Nowadays web based applications represent an important role in business success, fast global advertisement
of products, easy management and internal organization and fast information access are values that
have shown decisive for a correct and supported organizations development. This essay describes a
project work carried out in the academic environment, with open source tools, in order to develop a classified
advertisement platform using web technologies, namely JSP, XML and JavaBeans. The application
aims at supplying a set of functionalities related to students and products management, businesses management
and the presentation of products between the students themselves. Thus this article presents the
methodology followed since the modeling of the application process and the development of a data model
that corresponds to the identified needs during the modeling phase of the processes, until the system implementation

Proença, H.

Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo

Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS PLATFORM FOR
ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT
H. Proença, F. Reinaldo Ribeiro
Departamento de Informática, Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
Av. do Empresário, 6000-767 Castelo Branco
Nowadays web based applications represent an important role in business success, fast global advertise-
ment of products, easy management and internal organization and fast information access are values that
have shown decisive for a correct and supported organizations development. This essay describes a
project work carried out in the academic environment, with open source tools, in order to develop a classi-
fied advertisement platform using web technologies, namely JSP, XML and JavaBeans. The application
aims at supplying a set of functionalities related to students and products management, businesses man-
agement and the presentation of products between the students themselves. Thus this article presents the
methodology followed since the modeling of the application process and the development of a data model
that corresponds to the identified needs during the modeling phase of the processes, until the system im-
plementation.
Keywords JSP; JavaBeans; XML
1. Introduction
Today e-commerce web sites represent an important role in business success, increasing sales, fast global
advertisement of products witch are values that can be decisive in global markets. The work of this paper
was guided by the design and implementation of an information system for students’ advertisements with
resource to open source technologies. The main objective of this work was not the development of a
professional e-commerce web site, but the development of a contacts trade database for a community of
students, where without costs they can publish any kind of product they want to sell or offer. On the
other side, there are the academic objectives, where the main aim was related to students’ assessment,
namely their capacity to analyze a problem and conceive a real application.
In order to model the information system under development, an object-oriented approach was fol-
lowed, namely the UML - Unified Modeling Language [1].
This paper is structured as follows. The following section describes an overview of the main require-
ments for the system developed and our prototype is presented in section three. Finally, we will summar-
ize our results and make a brief reference to some topics for future work.
2. Overview of System Requirements
2.1 Main System Requirements
The system to develop should deliver the required functionality and performance to the user and should
be maintainable, dependable and usable. In WEB environment, it is crucial to provide fast, reliable and
on-time responses. These are the most important high-level and general requirements to be fulfilled by
the system to be implemented.
System requirements are usually divided into two classes – functional requirements and non-
functional requirements. The first describes what the system should do and are perceptible to the user,
while the second describes constraints on how the functional requirements are implemented, and are not
necessarily perceptible by the user [2].
2.1 Functional Requirements
Event Notification. Nowadays this is a very important feature, because it allows users notification in
case anyone shows interest in user product. By this time the event notification is made by email.
2.2 Non-Functional Requirements
Performance. It is crucial to provide fast, reliable and on-time responses when dealing with users inqui-
ries in order to provide better navigation and raise the system interest.
Flexibility. The system must be flexible in order to allow the user to insert, remove, edit or move
elements.
Usability. A friendly interface, flexible, with strong graphical capabilities and succinct and clear mes-
sages can raise the system efficiency.
Reliable. Reliable applications depend of its capacity to handle all the kind of errors the may even-
tually occur and inform the users how to proceed to solve the problems. This will give the user more
confidence.
Data Persistence. Assuring data persistence is an essential requirement for the system. Sessions are
another essential requirement, once they allow the stateless data of the HTTP protocol to be overcome.
Security. Security mechanisms like authentication provide confidence to the users when dealing with
the system.
2.3 Use Case Diagrams
One of the first steps considered in the modeling was to describe the system as a number of use cases
that are performed by a set of actors.
A Use Case diagram presents a set of use cases, actors and their relations. Their common applications
are usually divided into two - system context modeling and system requirements modeling. The former
gives emphasis to the identification of the boundary system, their actors and the meaning of their func-
tions, while the second consist of the identification of what the system should do, no matter what?
3. Logical Architecture
Figure 1 shows the proposed architecture to achieve the previous goals. This is a client/server architec-
ture that allows the application separation into three layers: the interface layer, the business logic layer
and the database layer.
Administrator Client Visitor
Business logic
Database
Interface
HTML and JSP
JavaBeans
MySql
Fig. 1 Logic architecture.
3.1 Interface layer
This is the highest level layer of the application and intends to present to the user (visitor, customer or
administrator) the information contained in the system database (products advertisements like: papers,
books, didactic materials etc).
This layer allows the distinction between different types of user’s interfaces. As a result the visualized
information is different in agreement with the type of use that is intended. In this case, the customer has a
different interface compared to the visitor interface, as well as different from the administrator interface.
3.2 Business logic
This system is implemented on the Linux operating system using the Apache HTTP server. It uses Java
Server Pages (JSP) to generate dynamic HTML pages according to the database information.
This is an intermediate layer and intends to represent a class of objects that will be used to create a
link between the high level layer and the interface layer or either, between the interface and the database.
The JavaBeans model is used in this layer. In this layer all the business logic related to the system is
defined as well all the data processing. This is a components model, platform independent, and portable
due the used technologies.
3.3 Database
It contains information about the system’s users (registered clients and administrators), description of
offers to each one of the advertisement, and access history, as well as the roles to control access authori-
zations.
It is currently implemented using MySQL Database Management System (DBMS).
4. Physical architecture
Client – represent the end user, uses a web browser that allows the advertisements visualization, storage
and acquisition. It was developed using the following technologies:
 HTML, for creation of static pages.
 JavaScript, for form validation.
 JSP, to generate HTML dynamic pages and allow the use of JavaBeans in business logical
layer.
 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), to keep a consistent style in all application interface and to al-
low the administrator easier interface maintenance.
 Extensible Markup Language (XML) and technologies associates (Extensible Stylesheet Lan-
guage (XSL) and XML Schema Definition (XSD), for information exchange and results presen-
tation in browser.
Server - where the necessary modules for application functioning are stored. It represents the responsible
application for answering the user’s requests. It uses JSP to generate HTML code that is visualized by
the users and JavaBeans to deal with the customers orders and to accede to the database. The Tomcat
Apache will serve as web server.
SGBD – responsible for storing all the necessary information for normal system functionally. It contains
all information relative to the customers, products and purchases.
Client
Web browser
Server
Apache Tomcat Server
MySQL SGBD
Database
JavaBeans
Web Server
JSP Files
Internet
Fig. 2 Physical architecture.
5. Conclusions
The results of the described work are encouraging. The tests that have been made show a good accep-
tance by the students’ community. On the other hand with this type of projects it is possible to assess the
students in a similar real work environment, namely, analyze a problem, the use of systems analysis
methodologies in computer science engineering and research of solutions and definition of models.
References
[1] Booch, G., Rumbaugh, J. and Jacobson, I. (1999). The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, Addison
Wesley.
[2] Sommerville, I. and Sawyer, P. (1997). Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide, John Wiley &
Sons. Chichester.
[3] B. Steren dos Santos, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Multimedia and Information &
Communication Technologies in Education, Badajoz, Spain, 3-6 December 2003, pp. 66-68....


English

Classified advertisements platform for academic environment

Repositório do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS PLATFORM FORACADEMIC ENVIRONMENTH. Proença, F. Reinaldo RibeiroDepartamento de Informática, Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo BrancoAv. do Empresário, 6000-767 Castelo BrancoNowadays web based applications represent an important role in business success, fast global advertise-ment of products, easy management and internal organization and fast information access are values thathave shown decisive for a correct and supported organizations development. This essay describes aproject work carried out in the academic environment, with open source tools, in order to develop a classi-fied advertisement platform using web technologies, namely JSP, XML and JavaBeans. The applicationaims at supplying a set of functionalities related to students and products management, businesses man-agement and the presentation of products between the students themselves. Thus this article presents themethodology followed since the modeling of the application process and the development of a data modelthat corresponds to the identified needs during the modeling phase of the processes, until the system im-plementation.Keywords JSP; JavaBeans; XML1. IntroductionToday e-commerce web sites represent an important role in business success, increasing sales, fast globaladvertisement of products witch are values that can be decisive in global markets. The work of this paperwas guided by the design and implementation of an information system for students’ advertisements withresource to open source technologies. The main objective of this work was not the development of aprofessional e-commerce web site, but the development of a contacts trade database for a community ofstudents, where without costs they can publish any kind of product they want to sell or offer. On theother side, there are the academic objectives, where the main aim was related to students’ assessment,namely their capacity to analyze a problem and conceive a real application.In order to model the information system under development, an object-oriented approach was fol-lowed, namely the UML - Unified Modeling Language [1].This paper is structured as follows. The following section describes an overview of the main require-ments for the system developed and our prototype is presented in section three. Finally, we will summar-ize our results and make a brief reference to some topics for future work.2. Overview of System Requirements2.1 Main System RequirementsThe system to develop should deliver the required functionality and performance to the user and shouldbe maintainable, dependable and usable. In WEB environment, it is crucial to provide fast, reliable andon-time responses. These are the most important high-level and general requirements to be fulfilled bythe system to be implemented.System requirements are usually divided into two classes – functional requirements and non-functional requirements. The first describes what the system should do and are perceptible to the user,while the second describes constraints on how the functional requirements are implemented, and are notnecessarily perceptible by the user [2].2.1 Functional RequirementsEvent Notification. Nowadays this is a very important feature, because it allows users notification incase anyone shows interest in user product. By this time the event notification is made by email.2.2 Non-Functional RequirementsPerformance. It is crucial to provide fast, reliable and on-time responses when dealing with users inqui-ries in order to provide better navigation and raise the system interest.Flexibility. The system must be flexible in order to allow the user to insert, remove, edit or moveelements.Usability. A friendly interface, flexible, with strong graphical capabilities and succinct and clear mes-sages can raise the system efficiency.Reliable. Reliable applications depend of its capacity to handle all the kind of errors the may even-tually occur and inform the users how to proceed to solve the problems. This will give the user moreconfidence.Data Persistence. Assuring data persistence is an essential requirement for the system. Sessions areanother essential requirement, once they allow the stateless data of the HTTP protocol to be overcome.Security. Security mechanisms like authentication provide confidence to the users when dealing withthe system.2.3 Use Case DiagramsOne of the first steps considered in the modeling was to describe the system as a number of use casesthat are performed by a set of actors.A Use Case diagram presents a set of use cases, actors and their relations. Their common applicationsare usually divided into two - system context modeling and system requirements modeling. The formergives emphasis to the identification of the boundary system, their actors and the meaning of their func-tions, while the second consist of the identification of what the system should do, no matter what?3. Logical ArchitectureFigure 1 shows the proposed architecture to achieve the previous goals. This is a client/server architec-ture that allows the application separation into three layers: the interface layer, the business logic layerand the database layer.Administrator Client VisitorBusiness logicDatabaseInterfaceHTML and JSPJavaBeansMySqlFig. 1 Logic architecture.3.1 Interface layerThis is the highest level layer of the application and intends to present to the user (visitor, customer oradministrator) the information contained in the system database (products advertisements like: papers,books, didactic materials etc).This layer allows the distinction between different types of user’s interfaces. As a result the visualizedinformation is different in agreement with the type of use that is intended. In this case, the customer has adifferent interface compared to the visitor interface, as well as different from the administrator interface.3.2 Business logicThis system is implemented on the Linux operating system using the Apache HTTP server. It uses JavaServer Pages (JSP) to generate dynamic HTML pages according to the database information.This is an intermediate layer and intends to represent a class of objects that will be used to create alink between the high level layer and the interface layer or either, between the interface and the database.The JavaBeans model is used in this layer. In this layer all the business logic related to the system isdefined as well all the data processing. This is a components model, platform independent, and portabledue the used technologies.3.3 DatabaseIt contains information about the system’s users (registered clients and administrators), description ofoffers to each one of the advertisement, and access history, as well as the roles to control access authori-zations.It is currently implemented using MySQL Database Management System (DBMS).4. Physical architectureClient – represent the end user, uses a web browser that allows the advertisements visualization, storageand acquisition. It was developed using the following technologies: HTML, for creation of static pages. JavaScript, for form validation. JSP, to generate HTML dynamic pages and allow the use of JavaBeans in business logicallayer. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), to keep a consistent style in all application interface and to al-low the administrator easier interface maintenance. Extensible Markup Language (XML) and technologies associates (Extensible Stylesheet Lan-guage (XSL) and XML Schema Definition (XSD), for information exchange and results presen-tation in browser.Server - where the necessary modules for application functioning are stored. It represents the responsibleapplication for answering the user’s requests. It uses JSP to generate HTML code that is visualized bythe users and JavaBeans to deal with the customers orders and to accede to the database. The TomcatApache will serve as web server.SGBD – responsible for storing all the necessary information for normal system functionally. It containsall information relative to the customers, products and purchases.ClientWeb browserServerApache Tomcat ServerMySQL SGBDDatabaseJavaBeansWeb ServerJSP FilesInternetFig. 2 Physical architecture.5. ConclusionsThe results of the described work are encouraging. The tests that have been made show a good accep-tance by the students’ community. On the other hand with this type of projects it is possible to assess thestudents in a similar real work environment, namely, analyze a problem, the use of systems analysismethodologies in computer science engineering and research of solutions and definition of models.References[1] Booch, G., Rumbaugh, J. and Jacobson, I. (1999). The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, AddisonWesley.[2] Sommerville, I. and Sawyer, P. (1997). Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide, John Wiley &Sons. Chichester.[3] B. Steren dos Santos, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Multimedia and Information &Communication Technologies in Education, Badajoz, Spain, 3-6 December 2003, pp. 66-68....

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Classified advertisements platform for academic environment

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