IT 314 George Mason University PHP and SQL Codes Project

Social Networking 201

For this assignment you need to design and implement a social networking component that allows users

to comment and denote when they have visited your web site. Such functionality is fundamental to many

social networking sites such as Facebook. As a component of a social networking site, there is potential

to incorporate this into many social sites while adding to it to create an extensive feature set. You will

develop two versions of this component, one that uses a text file (for the first submission point), and one

that uses a database table (for the final submission point). Both versions will be submitted as part of your

final submission.

Design Requirements

Create an application that allows users to comment on a static posting that you provide. In one version,

the user’s name, contact information (e-mail address), and comment will be saved to a single text file. In

the other version, the same information will be saved to a database table.

Include functionality that allows anyone to view who has visited the site and left comments. While the

comments will automatically be displayed by date (as this is how they are saved to the text file and

database table), allow the viewer to sort comments in ascending and descending order (by name) to

more easily find a comment. Do not allow users to comment more than once to the posting. In doing so,

prevent duplicates from being saved to the text file and/or database table. You will want to plan how to

save data to the text file and database table for easy retrieval.

To get started, create an XHTML document that will serve as a main page where you can enter your

information and comments. This page should also provide the ability to get to the other existing

comments on the posting. Upon providing a comment, you should acknowledge the addition of the entry

by showing what values were added. You should also allow a different user to add an entry.

Below is an example of the main page and acknowledgement output you should have before formatting:

If the user has already commented on the posting, you should let them know that you don’t allow more

than one comment by the same user. Below is an example of the notification page output you should

have before formatting for duplicate entries:

Below is an example of the posting comments page output you should have before formatting:

When the user views the comments on the posting, they should have the ability to sort the results in

either ascending or descending order. For the text file version, this should be done using an indexed

array that re-indexes depending on the sort order chosen. For the database version, you should use SQL

to do the sorting. No matter where someone is in your web site, you should always provide a way to

return to the main page where a new user could add a comment to the posting.

In addition, you should allow a user to specify the index number of any user’s comment information they

wish to delete. This functionality should be implemented in both text file and database versions. While

this feature would traditionally require administrator authentication, you can keep it simple and allow any

user to delete any existing entry. Upon deleting an entry, you should re-output the posting comment page

showing the remaining entries renumbered.

Notice that on all applicable pages while the email address does not show, the name is hypertext linked

to their email address using a XHTML mailto: link. As shown in the comments page example,

selecting the user name hyperlink should provide an email link to the email address of commenter.

Constants should be used for values that do not change, and variables for values that change during the

course of execution. You should include Last Modified Date information on your pages. This should be

provided dynamically by using the built-in date()function within the getlastmod()function.

Your application should be laid out in the Lab Content area of your web site. When laying out your web

page, you should retain the common navigation and structural components (header and footer) of your

website even though not shown in the image. This will require you to incorporate the SSI file references

in this lab assignment as you did on previous the lab assignment. SSI files should not be moved but

rather you should provide the path to their original file location. The common navigation and structural

components should present visual continuity across all the web pages of your website and should not

shift at all when going from web page to web page. In addition, while the image does not demonstrate

this, you need to include a working link on the main page of both versions to get back to your home page.

Also, while the image does not demonstrate this, you will need a working link from the text file version’s

main page to get to the database version’s main page.

For the text file main page, you should use a file name that will automatically load when a user specifies

only the folder name in the URL. The file should be uploaded to your Lab Assignment 4 directory. Your

XHTML file should be well-formed and created using a strict XHTML DTD. You can create the web page

using any text editor (Microsoft Notepad, RogSoft Notepad+, Adobe Homesite, etc) that is not WYSIWYG

capable (Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Word, etc).

You should use XHTML for the content of all pages and CSS for the stylizing and positioning of each of

the pages. Using an external .css file, add formatting of your choice to make the output more

aesthetically pleasing. These styles should be implemented as part of the final submission points. While

you should continue to use the external CSS you created for your home page, you should not modify or

update the file. Your new CSS file should not conflict or modify the layout and positioning of earlier lab

assignments.

Approach

For the first submission point, start off by creating a main page with XHTML form that submits to a .php

file. After creating the non-PHP XHTML page, determine, code, and validate the .php file. As part of this

process, create the script that does the addition of a posting comment, and a .php file that outputs the

posting comments as stored in the text file (by date). Of course, you will want a text file to store the

user’s names, email addresses, and comments. Finally, you can create individual .php files for the

ascending and descending views.

After the first submission, you can start to create the second version of the site that stores the same

information, but now in a database table. To layout and create the database table, determine the data

types and primary key of the information to be stored. This version should provide all the same

functionality as the text file version. Once you have both versions working, you can add the CSS

formatting. Finally, validate all the pages and correct any ill-formed tags where necessary.

Submission

You will need to upload these web/script pages and CSS file to your Lab Assignment 4 directory within

your Zeus/Helios server space, while keeping the original SSI and CSS files in their original file location.

Verify that the uploaded pages work in the browser, as this is what will be used for grading. Make sure all

links in the pages work. Also for each submission point, you must submit all the files you create to the

appropriate Assignment drop box on Blackboard. As part of your final Blackboard submission you should

include a text file that contains a copy your database table creation script that you used in the console

window. This will allow us to understand how your table is laid out.

Notables

! Remember that the lab assignment must clearly display your name in the interface (if any) and be

commented with your name in all files.

! Try to be consistent in the naming of your files as this will help you later on.

! Feel free to use your book and notes for general information on these technologies.

! If need be, for reference material on HTML, you may want to visit http://w3schools.com/html/ which

we discussed in class.

! For reference material on CSS, you may want to visit http://w3schools.com/css/ which we discussed

in class.

! For reference material on PHP, you may want to visit http://php.net which we discussed in class.

! Websites other than those provided in this lab should not be utilized.

! Just a reminder… this is individual work so while you can provide general assistance to other

students while in the lab class, you should not work together or give solutions. Assistance provided

to others while outside the lab class should only be through the use of the discussion forums