Student Administration Manager Application: Design and Implementation

This project report delves into the design and implementation of a Student Administration Manager application, focusing on the application of Rich Internet Applications (RIA). The introduction highlights the shift from manual to computerized student administration, emphasizing the roles of administrators, teachers, and students within the system. The report explores the use of RIA frameworks for real-time automation, comparing the benefits and limitations of web application development using RIA. Difficulties such as increased complexity in design and service level management challenges are discussed, along with limitations like sandbox environments and Javascript errors. The report also highlights the benefits of RIA, such as improved user experience and increased efficiency. The project provides a comprehensive analysis of RIA's role in modernizing student administration and improving overall system functionality.

THE STUDENT ADMINSTRATION MANAGER APPLICATION AND
DESIGN
SECTION1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Owing to the advent of increase in technology, so many areas of our lives and environment should feel
the impact of what technology and engineering has to offer, in order to ease our lives and make things
simple (www.ielts-mentor.com/.../200-ielts-writing-task-2-sample. April, 2016).
Student administration practices has also always been manual, all thanks the emergence of technology.
The traditional way of student administration was paper based, registers are used to mark attendance,
paper forms are used to register new students, teachers and in non-academic staff. The result of all this
method is more papers, registers to be kept and more storage space to be bought or mapped out.
Employing modern technology (computerization) make things a lot easier. There is reduction in how
papers are used and also reduction in to demand in educational sector. The Idea of this project is to
implement one of the modern techniques by which the traditional ways can be replaced, hence it is
called student administration manager. It is termed manager because the following are needed for full
functionality of the system, namely;
a. Administrator
b. Teachers
c. Students
These three categories of people are needed for the student administration manager to work.
1.1 ADMINISTRATOR
Just like we have in the traditional way of student management, administrator are the once that handles
both the teachers' files and the students' files. The files are kept in different cabinet. The same technique
is applied here just that in a much easier and less physical way. This modern method makes it possible
to search through databases where both the students' and the teachers' records are stored
(https://textbookequity.org/.../Courtney_DatabaseSystemsforManagement.pdf, April 2016).

1.2 TEACHERS
Well, compared to the modern technique the traditional way of student management limits teachers' to
students' records as they have to go through some protocols to get the data or information they need.
The modern method makes it convenient for teachers' to manage student’s record from the dashboard.
Teachers can also sort the database for student’s record easily and quickly.
1.3 STUDENTS
Since students are the ones been managed with this modern technique they are provided with their own
dashboard where they mark attendance for classes, seminars, group assessment. In some student
administration systems, exam grades, sms alert, notification board, private messages, payment,
dormitory etc. are integrated to optimize the system.

SECTION 2
2.1 RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS
The modern technology make use of RIA ( Rich Internet Applications) frameworks to get the Real-
time automation easier and faster (https://www.infosys.com/.../application.../rich-internet-applications.p,
April 2016).
Rich Internet applications (RIA) are web applications that have the features and functionality of
traditional desktop applications. RIAs typically transfer the processing necessary for the user interface
to the web client but keep the bulk of the data (e.g. application state, domain-specific information, etc.)
on the application server (www.planetlinks.com/tec236/notes-terms/5-1.../internet-application.doc, April
2016). Rich Internet Applications combine the best user interface functionality of desktop software
applications with the broad reach and low-cost deployment of web applications and the best of
interactive, multimedia communication. The end result is an application which provides a more
intuitive, responsive, and effective user experience (https://books.google.com/books, April 2016). Real-
time pushing is an architecture in which a web server sends data to a client program (normally a web
browser) asynchronously without any need for the client to explicitly request it. It allows creation of
event-driven web applications, enabling real-time interaction otherwise impossible in a browser. This
is also known as the term Comet (https://books.google.com/books, April 2016). Real-time applications
use long-lived HTTP connections between the client and server, which the server can respond to lazily,
pushing new data to the client as it becomes available. Many technologies have emerged to fill up the
shortcomings of HTML-based web applications and provide richer interfaces for users. Some of the
examples of these are Adobe Flash and client technologies both for Java and Microsoft platforms
(www.websitepulse.com/kb/rich_internet_applications_(ria).html April 2016). Combined, the
applications developed by using these technologies are called as Rich Internet Applications (RIA).
AJAX is commonly also regarded as a technique for implementing RIAs.

Figure1 Rich Internet Applications Structure.
Source: (Shahzeb M., 2009 )
The RIA architecture has been around for quite a while now. It was first introduced in a paper back in
2002 by macromedia (Shahzeb Muhammad, 2009), though unofficially the term have been around for a
longer period with the names of ;
1. Remote Scripting , by Microsoft, 1998
2. X Internet, by Forrester Research in October 2000(https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream
/2077/20555/1/gupea_2077_20555_1.pdf, April 2016)
2.1 Difficulties, limitations and benefits of web application development using
RIA in general
2.1.1 Difficulties using RIA
Traditional web application development with standard HTML is often performed using simplistic
software architectures, designed using a very limited set of development options which, however, are
relatively easy to manage, design and test (Shahzeb Muhammad, 2009).
With the introduction of RIA, development has become more advanced, while at the same time
growing in complexity. The companies developing web applications using RIA-oriented frameworks
and technologies face more problems due to the increased complexity in design, testing, measurements
and support (Vipul G. 2008).
The companies using RIA frameworks and technologies for application development are, in addition to
the development problems, also faced with several service level management challenges as well, many
of which have not yet been solved at present time.
The service level management is of no issue to the developers, and is rarely considered as a problem by

the users of those applications, but they are still important in terms of successful delivery of such
applications. Some of the different aspects of the RIA that complicate management processes [9] are
explained below:
Vipul G. (2008), Traditional web applications can be seen as a number of different web pages and each
of them need to be downloaded separately by an http request. This model is called as the Web page
paradigm.
In the case of RIAs, the web page paradigm is totally invalidated; instead RIA introduces a new way of
asynchronous server communication, which often support and enable a more responsive user interface
(Shahzeb Muhammad, 2009). In RIAs, the time taken to download a page may not be of that much
importance to the users; this is because the client engine may be in a mode of constant download to
fetch the contents for further use (Bhojaraj Kabbin et al, 2015).
To advance the field of RIA-oriented development, and solve some of the service level management
problems, a standard tool to measure the response time of RIAs could, and indeed should, be
developed. Currently, due to the absence of such tools, most of the time the developers must craft their
application code to produce the measurement data needed for service level management
(www.ijera.com/papers/Vol5_issue5/Part%20-%203/B505030709.pdf, April 2016).
Measuring response times between client and server in a traditional web application can easily be done
by placing a computer, somewhere between the two on the network, with the expressed mission to
observe the flow of traffic produced by the network on the TCP and HTTP levels. Because of the fact
that these protocols are predictable and synchronous, any kind of a packet sniffer can read these and
interpret them on the packet level (Shahzeb Muhammad, 2009). This would however increase the
response time experienced by the user by tracking the messages from HTTP and measuring latency of
underlying packets of the TCP and acknowledgments. The interesting fact about RIA architectures is
that these reduce the power of the packet sniffing approach, because the client engine works in a
slightly different way by breaking up the communication between the user and the server into to two
different cycles operating in different ways, a foreground (user-to-engine) cycle, and a background
(engine-to-server) cycle. Both of these cycles are very important, because neither of them stands alone;
it is the relationship between them which define the behaviors of the application (Shahzeb Muhammad,
2009).
This relationship, however, is completely dependent on the design of the application, which cannot be
inferred by a measurement tool, especially one that can observe only one of the two cycles. Therefore
the most complete RIA measurements can currently only be obtained using tools which reside on the

client and observe both cycles (Bhojaraj Kabbin et al, 2015).
2.1.2 Limitations of Web Application Development using RIA
All technologies have limitations, RIAs are no exception, but it is always up to the design and
development team to keep the shortcomings of the used technology in mind, and in check, before
designing an application, so that no hurdles are faced during the actual implementation (Melia S., et al.,
2008).
One of the limitations of RIA web based desktop applications is that they run in a sandbox, a locked
down environment which restrict access to the resources of the system. In the case of Ideal Systems,
they deploy a desktop web application. Any assumptions made about the resources of the system in use
could be incorrect, in which case the RIA could fail to operate, which would restrict the user from using
the application. Javascript have always been a trouble with many web technologies, and it is one of the
languages which are required for RIAs as well. Javascript errors can make the development of RIAs
very complex since they are hard to catch and sometimes even the Javascript debuggers cannot catch
the errors. The usage of Javascript for agent desktop applications would prove an even greater hassle
since there is a lot of event handling in such applications, which could easily be broken and difficult to
fix. An example of a problem which could occur on the client is if the user has disabled active scripting
in their browser, whereupon the RIA may not function properly, if at all (Vipul G. 2008).
Another limitation which could result in consequential loss of performance would be the usage of
client-side scripts written in languages which are interpreted, such as Javascript
(www.ijera.com/papers/Vol5_issue5/Part%20-%203/B505030709.pdf, April 2016). . This is not an issue
with compiled client languages such as Java , where performance is comparable to that of traditional
compiled languages, or with Flash , Curl, or Silverlight , in which the compiled code is run by a Flash,
Curl or Silverlight plugins.
Many manufacturers of the web browsers have already made a release or are working towards releasing
a solution for Javascript engines which would solve the issue of loss of performance, for example
TraceMonkey, the Javascript engine used in Mozilla Firefox, is already using "Trace Trees" in version
3.1 of the browser (Vipul G. 2008).
But with this, another limitation arise, which is the restriction of usage of browser with the application.
The application shall be used only with the browser which supports some typical functionality, which
could become a business limitation as well
((www.ijera.com/papers/Vol5_issue5/Part%20-%203/B505030709.pdf, April 2016). ).

As compared to the Mozilla Firefox, Google’s web browser has the V8 Javascript engine, which also
accelerates Javascript execution.
2.1.3 Benefits of using RIA
In order to create a successful application, it must satisfy the users needs and provide them with the
functionality they need to accomplish their tasks. If the application does this, and provides a stable and
predictable environment, there is a great chance that users will continue using it, and promote it among
their colleagues. Melia S. et al., (2008), People mostly turn towards the companies which can provide
them better services, which can help them to accomplish their goals as efficiently as possible. If
customers are dissatisfied by your services, they turn to your competitors who offer the same business
you do, and possibly with better services, so at the end of the day, it is all about serving your customers.
If you invest a little bit extra in giving your customers the services they are looking for and expecting,
in return they can become your greatest sales people, producing a chain reaction of repeat-business
(Vipul G. 2008).
Distributors and retailers can improve the revenues of their companies by improving the user
experience by providing simple interfaces to complex methods and tasks. This is where RIA-based
systems come into play, providing a great opportunity to simplify business processes by their ability of
making simple, highly interactive interfaces for web applications. More and more online-business
owners and retailers are beginning to invest in RIA-based technology development in order to help
them differentiate their offering from their competitors (Vipul G. 2008).
The organizations and businesses which specialize in the areas of service providing can easily make a
great impact on their business by enhancing their customer services with RIAs. The primary reason is
to provide their customers with the service they are looking for, service which can guide them through
complex decision making processes. The main benefit in these cases is to make customers self
sufficient in solving their own problems, and answering their questions, which brings down the call
center costs for the service providers.
By using some of the processing power of the computers they run on, RIAs have the same speed and
performance as any other desktop application. Since RIAs does not need a full page refresh all the time
unlike traditional web applications, this increased interactivity and responsiveness improve the end-
users experiences, resulting in greater productivity (Melia S., et al., 2008).

SECTION 3
3.0 THE USER INTERFACE AND DESIGN OF THE WEB APPLICATION
The user interface and the design of this application was based on Php and Mysql using the Model-
View-Controller (MVC) system/pattern.
3.1 The Model View Controller System
In object-oriented programming development, model-view-controller (MVC) is the name of a
methodology or design pattern for successfully and efficiently relating the user interface to underlying
data models. The MVC pattern is widely used in program development with programming languages
such as Java, Smalltalk, C, and C++ (Bhojaraj Kabbin et al, 2015).
The MVC pattern has been heralded by many developers as a useful pattern for the reuse of object code
and a pattern that allows them to significantly reduce the time it takes to develop applications with user
interfaces (Pawlak.P, 2009).
The model-view-controller pattern proposes three main components or objects to be used in software
development:
 A Model, which represents the underlying, logical structure of data in a software application and
the high-level class associated with it. This object model does not contain any information about
the user interface (Bhojaraj Kabbin et al, 2015).
 A View, which is a collection of classes representing the elements in the user interface (all of the
things the user can see and respond to on the screen, such as buttons, display boxes e.t.c)
 A Controller, which represents the classes connecting the model and the view, and is used to
communicate between classes in the model and view (http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition
/model-view-controller-MVC, April 2016)

The MVC pattern employed in this web application follows the below flow chart
Fig 2.0 Source: (http://www.siliconinfo.com/open-source-web-application/mvc-development.html)
As highlighted in the introduction, the user interface comprises of three parts, namely;
a. Administrator
b. Teacher
c. Student

Fig 3.0 A central login chart for the School Administration System application
Source: Bhojaraj Kabbin et al, 2015.
From Fig 3.0, it can be deduced that the administrator can create, edit and manipulate the datas of both
the students and teachers.
3.2 Installation
i. Upload the downloaded zip file to your server in the public_html directory.
ii. Extract the zip file
iii. Create a new database from your server mysql
iv. Create user to the database and link the database to the user.
v. Open the file database.php from the directory /application/config/database.php
vi. Fill up these informations with your database hostname, database username, database password,
database name respectively which you have created in the previous step.
vii. Open the file routes.php from the directory /application/config/routes.php
viii. Change default controller from ‘install’ to ‘login’
ix. Now from server phpmyadmin go to your database. Select import and choose the file install.sql
located in STUDENT ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT\sms.sql
x. And you are ready to go now to browse the application.

SECTION FOUR
4. CONCLUSION
A student administration system was designed to manage students and teachers record and also
addressing the issue of student attendance. The web application was programmed to store teachers and
students record. The attendance module of the application holds the attendance status for a particular
student of a particular class for a particular day or end event. Administrator and teacher can generate
report of this attendance. The application also integrate exam score management, private messaging
between the three categories, a notice board, online library and sms function to send exam score to the
students.
I hence recommend this application to be implemented in real time to help enhance and modernize the
traditional way of student management.

SECTION FIVE
5. REFERENCES:
1. Bhojaraj K., 2015. Rich Internet Web Application Development using Google Web Toolkit .
Ijera.com ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5.
2. Correa, J.D.Y, Ricaurte J.A.B, Web Application Development Technologies using Google Web
Toolkit and Google App Engine-JAVA, IEEE Latin America Transactions, 12(2), 2014,
372 – 377.
3. Pawlak.P, Sakowiczz.B, Mazur.P, Napieralski .A, Social Network Application Based On
Google Web Toolkit. CADSM’2009, 2009, 461-464.
4. Melia, S. , Gomez, J. ,Perez, S. , Diaz, O. , A Model-Driven Development for GWT-Based Rich
Internet Applications with OOH4RIA, Eighth International Conference of Web Engi-
neering,2008,13-23.
5. Vipul Gupta, Accelerated GWT: Building Enterprise Google (APress 2008)
6. Shahzeb Muhammad, 2009: Rich Internet Applications with Real-time push mechanism.
University of Gothernburg.
7. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/20555/1/gupea_2077_20555_1.pdf
8. (http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/model-view-controller-MVC)R
www.siliconinfo.com/open-source-web-application/mvc-development.html)
9. http://www.codeigniter.com/
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12. (www.ielts-mentor.com/.../200-ielts-writing-task-2-sample. April, 2016).
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15. (https://books.google.com/books, April 2016)
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