Database based website - need ideas

ShoulderChip

Hello,
I hope this is the right forum.
I have just been giving a Final Year Project of creating a database for a real company and setting up a website to interact with this database.
It is worth 20% of my degree, I do not want to name the company but it is basically an event registration database so It will require something like event tables, venue tables, participants etc.

Last year in college I did something similar to this for a ficticious company,
we did this using MySQL to create the database, and then I made the website using dreamweaver.

I do not have great knowledge of these but just about managed to get it working,

I was just wondering if you could tell me is this the best way of undertaking such a project, or do newer alternatives exist?

I am looking for a way to differentiate my project basically and would be interested in any ideas either on how to do it, how to make it look better, or how to make it work better,
sorry if i am being vague, but I am meeting with the client company next week and would love some ideas.

www.richenda.ie is the best example of a website I can make.

mneylon

It's late at night, so maybe I'm a bit tired, but I don't understand what you are asking.

Are you asking if MySQL is suitable? Or something else?

ShoulderChip

yeah i am asking if the best way of making this would be to use MySQL and dreamweaver?

louie

PHP & MySQL should be your solution...

ron_darrell

Easiest way would be Dreamweaver and a DBS (MySQL for example), better way would be as suggested PHP & MySQL. But seeing as this is an FYP, and the whole world seems to have gone mad for .Net I'd suggest writing it in C# with MS-SQL Server. If you don't yet know this language (C#) all the better for an FYP because it will demonstrate independent learning. And when it comes time after the degree to go looking for a job you can show experience in a language very much in demand. Perhaps, it might be an idea to discuss this with your FYP supervisor?

RD

p

What language do you use. Is it PHP? If so, then using a web app framework like Code Igniter might be a good way to stand out from the crowd, but only if you're experienced with PHP.

If you haven't much experience, then just focus on doing what you know, and doing it well. You could try integrating things like adding location info though the Google Maps API if you've time once you've the main thing done.

ShoulderChip

louie wrote: »

PHP & MySQL should be your solution...

I never came across PHP before, could it be used to replace dreamweaver?
what are its advantages?

ron_darrell wrote: »

Easiest way would be Dreamweaver and a DBS (MySQL for example), better way would be as suggested PHP & MySQL. But seeing as this is an FYP, and the whole world seems to have gone mad for .Net I'd suggest writing it in C# with MS-SQL Server. If you don't yet know this language (C#) all the better for an FYP because it will demonstrate independent learning. And when it comes time after the degree to go looking for a job you can show experience in a language very much in demand. Perhaps, it might be an idea to discuss this with your FYP supervisor?

RD

i did two modules in C++ but don't see exactly how i can use it?
is it possible to write a website in C++

p wrote: »

What language do you use. Is it PHP? If so, then using a web app framework like Code Igniter might be a good way to stand out from the crowd, but only if you're experienced with PHP.

If you haven't much experience, then just focus on doing what you know, and doing it well. You could try integrating things like adding location info though the Google Maps API if you've time once you've the main thing done.

Wow that sounds like an excellent idea, would it be possible to feed google maps data from a venue table and display it on screen?

thanks for all your help.

mneylon

ShoulderChip wrote: »

I never came across PHP before, could it be used to replace dreamweaver?
what are its advantages?

Dreamweaver is editing software
Php is a programming language

donnaille

ShoulderChip wrote: »

I never came across PHP before, could it be used to replace dreamweaver?
what are its advantages?




i did two modules in C++ but don't see exactly how i can use it?
is it possible to write a website in C++



Wow that sounds like an excellent idea, would it be possible to feed google maps data from a venue table and display it on screen?

thanks for all your help.

Firstly Dreamweaver is just a development environment similar to the way Visual Studio can be the development environment used for C#. You would be able to code in PHP in Dreamweaver but there is better programs out there that will help with highlighting invalid syntax etc.

You said you developed a site before with DB connectivity in Dreamweaver this means you must have used some server side language before such as PHP as it would not be possible to interract with the database otherwise, can you remember what you used?

samhail

i expect your course is something based with actually designing the site and database... so going up to something like http://php.resourceindex.com/ and using a premade script wouldnt be good.
(if you were doing a business type course and just wanted the marketing side of it)

ShoulderChip

donnaille wrote: »

Firstly Dreamweaver is just a development environment similar to the way Visual Studio can be the development environment used for C#. You would be able to code in PHP in Dreamweaver but there is better programs out there that will help with highlighting invalid syntax etc.

You said you developed a site before with DB connectivity in Dreamweaver this means you must have used some server side language before such as PHP as it would not be possible to interract with the database otherwise, can you remember what you used?

Actually we did use php in dreamweaver but we were never told exactly what they stood for, we interacted with the database using dreamweaver commands, insert record, and recordset etc.

Sully

I have the same project, but not for my final year project. Just a CA project for a Databases subject. Need at least 5 tables, can use any language for frotend. Thinking of doing an online shop, which will have a system to manage the database (well, in terms of adding, editing, removing data) and login system for authentication.

Marking is not much for front end but use of SQL language, tables, and the general use (can you fully manage it).

So will be using HTML, PHP and MySQL (could use Oracle, which our notes are based on for this subject but I have better access to a MySQL DB). Wont be using an editor like Frontpage or Dreamweaver as I think they are a pain - will be using something like Notepad++ or EditPad Pro as its good to see syntax and a better way to find if what I am coding. Hosting with something like phpMyAdmin is handy when it comes to adding tables etc. to the database.

ShoulderChip

A lot of my marks are going for non technical areas i think such as, relationship with client company, reports done throughout the year,presentations, whether the company finds it useful and implements it, as well as producing user manuals etc for it,

other final year projects included research and survey based projects, or the construction of statistical or porbability models so it is very broad,

I am looking to differentiate by style or content or innovation over having it purely coded to perfection.

can anyone offer an insight into the idea of using google maps to link with venues would that be possible?

Sully

ShoulderChip wrote: »

A lot of my marks are going for non technical areas i think such as, relationship with client company, reports done throughout the year,presentations, whether the company finds it useful and implements it, as well as producing user manuals etc for it,

Relationships between tables in databases would be good for marks, as well as the overall structure - keys, lengths, data type, constraints etc.

can anyone offer an insight into the idea of using google maps to link with venues would that be possible?

It is possible, its been done plenty of times. Not 100% sure of the top of my head how though, would require a bit of research

none

I don't know what kind of complexity is expected from your project but if the conceptual level is more important that performance and scalability, you could use something as simple as MS Access for the backend. For prototyping it's still one of the best solutions despite a poor SQL support. The frontend would be pretty quick to implement in Java (Servlets/JSP). If you go with Java you can still use Access as a backend or, if you don't need too much Entity-Relationship overhead, as a simple solution as Serialization. If you do need a proper SQL backend, your MySQL might be the best option even though I don't know it much. The frontend can also be relatively easily done in ASP (classic).

Darragh29

louie wrote: »

PHP & MySQL should be your solution...

I took up ASP.NET recently OP and to be honest if you want to get a result without taking months to get to grips with a new framework, you'd be better sticking with what you have if you are any way proficient with PHP and MySQl... I'm not saying there is anything wrong with ASP.NET, but if you are going to go at it from scratch as I have, there is obviously a learning curve and if you are starting a FYP, you probably don't have 6 months to a year to take on a new framework and the inevitable/frustrating learning experiences that will come with it...

TinCool

I'm a full time developer and when it comes to your traditional data driven inhouse websites, I develop in ASP .NET/VB Code for frontend and SQL Server for the backend database.

You should take a look at Microsoft's Express Edition Products as they're free to download. Visual Web Developer Express 2008 and MSSQL 2008 Express. Both can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/express/. It has everything you need. It is fairly easy to set up connectivity from frontend to backend with VWD and SQL as in it's simplest form you can get up and running by simply dragging and dropping objects like gridviews, dropdown lists etc etc. To get in to the nitty gritty of coding you'd need to be proficient in VB or C# however. Check out out any way.

My two cents.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Ruby on Rails - if a lot of what you are doing is simple CRUD then it seems to be what all the kool kids are using these days.
Given that this is an FYP the simplest solution may not necessarily be the one you want to go for.

pauldiv

Just focusing too much on the technology can be a handicap.

You are worrying about whether Google Maps can be integrated into your front end. Dont be because it is easy to put these gadgets on a page.

You could worry about that later on in the project, and anyway you might not want to use them after you consider that lots of people in Ireland are still on slow dial up connections.

Like you said above there is a lot of other skills needed to make the company happy with your work.

At this stage you could try to get a clear idea of what you are going to do in your project and the way to do that is to talk to the company and involve them at each stage of the project. Comminication skills are are as important as technical skills and probably more so.

If you dont know what the customer wants then all the technologies out there are not worth a dime to you or them. You need to start with a clear goal in mind.

Treat them like colleagues and get involved in what they do.
They should be impressed if you were to sit down with them and discuss everything they do using friendly dialogue, flip charts, slideshows etc.

In the old days this was called "fag packet engineering" and it works well.

They might not be techies and you will need to talk to them in language they understand. This ought to get you more marks because it would demonstrate your communication and planning skills.

It is obvious that you are still only learning and they will compensate for that as long as you act professionally and take a genuine interest in them.

A very well thought out project can score well even if the implementation is not perfect. If you have excellent documentation and records of each meeting you have had with the company then it says a lot about you.

This will also protect you from being railroaded by academics into choosing a particular technology. The argument about using a new programming language to get a good project score is a tired old chestnut.

You might feel even more handicapped because of the effort spent learning the new technology rather than produce something that is polished and very useful.

You already know something about Dreamweaver and MySQL so why not build on what you already know? I think Sully gave sound advice about the tools to use and you could start with them when you are ready to.

ShoulderChip

pauldiv wrote: »

Just focusing too much on the technology can be a handicap.

That was all excellent advice, thank you very much.

The company do not have a SQL database set up so I will need to make a new one for them,
last year in school we were just given accounts so I am not sure what the stroy here is.
Do open source sql databases exist or will the company have to buy one?
if so where do I look? and how mcuh will it cost?



///
It went very well when i met with the company, they are very interested in getting this working as there current solution is one huge excel file.

ShoulderChip

Hold on would the advanced hosting package here work?
http://hosting.digiweb.ie/

none

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Hold on would the advanced hosting package here work?
http://hosting.digiweb.ie/

Before buying hosting, you must be sure about the technologies as you'll have to choose between Windows and Unix hosting and very few things actually work equally well on both.
With regard to buying the hosting itself, Digiweb is not the cheapest option but other names are forbidden here so do your own research

aidan_walsh

All names are equally forbidden, please read the charter.