A possible thesis project

[Anon]

I'm currently researching on a thesis that proposes an online enrollment system. Since students frequently add and drop subjects during an enrollment period I will put up a site that dynamically generates a list of subjects (subject code, description, units, days, time). Along with this info are two columns that show the available slots and the maximum slots allowed. These slots are supposed to be automatically updated if a person is viewing the site and changes were made while he's viewing it. The database being used is PostGresSQL.

My question is: Can the project I mentioned above be accomplished using PHP and PostGreSQL? Give me the pros and cons

[Anon]

You can't actually 'push' content to the user while he/she is reading the page, so if something changes while he/she is reading, you can't update it, the user will have to hit reload to see the changes.
Apart from that, yes, this is very easy with php. The pros are numerous: easy, fast to make, fast on the webserver, all the other advantages php offers and that you can read about on other places... The cons: i suppose you don't know any php if you ask a question like this, so you'll have to learn it :-) Or pay me to make it for you :-)

cheers,

.roel

[Anon]

If you are looking for a real-time solution, PHP is not able to solve your problem. You should look at Java/JDBC or Perl's CGI:😛ush module.

[Anon]

postgresql is up to the task, and PHP is more than capable of most of what you want, except that for the part about having updates show up automatically, you'll have to either use some kind of framed setup with metarefreshes on one column, or go to a client side java program.

I'd tend to favor client side java because it's usually a lot smoother, but the problem there is that some clients may not have it turned on, or there may be some security policies against it at school.

If you want to do it with just PHP and pgsql, then you could use a popup browser window with html that updated automagicallyevery 30 seconds or so. Or put that in a side frame.

I'm not sure that being able to see the changes in real time are that important, and they may increase the user load considerably if a bunch of browsers get left open with the update page showing.

[Anon]

I received permission from my panelists to develop the project. I was wondering if you could each chip in a bit of information.

Here are the specifics:
Database being used is PostGreSQL.

They refused to let it to be a front end enrollment system so they agreed to let it be a reservation system.

The subjects have four fields:
1. Subject Code
2. Description
3. Time (which the the script will detect if there's a conflict between another subject)
4. Units (They will be totalled to a limit of 21 units per student)
5. Open Slots
6. Enrolled
7. Maximum slots
8. Status (Open or Closed)

Student fields:
1. ID Number
2. Name
3. Birthday
4. Birthplace
5. Citizenship
6. Phone No.
7. Age

The procedure:
1. The student will log-in with his id number. His birthday will be the password.
2. He will be brought to the listed subjects related to his course.
3. The form will be presented in a table format with a checkbox on the left of all subjects so he can just check it.
4. After submission he will be given final assessment which he will present to the cashier for payment.
5. Although the student has enrolled the dean has the right to make changes if his evaluation proves some discrepancies in the student's record. So there will be admin funcions the dean.
6. The IT department also has a separate page for registering of students and subjects.
7. The cashier and accounting also has query pages to verify the students reservation.

SPecial procedures:
1. The reservation will be delted from the server after three days if no payment has been made.

P.S.
Please dont design it if u intend to charge me. all i want are just tips. just give some advice in some areas where u think might pose a serious difficulty.

Hoping for your contributions. 🙁 this is for the good of Linux and PHP in my City. My thesis is the first of its kind.

[Anon]

Chad wrote:

I received permission from my panelists to develop the project. I was wondering if you could each chip in a bit of information.

Here are the specifics:
Database being used is PostGreSQL.

They refused to let it to be a front end enrollment system so they agreed to let it be a reservation system.

The subjects have four fields:
1. Subject Code
2. Description
3. Time (which the the script will detect if there's a conflict between another subject)
4. Units (They will be totalled to a limit of 21 units per student)
5. Open Slots
6. Enrolled
7. Maximum slots
8. Status (Open or Closed)

Student fields:
1. ID Number
2. Name
3. Birthday
4. Birthplace
5. Citizenship
6. Phone No.
7. Age

The procedure:
1. The student will log-in with his id number. His birthday will be the password.
2. He will be brought to the listed subjects related to his course.
3. The form will be presented in a table format with a checkbox on the left of all subjects so he can just check it.
....

If I were you, on the "holding" problem... You want the program to "hold" courses while the student "thinks" about paying his tuition. Set two bools for each class slot, hold and occupied/payment. That slot can not be used if it's "held".

It's the same system credit cards use.

Michael