Project development timeline uploaded

This is the timeline for project development, i uploaded PDF version of it to BB as well, so if you wanna print it, please check it out in the BB

Meeting Details for 29-09-2008 (Monday)

Time: 1.00pm-2.30pm
Location: Library
Details:

• discuss on the presentation that is on Tuesday
• check our development progress, whether it is on schedule
• define what needs to be done to complete the website, divide work tasks accordingly and try to set a timeframe each task
  
• gather questions that we possibly need to ask vicnet or ray

PS. sorry for not posting this earlier, too many important soccer matches to follow recently! (just finished watching ac milan vs inter milan derby)


Edited:

• will also discuss on project progress review, ie. what to include

50MB limit testing

Chinh Pham called me just now and complained that I have interrupted his experiment by deleting his 40MB test file on marinecare.org.au.
He explained to me that he was doing a test to see what will happen if we go over the 50MB limit.

I still don't quite agree on this way of testing.
Can't we just ask vicnet what happens if we go over, and then ask if we can test that before doing so?

What if they suspend the site 3 days later and it takes them a week to get it unsuspended? (you know their speed of doing things!)
This can delay our whole project timeline!

Before doing these tests I strongly suggest that you should at least notify someone in the team, and discuss if possible.

Seeing that it is not OUR server, there are other people who are working on this server as well. I just think it is more appropriate to seek for an agreement before doing things like that.

just my 2c

Presentation

Quoted from Blackboard:

Thu, Sep 25, 2008 -- HIT3061-2008-5: Presentations Week 7

Order of talks : teams 1,2,3,4 then 5

Topic : Test Plans and Strategies for your teams project

Format : Each team 2 speakers with 4 minutes each.



John, what sort of strategies can we talk about?

Meeting summary 25-09-2008 (Thursday)

Finished record log, search log

I also edited the logo made by vicnet, making it smaller so may be Hai Minh you can try and see if that's useful or not?


To Do (for observation log):

• format the output
• add "click for more details" links next to the search results
• validations

For the presentation of test plan on Tuesday, Chinh Pham and Hai Minh will be doing it.


PS. Chinh Pham, I noticed there are 2 backup files stored on marinecare.org.au. As you can see in the screenshot, they add up to 40MB so I am sure the server exceeds the 50MB limit. Will you store the backup files in another place?

Next scheduled meeting 25-09-2008 (Thursday)

Time: 2pm
Location: EN310

Details: I and Vivi will be there, continue working on the observation log. Come and accompany us if you are bored at home :)

Meeting details for 24-09-2008 (Wed)

Time: 1pm
Location: library
To-do list:

• observation log - checks if user is logged in before they can record a sighting
  
• observation log - checks if user have correct privilege to edit/delete
• observation log - add a proper search page
  
• gallery - layout
• user profile - add phone number field, only viewable by admin
  
• alert function - discuss how we do it
• powerpoint presentation for test plan - 2 speakers for 4 mins each
  

Services Configuration

* Mail service config

The mail config has been completed. Due to the poor access to Vicnet server, we will not be able to config the mail service as we wish. Still, I found out a workaround, and I can guarantee all users will receive mails from marinecare right in their inbox ;)

* Backup, restore and replicate.

To back up the entire Joomla content, we need to back up the database and the whole Joomla files and directories

I was spending almost a whole day thinking about what would be the best strategy for backup and restore lolzz.

The tricky thing is, I dont wanna rely on any Joomla extension, so the whole backup and restore procedure is all about commands.

Im happy because it sounds pretty sophisticated :D

The whole testing content will be archived every 2 hours, from 8am to 4am.

The whole marinecare content will be archived every day, at 5am

https://unix-kernel.org/backup

Those periodic tasks can be executed with cron, a very well known deamon in *nix environment.

Access to that directory should be set with authentication, but I guess nobody except us would care about those files, so I leave them as open access :p

1. Backup marinecare database

Vicnet doesnt give us ssh access (sure they dont). There are some methods to backup the database with PHP but they all fail because of PHP environment in the server. The only script is successful is here:

http://marinecare.org.au/dbdump.php

So I wrote a command to download the file, put it in appropriate directory, set the file name with time.

1. Backup testing database

PHP environment in this server is quite strict, all PHP backup scripts fail. Fortunately I have ssh access to that server, so it will make my life a bit easier.

Normally the ssh server will ask for password when you attempt to connect, and this is problem for the automate task. The passwordless login can only be done with private/public key pair.

Once logged in, use mysqldump command to back up the database, put it somewhere in the server.

In my local workstation, retrieve that file, set file name with time, put it in a appropriate directory

3. Backup and replicate files and directories (both sites)

I use lftp, a command line ftp client to sync file with the server. When sync process is finished, a archive copy with proper time file name will be created.

4. Replicate database

Once you have the database snapshot, you need to restore it back with mysql command.

Here are exactly clone of 2 sites after replication:

https://unix-kernel.org/stephenpham

https://unix-kernel.org/marinecare

You guys can have a look at the scripts I wrote for those tasks here:

http://asternix.org/code/marinecare.htm

http://asternix.org/code/stephenpham.htm

Meeting summary for 22-09-2008 (Mon)

Attendee: Kevin, Andrew, Hai Minh, Vivi

Andrew will be doing the meeting minutes for the previous meetings.
Hai Minh has edited the wireframes to meet the client's need. He will be editing the whole website's layout.
Kevin and Vivi worked until 8.30pm, customised the gallery again, found a suitable extension, created a table for sightings, added a record sighting page, added a page for to retrieve sighting.

But as soon as I get home and try to continue working on it, I found out the database is fucked :(


Chinh Pham would you be able to reinstall joomla + coppermine + the bridge?



next scheduled meeting will be on 24-09-2008 Wednesday at 1pm in the library.
Andrew can opt to stay home if he wish to, as he is already responsibile for doing all the documentations.

Meeting details for 22-09-2008 (Mon)

Time: 10.30
Location: Library
What we are going to do:

• customise stephenpham.com
  
• make our decision: which extension to use for logs, or custom build
• discuss client's feedback on requirements specifications and wireframes
  

Meeting time has been changed to the morning, so that we can have a lunch break together at noon. Where shall we go for lunch?
I will head over to the burwood rd computer lab just to check if it is open, if so we can move to there.

Meeting details for 17-09-2008 (Wed)

Time: 14.30
Location: BA401
Tasks:

• touch up the test plan
• think of something else that we can include in the test plan except the main functions that we already have

btw i have edited the acceptance criteria and requirements plan and uploaded to bb again. i have removed the particular sentences that buzz didn't like.

Some documents has been post to BB

I just upload my part onto BB including:

- Test case: Andrew please change the order number for my part and put it in the test plan, thanks Andrew.
- Database Entities Relationship Diagram (ERD):
- Database detail entity description

We have done database design.

Meeting agenda - 16/09/08

Following are things that we will talk about in the Tuesday meeting:

• 1. Arrange meeting in lab during team break to code software
• 2. Review Test case: team members bring their test case to the meeting please.
• 3. Review Interface: Hai Minh print out your interface and bring to the meeting please.
• 4. Server configuration review: Chinh Pham report about server configuration and clearly show how to configure the gallery
• 5. Review the list of modification for Gallery from Kevin, Kevin please print this list
• 6. Joomla review: Vivi illustrates database configuration and connection.
• 7. Database review: John illustrates database design
• 8. Arrange tasks to members

Please note that we only have this week to design and plan, the development process (coding) starts from next week, and we have 4 weeks to code the whole site. If anything is delayed, the whole project will be delayed, and you know the outcome.

test plan

uploaded to BB

i have printed the test plans that andrew and i have done.

Disk Space Issue

Just wanna give you guys a quick heads up. The project is gonna go nowhere with 50Mb disk space. I checked my server and the current Joomla directory is 50.25 Mb already.

We havent uploaded all images yet. The website needs space for observation log, and it needs space for images uploaded by users. 50Mb is just like breakfast for the whole day.

Almost complete interface design on Blackboard now

Hi guys,

I have uploaded the latest version of Interface wire-frame design to Blackboard. Please check it when you do the Test cases. I have some questions about the page "Observation -view mode" need to be clear so I have not changed it yet.

Thanks

@Kevin: I am afraid that some use cases do not match the interface design

Email to Ray

here's the drafted email, i'll send this off in an hour.
do you think we should show him the gallery we have made? or not yet?

Dear Ray,

We have a number of things that we wish to show you and discuss on. Would you be able to meet us next week, may be in the afternoon at around 3pm on Thursday (18-09)?

We have revised the acceptance criteria, and we also would like to show you the requirements specifications document. (attached in this email)

We would also like to show you wireframe diagrams of our proposed layout.

We are in the process of building the photo gallery. At the moment we are still working on the internals of it, so you may not be impressed by it just yet. You can take a look at it here:

http://stephenpham.com/gallery/index.php

Best Regards,

Kevin Chan

0432036132

Customising the photo gallery

I am in the process of customising the photo gallery so that it matches Ray's needs.
http://stephenpham.com/gallery/
please try and upload photos to test the gallery's auto resize function.

here is a list of things that needs to be fixed/corrected.

Front Page
• Layout
• Fix Search (to search logs and photos)
Time required: unknown

Gallery Front Page (user)
• Layout
• Hide unnecessary buttons (most viewed, top rated, my fav)
Time required: unknown

Gallery Front Page (admin)
• Hide unnecessary buttons (sort my pictures, batch add files)
Time required: unknown

Inside an album
• Change the text below thumbnail (hide filename, views, uploaded by whom. Show file title)
• Sorting
Time required: unknown

Viewing a photo
• Layout
• Hide unnecessary file information (filename, filesize, dimension, url, favourites)
• Move crop and rotate to edit file information
Time required: unknown

Search photo
• Default options
Time required: unknown

Edit photo information (after upload)
• Hide keywords, filename, make this my icon
• file title = common name, a required field
• Rearrange fields order
• Album not selected (add back button)
Time required: unknown


Edit photo information (admin)
• Rearrange fields order
Time required: unknown


Edit details page (admin)
• Hide unnecessary fields (language, user editor, help site, time zone)
Time required: unknown

Update Album (properties)
• Change default settings (permissions)
Time required: unknown


shall the person who wish to take the job fill in their names and estimate the time needed to fix?
this reminds me of a bug-tracker XD

Acceptance Criteria + Requirement Specifications

uploaded once again to BB

Database Design Uploaded

I uploaded the ERD and entities description on BB already

You can have a look at these below urls without downloading it:

ERD: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.9a35d98d-cb4f-4165-982d-d3c249cae1af&hl=en
Entities description: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.2dd0d8f5-511b-4ae9-b9ab-d9c7bf812933

Due to google permission, some of you guys might not be able to view the google doc page, but just check your mail, i've sent invitation to all.

Mail service configuration completed

Another big thing I have completed today is to configure the email services. By default, all emails sent from our server will be classified as spam, for instance, registration email when users register new account. So technically, users are receiving unsolicited emails, thats unacceptable and it need to be fixed!

So I did some research and found out spf, or TXT record is what Im looking for. It wasnt a easy task I have to say. I will document this and all changes I have made so far tomorrow (It will be a lengthy list for sure)

For now, please do me favor, register an account here and let me know if the email sent as spam or not:

http://stephenpham.com/index.php/component/user/?task=register

Meeting Buzz on Monday

Buzz replied my email as follows:

Hi Kevin,

I have a meeting at a school and will not be back at uni until after 2.00.

Can we meet at 2.30?

Buzz

Good news (sort of)

Guys, after spending an entire Sat evening, looks like I found the solution for the gallery. It was much, much more challenging than I thought.

I have tried about ~10 Joomla extensions, some dont support user management, some do, but they cant be integrated transparently into Joomla. The Gallery 2 in bridge mode I installed before is an instance. They use database that is mirrorred all user information from Joomla one. Users need to register once, but log in twice. No good at all.

After a fair amount of research, Coppermine in bridge mode seems to be a solution. The tutorial to install is here:

http://www.mehdiplugins.com/misc/

So I installed everything. It wasnt an easy one I must say. The documenation is very very poor, vague and unclear documentation drove me nut!

Also, I decided to move the testing site to a new one. I can control everything in the old server, it doesnt sound good, really, because later on we need to implement Joomla and gallery in the Vicnet server, which access is very limited. So I migrate the site to a similar one as Vicnet's:

http://stephenpham.com

The admin login info is still:

hit3061

t3st1ng

Now, do me a favor, check the site and leave me some feedbacks.

Acceptance Criteria + Requirement Specifications

uploaded to BB, please check