Document Vending Application: Multi-Tier Java Implementation Project

This document presents the design and implementation of a document vending application using Java. The project focuses on a client-server architecture with a multi-tier model. The application is designed as a Java applet, leveraging the platform independence of the Java Programming Language (WORA principle) to be accessible across various platforms. The system allows users to search for documents, store them in a cache, and remove them. Access to documents is granted upon payment completion. The project incorporates the Offline Database Construction (ODC) method for document retrieval and compression techniques to enhance efficiency. It also provides a literature review, related work, and discusses the advantages of the chosen architecture. The server side is designed to have minimal computational load. The project aims to create an interactive and efficient document vending system, providing a robust alternative to web-based systems, especially in areas with limited network connectivity. The document is designed to be a Java application, ready to be downloaded and can either work as an independent mobile application or a Java applet application. The application will consist of a client/server model built with the multi-tier architecture.

Running head: DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION
1
Design and Implementation of the Document Vending Application
Name of Student
University Affiliation

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 2
1. Introduction
Technology is increasingly being used as an alternative way of sharing documents for
information sharing. Many organizations including media companies, institutional libraries,
journal databases and other similar organizations have shifted their focus to tap into the growing
online demand for vending documents. To develop a successful document vending system,
however, a careful design of an Architecture of Multi-Tiered model is necessary. While most of
the existing models provide an equally useful platform for the execution of the technology,
implementation of the model in the powerful Java Programming Language provides developers
with an entry opportunity to tap into the on-demand smartphone use.
1.1. The relevance of the Topic
Most of the existing models in the market are presented over web-based applications
written in HTML and other web-based languages. Although web-based access of files and
documents for sharing and vending might seem more preferable for their ease of implementation,
they present a challenge when it comes to interactive operation, especially in low network areas
(Uehara, 2004). Java programming language on the other hand provides a robust technology for
application in both developments of applets and Android devices. It seems, therefore, reasonable
to redevelop these models using Java technology.
1.2. Problem Statement
Web-based document vending systems presents a serious interactive access for their
users. There is need to create a client-server system that is implemented in a language that is
cross-platform and allow easy development of an easy interaction between the users and the
server.

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 3
1.3. Definition of Terms
WORA – A slogan by the company that invented java that translates to Write Once, Read All
and is aimed at showing the cross platform power of Java Language.
J2EE – An environment for building applications and deploying java-centric applications online
that are not dependent on any platform.
ODC - Offline Database Construction. An database search implementation that focuses on
retrieving data by using properties of stored data.
1.4. Summary
This design and implementation propose for the development of a java applet that will
allow the functioning of a document vending system based on a multi-tier client-server
architecture model. The applet will be able to be downloaded to a wide range of platforms by
utilizing the platform independence of the Java Programming Language and the principle of
WORA (write once, read all). The client-server system will allow users to look up for documents
from the server and store them in a cache. The user will then be able to remove items from the
cache. The user will only be able to access the document once they complete their payment.
2. Literature Review
Similar systems have been designed and implemented in the past, even though some of
the systems are implemented in a different language. The effort discussed here is the
implementation of client-server systems architecture in different systems other than distributed
systems.

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 4
2.1. Related Work
Brugali, Menga, & Guidi-Polanco (2010) implemented a framework based on the J2EE
technology; a Java platform that allows for the implementation of the three-tier architecture. The
J2EE identifies three tiers of applications implement on its platform: Client tier, middle tier and
the backend tier (Brugali, Menga, & Guidi-Polanco, 2010). However, the availability of the
platform makes the development of this project easier than the one proposed in this paper
because the implementation of the database is limited to design from scratch rather than
utilization of existing frameworks.
Singh & Singh (2012) similar architecture for implementation of cloud authentication
cloud system is developed using the same technology. The paper proposes an implementation of
a multi-tier authentication system for access to a cloud database. In spite of the different
conceptual basis, this paper can provide insight into the methodologies applied in designing the
architecture for this paper’s proposal.
2.2. What is known and what is Unknown
Multi-tier architecture is widely used in developing models for providing access to
databases. Most e-commerce which is a close resemblance to a document vending system is
built on the basis of three-tier architecture but on the Browser/Server model. The argument given
for this is mostly that the model results in systems that are easy to maintain (Liming Ma, Sanxing
Cao, & Xiao Ma, 2012). A similar architecture is can be used in the development of a
client/server model. Although it is expensive, the applications developed are much faster
compared to the one built on Browser/Server model because they can capitalize on the use of
local resources.

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 5
3. Approach
The program is presented as a compiled Java application, ready to be downloaded and
can either work as an independent mobile application or a Java applet application. The
application will consist of a client/server model built with the multi-tier architecture. In the
implementation, the following strategies are proposed:
1. Integration of the application in a three-tier system.
2. Implementation of the program via proper programming of the logical component
3.1. Methods and Procedures
In this implementation, a process of documentation searching called the Offline Database
Construction (ODC) (Rahman, Winarko, & Wibowo, 2017). The process involves the extraction
of important information about the document and storing them in a cache. The properties
retrieved. The point of this process is to uniformly present documents in a database for ease of
retrieval.

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 6
Client-Side Model
In order to reduce workload and increase the efficiency of the application, all the
processes of document retrieval in the vending machine are to be performed. The documents are
to be compressed so as to load faster and retrieve easily. The features of the documents must also
be easy to query for the customer (Rahman, Winarko, & Wibowo, 2017).
Server Configuration
The server side of the application has no such processes. This is to keep the computational load
as light as possible to reduce the processing time.

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 7

DOCUMENT VENDING APPLICATION 8
References
Brugali, D., Menga, G., & Guidi-Polanco, F. (2010). A Java Framework for Multi-Tier Web-
Centric Applications Development. Web Technologies, 1(3), 1745-1767.
doi:10.4018/978-1-60566-982-3.ch094
Liming Ma, Sanxing Cao, & Xiao Ma. (2012). A hybrid model for application development and
deployment based on the multi-tier architecture. IET International Conference on
Information Science and Control Engineering 2012 (ICISCE 2012).
doi:10.1049/cp.2012.2298
Rahman, A., Winarko, E., & Wibowo, M. E. (2017). Mobile content-based image retrieval
architectures. 2017 4th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Computer
Science and Informatics (EECSI). doi:10.1109/eecsi.2017.8239111
Singh, M., & Singh, S. (2012). Design and Implementation of Multi-tier Authentication Scheme
in Cloud. International Journal of Computer Science, 9(5), 1694-1814.