Assignment - Purpose of this assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to enable learners to understand the concepts of web applications and apply the skills to develop and test web applications using server-side technologies.

Scenario

This assignment is designed to give you the opportunity to install, use and develop an application which uses server side scripts (PHP), to access and update MySQL databases. The tasks below guide you through the stages involved.

The application itself will authenticate users (students) and providee the basic functionality necessary to update their details and maintain a list of the modules they are taking. The user authentication and the users should be able to create an account themselves if they so wish. The web application should retrieve data from the database and present it in the Web form according to user requirements.

The business would like you to demonstrate the main features of web application development using HTML, CSS, your choice of language for server-side scripting (we will cover PHP in the lectures, but the final choice is yours) as well as current techniques for providing a better user experience with regards to the user interface design. MySQL database should be used as the database for the back-end functionality and operations should be as secure as possible.

Task 1: Understand the concepts of web application development

Discuss various features and advantages of web application development and how they relate to the business model of your choice. Explain the role of client and server-side scripting languages in developing a web application solution and what are the advantages of one over the other solution

Identify potential security issues and suggest ways they can be addressed

Task 2: Design a web application solution

Design a web application to meet the requirements an organisation.

Discuss the choice of client and server-side scripting languages

Design a database that can be used to support the requirements of the web application

Discuss alternative ways in which the requirements of the organisation can be met.

Task 3: Implement a web application solution

Use the design you prepared in the second task to implement your web solution with effective use of client and server-side scripting

Implement a web-enabled database to support the activities of your solution

Identify and implement ways for better error handling and reporting

Task 4: Testing your application

Review and test your web application as well as any relevant database operations

Analyse actual results of test cases against expected results to identify discrepancies

Evaluate independent feedback on your finished web application and make recommendations for improvements

Create documentation for your implemented solution