is easier and produces significantly faster sites.
Your need somewhat sits between two chairs : bespoke application and CMS-based. I'd advocate for the CMS approach, if and only if you feel the need for content structure customization will grow in the future, slowly removing the need for direct SQL queries.
I am biased since working with eZ Publish for many years now, but it satisfies the requirements you expressed natively :
Really good data entry (tracking changes, logging, ability to roll back, mass imports...)
[...] Image management support a small bonus.
An idea of the content edition feel can be watched here:
http://ez.no/Demos-Videos/eZ-Publish-Administration-Interface-Video-Tutorial
and you can download and test-drive eZ Publish Community Edition there : http://share.ez.no/latest
It is a PHP-based solution, strong professional community (http://share.ez.no), over 1100 add-ons available on http://projects.ez.no. The underlying libs are mostly relying on Apache Zeta Components, high-quality, robust set of PHP5 libraries.
Last note : the content model is abstracted, meaning you'd not have to create a new table everytime a new type of content should be stored : a simple content class definition from the administration interface, and the rest is taken care of, including the edition interface for the new content type. Might remove the need for hardcore SQL queries ?
Hope it helped,
Drupal can do most of what you need (I don't know of a module that will let you enter arbitrary SQL queries), but you will end up with some overhead of tables and modules you don't really need. It's up to you to decide if that's a problem or not. I don't think the overhead would hurt performance in your case.
The advantages of using Drupal would be the large community, the stability of the platform and the flexibility to add more functionality when needed. Also, the large user base ensures that most code has been tested rather well.
I highly recommend Drupal. It is very simple (also internally codebase is small and clean) it has dosens of possibilities and tremendous support. Once you start with Drupal you will never go to anything else.
Note that I'm not connected with Drupal staff, I've just created dosens of Drupas sites and many of them in just a minutes. My last one took me 2 hrs, see it here http://iPadDevZone.com
UPDATE #1:
It really depends on your DB schema complexity. The best case is that you just use CCK module (part of core now) and create your node type. Node is Drupal name for content. All you do is just web admin your node type fields (text, image, numbers, dates, custom, etc). Then, if user creates content with this node type he/she can enter all the fields which are stored in separate db table fields. This is however hidden for you - if you wish not to know about it - it is just a web gui. Then you choose how the node is presented, which properties as shown and where.
Watch videos in CCK resources section in the bottom of this page: http://drupal.org/project/cck
If you need to do some programming then it is also very easy to use so called PHP code sniplets which are entered as part of your content (node) and executed when the page is displayed.
Drupal has node revisions built in the core. You can see all the versions and roll back if you wish.
You can set the permissions in quite granular level so you can control what your users may or may not.
I would take a look at Symphony. I havn't been using it myself, but it seems like it's really easy to use and to customize!
http://symphony-cms.com/
Seems to me an online database system would be better than a CMS system.
So in addition to what's been posted above:
www.quickbase.com (by Intuit) - think around $150/mo
www.rollbase.com - check on price, full featured
www.rhythmdata.com - easy to set up, but don't think it's got the advanced features you're looking for.
Good luck!
B
I appreciate these answers, but most of them are really platforms that are much better at something else (eg, Drupal really is a CMS, and has some support for custom fields - but it's not at all easy). Since this is a brand new site from scratch, it doesn't really make sense to start with something that does custom database fields as an afterthought, I think.
The closest I've found is Zoho Creator. It really is like "MS Access for Web 2.0" - and even supports importing from Access. The pricing could get expensive though. It feels like it might eventually be quite constraining. I'm still evaluating.
Are there any other products like Zoho Creator?
At linkedin, when you visit someones profile you can see how you are connected to them. I believe that linkedin shows upto 3rd level connections if not more, something like
shabda -> Foo user, bar user, baz user -> Joel's connection -> Joel
How can I represent this in the database.
If I model as,
User
Id PK
Name Char
Connection
User1 FK
User2 FK
Then to find the network, three levels deep, I need to get all my connection, their connections, and their connections, and then see if the current user is there. This obviously would be very inefficient with DB of any size, and probably clunky to work with as well.
Since, on linked in I can see this network, on any profile I visit, I don't think this is precalculated either.
The other thing which comes to my mind is probably this is best not stored in a relational DB, but then what would be the best way to store and retrieve it?
My recommendation would be to use a graph database. There seems to be only one implementation currently available, and that's Neo4j. It's written in Java, but has bindings to Ruby and Scala (Python in progress).
If you don't know Java, you probably won't be able to find anything similar on any other platform (yet), unfortunately. However, if you do know Java (or are at least willing to learn), it's way worth it. (Technically you don't even need to learn Java because of the Ruby/Python bindings.) Neo4j was built for exactly what you're trying to do. You'd go through a ton of trouble trying to implement this in a relational database, when you'd be able to do the exact same thing in only a few lines of Java code, and also much more efficiently.
If that's not an option, I'd still recommend looking at other database types such as object databases. Relational databases weren't built for this kind of thing, and you'd go through more pain by trying to do it in an RDBMS than by switching to a different kind of database and learning it.
I don't see why there's anything wrong with using a relational database for this. The tables defined in the question are an excellent start. With proper optimization you'll be able to keep your performance well in hand. I personally think you would need something serious to justify shifting away from such a versatile mainstream product. You'll probably need an RBDMS in the project anyway and there are an unmatchable amount of legitimate choices in many price ranges (even free). You'll get quality documentation, support will be available, and you'll have a large supply of highly trained developers available in the job pool.
Regarding this model of self-relationships (users joined to other users), I recommend looking into recursive queries. That will keep you from performing a cascade of individual queries to find 3 levels of relationships. Consider the following SQL Server method for performing recursive queries with CTEs.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186243.aspx
It allows you to specify how deep you want to go with the MAXRECURSION hint.
Next, you need to start thinking of ways to optimize. That starts with standard best-practices for setting up your tables with proper indexes and maintenance, etc. It inevitably ends with denormalization. That's one of those things you only do once you've already tried everything else, but if you know what you're doing and use good practices then your performance gain will be significant. There are many resources on the internet to help you learn about denormalization, just look it up.
The form that currently loads during when our beta WinForm application starts up is one that shows a vast array of buttons... "Inventory", "Customers", "Reports", etc. Nothing too exciting.
I usually begin UI by looking at similar software products to see how they get done, but as this is a corporate application, I really can't go downloading other corporate applications.
I'd love to give this form a bit of polish but I'm not really sure where to start. Any suggestions?
EDIT: I am trying to come up with multiple options to present to users, however, I'm drawing blanks as well. I can find a ton of design ideas for the web, but there really doesn't seem to be much for Windows form design.
I have found that given no option, users will have a hard time to say what they want. Once given an option, it's usually easier for them to find things to change. I would suggest making some paper sketches of potential user interfaces for you application. Then sit down with a few users and discuss around them. I would imagine that you would get more concrete ideas from the users that way.
Update
Just a couple of thoughts that may (or may not) help you get forward:
Don't get too hung up on the application being "corporate". Many coprorate applications that I have seen look so boring that I feel sorry for the users that need to see them for a good share of their day.
Look at your own favourite UI's and ask yourself why you like them.
While not getting stuck in the "corporate template", also do not get too creative; the users collected experience comes from other applications and it may be good if they can guess how things work without training.
Don't forget to take in inspiration from web sites that you find appealing and easy to use.
Try to find a logical "flow"; visualize things having the same conceptual functionality in a consistent way; this also helps the user do successful "guesswork".
You might look to other applications that your users are familiar with. Outlook is ubiquitous in my company, and we were able to map our application to its interface relatively easily, so we used that application as a model when developing our UI.
Note that I'm not suggesting Outlook specifically to you, just that you look for UIs that would make your users' learning curve shallower.
The problem here is that you need some good user analysis and I'm guessing you've only done functional analysis.
Because your problem is so abstract, it's hard to give one good example of what you need to do. I'd go to usability.gov and check out the usability methods link, especially card sorting and contextual interviews.
Basically you want to do two things:
1- Discover where your users think how information is grouped on the page: This will help flesh out your functional requirements too. Once you've got information all grouped up, you've basically got your navigation metaphor set up. Also, you can continually do card sorting exercises right down to page and function levels - e.g. you do one card sorting session to understand user needs, then you take one group of cards and ask users to break that down into ranks of importance. Doing so will help you understand what needs to be in dominate areas of the screen and what can be hidden.
2- Understand what tools they already use: what they do and don't like about them. You need to get a list of tools/applications that they use externally and internally. Internally is probably the most important because there is a fair chance that most people in your business will share an experience of using it. External tools however might help give you context into how your users think.
Also, don't be afraid to get pencil and paper and sketch up ideas with users. People generally understand that sketches are a quick and useful way to help with early design work and you can get an immense amount of information out of them with just simple sketches. Yes, even do this if you suck at sketching - chances are it won't matter. In fact, crappy sketches could even work in your favour because then nobody is going to argue if buttons should be blue, red or whatever.
Frankly, a form with a “vast array of buttons” needs more than a little polish. A form dedicated solely to navigation generally means you’re giving your users unnecessary work. Provide a pulldown or sidebar menu on each form for navigating to any form.
The work area of your starting form should provide users with something to actually accomplish their tasks. Among the options are:
A “dashboard” main form, showing summarized information about the users’ work (e.g., list of accounts to review and status of each, number of orders at each stage of processing, To Do schedule). Ideally, users should be able to perform their most common tasks directly in the opening form (e.g., mark each account as “approved” or not). If further information is necessary to complete a task, links navigate to detailed forms filled with the proper query results. At the very least users should be able to assess the status of their work without going any further. Note that different groups of users may need different things on their respective dashboards.
Default form or forms. Users of a corporate application typically have specific assignments, often involving only one to three of all your forms. Users who work with Inventory, for example, may almost never need to look at Customer records, and vice versa. Users also often work on a specific subset of records. Each sales rep, for example may be assigned a small portion of the total number of customers in the database. Divide your users into groups based on the forms and records they usually use. For each user group, start the app by automatically opening the user group’s form(s) populated with the query results of their records. Users should be able to complete most of their work without any further navigation or querying.
If all else fails, open the app to whatever forms and content were last open when the user quit the app. Many corporate users will continue to work tomorrow on the same or similar stuff they’re working on today.
Analyze the tasks of your users to determine which of the above options to use. It is generally not productive to describe each option to the users and ask which they like better.
BTW, “Reports” is probably not a particularly good navigation option. It’s better if you consistently identify things primarily by what they show, rather than how they show it. Users may not know that the information they want to see is in a “report” rather than a form, but they’ll know what content they want to see. Reports on inventory are accessed under Inventory; reports about sales are accessed under Sales.
Have you tried asking your end users what they would like? After all they are the ones that are going to be using the system.
I use components from the company DevExpress. They have some really cool controls (such as the Office 2007 ribbon), form skinning utilities (with a vast amount of different skins), and a load more...
If you want to check it out they have 60 free components - if its corporate though you might have to check the licence but you can get it at... DevExpress 60 Free
I suggest starting with the design principles suggested by Microsoft: Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines
Some places to get ideas for interaction designs:
Books
About Face 3 - The Essentials of Interaction Design
Don't Make Me Think (this is focused on web design, but many of the principles carry over to Windows design)
Web Sites
Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines
In addition, many applications have free trial versions that you can download to determine how they handle user interaction. Also, don't discount items on your desktop right now.
Do you have any statistics or insights concerning what the most commonly-used or important functions might be? If so, you could use that to pare down your "vast array of buttons" and highlight only those that are most important.
That's sort of a trivial example, but the underlying point is that your understanding of your audience should inform your design, at least from a functional perspective. You might have past usage statistics, or user stories, or documented workflows, or whatever - even if you're drawing a blank right now, remember that you have to know something about your users, otherwise you wouldn't be able to write software for them.
Building on what they already know can make it easy on your users. Do they live in Outlook? Then you might want to mimic that (as Michael Petrotta suggested). Do they typically do the same thing (within a given role) every time they use the app? Then look for a simple, streamlined interface. Are they power users? Then they'll likely want to be able to tweak and customize the interface. Maybe you even have different menu forms for different user roles.
At this stage, I wouldn't worry about getting it right; just relax and put something out there. It almost doesn't matter what you design, because if you have engaged users and you give them the option, they're going to want to change something (everything?) anyway. ;-)