36 CHAPTER 4 - ANALYSIS This chapter takes the form of a
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1. It is through understanding that these files work in pairs and that a variable can be set on one page login html and processed by another page login php that I began to understand variables Any piece of code with a in front of it is a variable In other words username is a variable The combination of username and password variables in the one piece of code are an array and the array then is posted to the database In other words the table columns in the database thesis correspond to the arrays created in PHP in the login html and login php are posted to the database Through conversations with Cormac I began to make the connections between the data structures of the database tables and the way these data structures are reflected in the PHP use of arrays Specifically I began to realize that the column titles in the database needed to be matched exactly by the data being submitted through an array collection of variables in PHP Another amendment to the tutorial files is the inclusion of the headers for the portfolio system with the images and navigation menu This section is echo lt html gt lt head gt lt title gt Welcome to Your Portfolia rf Research Manager portal page lt title gt 60 lt link rel stylesheet type text css href style css gt lt head gt lt table width LO0S gt LCE lt td width 253 gt lt img src images fractal jpg width 118 hei2. _ Plug in FAQ Introduction Done 4 12 4 The Design Process The user manual in Appendix C gives a comprehensive breakdown of each of the pages in the site and how users can access each page and the features of each The next section focuses on the design process involved in the pages and in particular the technical issues in relation to the design process 4 12 5 My Projects Template php To a user the title of this page is My Projects page Following a successful log in this is the first page that a user will see The example below shows a user with two projects already uploaded Fig 4 11 Template php cascading style sheet 63 Welcome to Your Portfolio Research Manager My Projects page Mozilla Firefox Jee File Edit View Go Bookmarks Toos Help Gh i Sl co Y K Y i A hittp focalhost template php x G Firefox Help 1 Firefox Support f Plug in FAQ Project Listings To do List Top 5 Printthis page f The features of this page are that a user when they login can see when their project is due End Date column The Title of the project and a Description of it The user then has an option to click on the link to the project Originally this page had three columns on it and a similar layout to index php I had to change this for technical reasons rather than design reasons My technical skills are insufficient to embed the query results from the database within
3. lt td gt lt td gt tags that are already in existence and retain the side columns which would have allowed for the To Do List to appear in it This To Do List is another SQL query and I had tremendous difficulty in putting more than one SQL query on a page with the page returning blank results sets for the to do list repeatedly I found this very difficult to resolve The resolution came by placing the query for the to do list I placed between the lt body gt lt body gt tags in the HTML code instead of the lt head gt lt head gt tags as I had it initially 64 The SQL syntax of the query for the projects includes the variable userID which is set earlier on the page SuserID S SESSION userid This sets the session ID the logged in user as the user whose records are to be searched in the query The query reads query SELECT FROM project WHERE userID userID This queries the database and the results are processed as follows lt php loop until we are out of rows while row mysql fetch_array result MYSQL ASSOC Srow will contain the current row of the table so we print out the values of it print lt tr gt n this will get the date but it will be in the format YYYY MM DD SdbDate Srow enddate to put it in the format d m y we do SniceDate date d m y strtotime SdbDate print lt td gt lt h3 gt niceDate
4. Login MySQL unsuccessful l It is the same situation for the register html and CreateUser php files which also work in pairs Include db inc php tells PHP to include the database thesis the query section is an SQL query which posts the username and password to the database and if the user is registered will collect their userID and allow them to open a session on the database You will notice that there is a section at the top of the login php page which mentions a teacher and admin log in which is a relic from the tutorial but as it didn t effect the workings of the script I ve left it in It also gives me the option to setup an administrator function as my technical skills develop The code that I can amend in the future is quoted below Currently my technical knowledge is not sufficient to process this but I may gain these skills in the future and it is with a view to leaving the option open that this code remains rather than being deleted 59 if Susername teacher if they did we will have to check that they got the right password if Spassword admin if all is correct we can set the teacher session variable and direct the teacher to the teacher menu _SESSION teacher true echo Successfully logged in lt br gt echo lt a href teacher php gt Go to the teacher hom page lt a gt jelse if they got the password wrong we can print out the form again gt
5. Tier Server Sided Scripting e Client Side What the user will see This intervention from the literature fundamentally shaped my thinking on what was needed for the design The database needs to be interpreted by the PHP tier in order to be sent out to Internet Explorer or an equivalent browser STEP 2 Fig 4 2 tables1basic xls E Microsoft Excel tables basic ees File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help i i DRAA SRY aea B z 2 i a yg Vii B eS 8B Ea a F7 X f A B C D E F G H I J K E M aj 1 Table Structures a 2 3 users primary foreign key 4 username userpassword userID projectID to do list 5 varchar varchar smallint smallint text 6 mull null not null not null null 7 L 8 9 primary foreign key projectID dateID smallint smallint not null notnull N oO foreign key resource filepath projectID text text smallint 4 7 3 STEP 3 Tables2basic xls Developing design through contact with Cathal and Cormac I am learning the entity and relationship model of database design through trial and error with the help of Cathal and Cormac with the result that the number of tables and fields in each table and how these relate to each other is changing Another key contribution I made by the book Database Design using Entity Relationship Diagrams by Bagui and Earp 2003 which was very helpful with regard to learning the basics of database design
6. contact with Bob not their real name a student in another Irish University is also a vital contributor to the design process I met Bob through the Living Action Research Listserv forum run by Rev Je Kan Adler Collins an action research practitioner in the medical profession based in Japan Bob requested that I maintain their anonymity and the anonymity of the tutorial 4 3 Knowledge and Experience None of the participants including myself have any experience with the open source applications Apache Web Server MySQL or PHP I have some experience in HTML and have designed five websites in the last 18 months having learned the skills in year one of the H Dip M Sc in Education and Training Management in Dublin City University DCU I have a very basic understanding of JavaScript in that I can manipulate it but I don t understand its syntax I have no experience of database design theory or practice having previously attempted to design a database in Microsoft Access for an assignment in DCU which was a flat tabled database with no entity relationship modeling etc see Appendix A for a glossary of terms Tariq Ali has some experience in HTML and JavaScript and assisted me in learning HTML David Gallagher has no experience in programming John Flynn has experience in Microsoft Access Databases 4 4 Expectations David Gallagher s narrative I hope that the e Portfolio enables me to collect organize and store data in a clear an
7. lt h3 gt lt td gt n print T td Srow title lt tdS n print td gt Srow deseriprion lt td gt n print 2 lt td gt lt a href project php id Srow projectID gt go to lt a gt lt td gt n print lt cre n 7 gt Again this is an amendment of the source code from the tutorial The database stores the date in the form Year Month Day and the PHP code transforms this to Day Month Year before printing it on screen The results of the query from the database are printed as table rows lt tr gt and table data lt td gt within table rows This query result structure meant that I had to restructure my initial design template as I didn t understand how to put the query into an existing lt td gt or lt tr gt tag at this point in time 4 12 6 Tariq s influence 65 The To Do List project management aspect was developed with through reflecting on Tariq Ali s narrative where he states Also if feasible would it be possible to include some sort of project planning aspect to the portal I think it may be useful to have a visible project plan on the customized homepage e mail extract 31 3 04 Initially the plan was for the To Do List to appear on each page in the same place but the technical skills needed to program this are currently beyond my skills to do The chief problem I am finding is in running two SQL queries side by side on the one page
8. CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS This chapter takes the form of a narrative reflecting on my learning and the contributions of others improving my learning The order of it is largely chronological based on an extensive research diary I kept throughout the process Where others have made contributions their own words are included The next chapter deals with the testing conducted with users in relation to the artifact constructed is presented and analyzed Central to the process even at the initial stages were the other participants in the process 4 1 Overview In terms of the AAHE Taxonomy of Electronic Portfolios the artifact created in this study is situated as follows e Author Darragh Power e Context A small scale study focused on my own learning and facilitating the learning of other fellow learners in an informal way as part of my training and development practice and learning as a student in DCU e Context Technology Platform Open source applications e Purposes The purpose of this e Portfolio system is for self development and documenting learning over time As the AAHE 2004 taxonomy says E Portfolios for Development Self assessment using portfolios to track an individual s process of reflecting on and analyzing activities and performance identifying strengths and weaknesses Documenting learning over time using portfolios to present evidence about individual or organizational growth and development and the diffe
9. There is an increase in the 45 numbers of tables here and in addition the types of information stored in the columns which has changed from having the table fields across the columns to having the table fields in the rows instead This was a direct result of Cormacs intervention and helped the design to correspond to the conventions of database design At this stage I am very much trying to conceptualise what the database will look like STEP 3 Fig 4 3 tables2basic xls MySQL tab E Microsoft Excel tables2basic Jee File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help aoe X Deana SRAY Be F7 BS r taee a yg 752 BMS AHS R aa cr X f H I J K L g g 2 3 4 smallint 1 not null 2 text 16 null 6 7 text 16 null 7 smallint 1 not null 8 smallint 1 not null 9 smallint 1 not null 10 smallint 1 not null 11 12 13 j smallint 1 not null auto_increment 14 smallint 1 not null 15 ji text 50 null full index 16 Timestamp not null full index 17 ipti text 200 null 18 19 20 smallint 1 not null 21 a smallint 1 not null 22 Timestamp not null 23 400 null 24 not null 25 26 table resources ba gt nN mysql phptier Z dient side lal SE Drawy AutoShapes a CIOE 4 amp 2 Bill O Z A S 2EO Ready 4 7 4 STEP 4 Tables2basicl xls Cormac contributed a new tab pointing out problems with the initial database design tables The tab CM_msql is Cormacs wor
10. abase settings It can be included in all your php scripts that interact with your database Then if you need to change the passwd or the databaseServer etc you will only have to change it once define some parameters for the connection databaseServer localhost specifies the database server Can be changed if the database moves Suser thesis specifies a username to log on to the database with passwd thesis specifies a password for the username database thesis specifies the database on the server you wish to connect to NOTE in this case user passwd and database are all set to the same value This is for simplicity but it won t always be the case when using databases on other servers gt This combination of factors allows the user to access the database The register html form processed by register php inserts the new users details into the table on the database thesis This is a very satisfying breakthrough as it has taken me a long time to figure out these steps as I could not find any simple explanations of how to do this Note any line beginning with is not read by the browser only the lines ending in are PHP lines As you will see I have just named everything thesis for convenience sake This is the source code from the tutorial Bob introduced me to which I modified to suit my needs and to read my database thesis 4 11 Reflections on the Design process to d
11. appear on a page Up to this point just getting the results of HTML forms passed to the database has been difficult particularly for the add files comments and resources The chief reason for this difficulty is that I didn t know how to pass the project ID around from page to page once a user had selected that particular project On the template php page the query result I discussed earlier makes the projectID a link The section in question is highlighted lt php loop until we are out of rows while row mysql fetch_array result MYSQL ASSOC Srow will contain the current row of the table so we print out the values of it Print lt tre n this will get the date but it will be in the format YYYY MM DD SdbDate Srow enddate to put it in the format d m y we do SniceDate date d m y strtotime SdbDate print lt td gt lt h3 gt niceDate lt h3 gt lt td gt n print lt td gt Srow title lt td gt n print lt td gt Srow d escription lt td gt n print i lt td gt lt a href project php id Srow projectID gt go to lt a gt lt td gt n print lt ftee n gt This makes the URL to the linked page read as 70 http localhost project php id 9 The link therefore incorporates the projectID Now the next thing I needed to understand how to do was to pick up the ID and incorporate it into queries in the linked page Again I
12. ate As is evident from the chronology above it is now a month since the start of the project and it has taken four weeks of hard work to get to the point where I could start programming One of my commitments with this research was to be very clear and honest with the difficulties in relation to the study I do not want to underplay how difficult it has been in learning 56 the database structures how to draw an entity relationship diagram correctly how to put the design elements together in a group of tables that are workable how to download the correct software applications how to install and configure the software applications how to learn how to do these technical tasks and research the process at the same time The result to date is workable but is by no means a definitive way of doing this kind of project and as with the entire project it would not be possible to have got this far as a novice in the field without the assistance and contributions of other people in the process in particular Cormacs input on the database was crucial to building a working model At this stage in reflecting on the process to date I realise that most of my learning has been in relation to the database design theory and the configuration of MySQL to allow for multiple users to access the database The full source code for each page is viewable in Appendix D and the actual files are available on the CD attached 4 12 Cycle Two 4 12 1 Starting t
13. aware that MS Internet Explorer seems to be really buggy about cookies at least till version 6 And PHP 4 1 1 is also a bit buggy in this area Even in a single user environment you might prefer to use HTTP or cookie mode so that your user password pair are not in clear in the configuration file 54 o HTTP and cookie authentication modes are more secure the MySQL password does not need to be set in the phpMyAdmin configuration file except for the controluser see the Configuration section However keep in mind that the password travels in plain text unless you are using the HTTPS protocol In cookie mode the password is stored encrypted with the blowfish algorithm in a temporary cookie GRANT USAGE ON MySQL TO pma localhost IDENTIFIED BY pmapass GRANT SELECT T Host User Select_priv Insert_priv Update_priv Delete_priv Create priv Drop priv Reload priv Shutdown _priv Process priv File priv Grant priv References priv Index priv Alter priv Show_db priv Super priv Create tmp table priv Lock tables priv Execute priv Repl slave priv Repl client priv ON mysql user TO pma localhost GRANT SELECT ON mysgql db TO pma localhost GRANT SELECT ON mysgql host TO pma localhost GRANT SELECT Host Db User Table name Table priv Column priv ON mysql tables priv TO pma localhost This is definit
14. ch as www phpfreaks com and www php net which is a significant reason in my choice of the applications The result of this view was I decided to take as much of the source code as possible from the tutorial Bob introduced me to and configure it where possible to suit my own needs As my database is unique to my application much of the source code from the tutorial had to be re written and re configured and in some cases added to After the initial configuration of db inc php I moved onto the files register html and CreateUser php and login html and login php A major learning point for me was the realization that these files work as a pair The file login html creates a set of variables which are processed by login php The following excerpt from login html illustrates this Note the action is to send the username and password to login php which then processes it lt form name forml method post action login php gt 58 The page login php then processes the form by sending the information to the MySQL database and depending on whether the username and password are recognized by the database sends out a message to the user that their login was successful or unsuccessful This is illustrated in Fig 4 9 login html login php below Fig 4 9 login html login php USER SIDE SERVER SIDE Login html Login php Username Username and password password processed to Login successful Database the database
15. comments in relation to this project ordered by date The section query is the SQL for this Squery SELECT FROM comments WHERE projectID projectID ORDER BY dave 4 13 4 Formatting the output of the queries and multiple queries per page At this time 6 6 04 the artifact functioned reasonably well in that users could add projects within projects they could add resources files and comments and the additions would be correctly stored in the database under the correct user and projectIDs I could now turn my attention to getting the queries constructed and formatting the output of the queries At this time I am conscious of the fact that the Tariq and David both expected formatted output and clear search results Through experimenting with using various tags in a trial and error way I managed to figure out that the query results could be printed within lt p gt paragraph tags and also lt ul gt Un ordered list tags which allowed me to display query results within table structures like a row or a column without having to restructure the design of the page The artifact was now developed to the point where the alpha version could be user tested David Dick 2002 suggests that many products are developed to a basic level an alpha version which the designers are aware will have design flaws but which are sufficiently functional to be tested 72
16. covering data The other disadvantage is that the bundled packages are not the latest releases of any of the applications so for a more advanced user they may lose functionality 4 6 2 Downloading and installing the applications The diary entry below is my diary reflections on the downloading and installation of Apache Web Server MySQL and PHP which I had significant difficulty with primarily due to the fact that I downloaded the individual applications prior to finding a bundled solution 4 3 04 Diary Downloaded EasyPHP Downloaded EasyPHP and took notes from http moodle org regarding installing it The link for the download was through http moodle org also My initial intention was to use Moodle in some way to support my education and learning practice and I also wanted to learn how to use Apache Web Server MySQL and PHP 5 3 04 Diary Installing EasyPHP Difficulties I had already downloaded and installed individually PHP4 My SQL and Apache Web server with different configurations in about January 2004 These I was never able to configure properly as I found that many websites supporting the LAMP platform are pitched at a level above where I am at IE The tutorials available from www webmonkey com and www codewalkers com assumed that the person downloading the tutorials had a reasonable knowledge of object oriented programming terms like strings arrays and were comfortable using the DOS Shell command li
17. cult concept as I don t have a background in C or Java which is assumed by many tutorials Over 60 of web based applications are on the MySQL and PHP platform This absolute novice explanation may be a recommendation for the open source community in the future in their construction of tutorials The three tier architecture structure namely MySQL database PHP tier Client Tier fundamentally shaped my thinking about what needs to be programmed and more importantly what the design structure should be like 42 I was going to dive in and try to get a feel for programming and I started constructing a frontpage and login screen using PHP and HTML however the complexity of the structures involved made me re think 4 6 5 Designing the Database 22 3 04 24 3 04 Diary Reflections Tables Database design I drafted a number of basic database structures to try and conceptualise the database design for the artifact Cormac Moran made a valuable intervention here as well in his advice to plan and diagram the process Cormacs inputs can be seen on Database tables revision tables2basicl xls and in particular from tables2basic2 xls to tables2basic4 xls I also distributed copies via e mail of the table revisions to each person involved in the design process Cathal Gurrin also suggested that I add a first name and last name field to the user table in addition to the username which will be important should the artifact d
18. d concise manner This would be very advantageous as it would enable me to access stored information quicker than I can at the moment I am particularly looking forward to seeing how the search function operates The majority of search engines and databases I use are inconsistent and 38 incomplete and anything that enables me to accurately search through stored information would be most welcome Email excerpt 31 3 04 Tariq Ali s Narrative I would be particularly interested in the diary function I think it would be ideal if once all of the diary entries are complete for a particular project they could be printed or exported in formatted manner This would be ideal for project reviews and to submit as an appendix to project work This could illustrate that a methodical approach has been taken Also if feasible would it be possible to include some sort of project planning aspect to the portal I think it may be useful to have a visible project plan on the customized homepage This would assist with the time management of a project Email excerpt 31 3 04 John Flynn the third participant did not respond with his reflections on what functions he would like to see as part of the artifact 4 5 My Expectations I hope to learn the basics of database design and apply them in MySQL I hope to learn the basics of programming in PHP and SQL in terms of the syntax of the languages and how to apply them I hope to have a working e Portfoli
19. discussed this with Cathal on the 4 6 04 and through trial and error we figured out that in the page that is being linked in this case the project php page The key to collecting the ID number in the target page is the PHP code SprojectID GET id This code takes the projectID number from the URL and sets it as the variable projectID which then allows this variable to be used in all the links from the project php page In other words the files resources and comments are linked through the URL to the projectID in the same way as the link to add a comment from the project php page demonstrates lt php echo lt a href newcomment php id SprojectID gt Add a comment lt a gt gt I then had to understand how to incorporate this projectID into the SQL syntax in order to update and read the database 4 13 3 Query construction in SQL This is not actually that difficult as long as the database structures are known and clearly understood An example from addnewcomment php which processes the form newcomment php is query INSERT INTO comments VALUES NULL projectID comment date Me This means that the projectID now accompanies the comment when it is submitted to the database Now that the projectID is linked correctly to the comment it allows for this query to appear on the project php id whatever the projectID is which brings 71 up all the
20. ees is Fig 4 13 myupload php 68 Welcome to Your Portfolio Research Manager Up load a file page Mozilla Firefox Lad cle File Edit View Go Bookmarks Toos Help G ja Al co i gt Ad 4 a e CA http localhost myupload php id 9 M Firefox Help Firefox Support _ Plug in FAQ Submittfile I struggled with getting these files uploaded into the correct directory for a number of days I discussed this with Cathal on the 4 6 04 and as a result of this conversation I edited the following piece of code in uploadmyfile php which processes the form shown above Suploaddir C Program Files EasyPHP1 7 www userfiles So that it read Suploaddir C Program Files EasyPHP1 7 www userfiles The addition of the second backslash is necessary for the upload to take place correctly 4 13 Cycle Three 4 13 1 Becoming more technically proficient 69 The stage of learning PHP is one which is characterized by trial and error and a lot of time spent trying to get the pages to work properly As is evident from the progress above from March to early June I was learning a number of things simultaneously in terms of database design SQL queries and also PHP language and syntax 4 13 2 Passing projectID numbers through URLs At this stage I embarked on another cycle of learning how to query the database properly and ensure that multiple queries could
21. ely geared to a more technically literate user This type of error message I think could be explained in significantly easier terms for a layman and this use of technical language is something that maybe the open source community could try to simplify for inexperienced users I ve included it in full to illustrate how difficult it is to understand After a lot of trial and error and frustration over about five days I managed to configure the applications as my diary entry below shows 3 4 04 Diary Reflection Breakthrough in Technical Knowledge I finally managed to configure the database and login successfully The steps to this are as follows Step 1 In myPHPAdmin the config php file the line cfg Servers i auth type config Needs to be changed to cfg Servers i auth type http 55 So that apache can process the http requests Step 2 A new user needs to be created on the specific database to allow the user to access this database only and not the entire database library In my case I created a new user in myPHPAdmin called thesis with a password thesis and ran the following SQL query to grant this user all privileges on the database GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON thesis TO thesis localhost IDENTIFIED BY thesis Step 3 The db inc php file which contains all the details of the database I edited to read lt php This file defines the dat
22. evelop to a wider user base 4 7 Excel Files Each Excel file represents a change in my thinking and the learning process as I modify the design of the artifact with the help of Cormac Cathal David and Tariq A brief synopsis of the changes is outlined below The full files can be viewed on the CD accompanying this study in the folder marked databasetablerevisions You will note that my reflections on the three tier design structure refer mainly to the database tables My concern at this time was that if the database tables were not correct it would be problematic later in the process particularly in terms of querying the database using SQL I will take you through the development of the design process now showing you the various changes in the design process and explain the rationale for the amendments based on the contributions from each of the participants This stage of the process is focused almost exclusively on the database table revisions which took place in eight steps 4 7 1 STEP 1 Database tables xls Initial concept plan for the artifact 43 Note that this essentially a concept document an attempt to get a handle on what users will use You will notice from Fig 4 1 database tables xls below that this is a single tab excel spreadsheet with a view to figuring out the structures of the tables of the database which will underpin the application It will be evident to those who are experienced database designers that there i
23. ght 118 alt Welcome to portfolio building align middle gt lt td gt lt td width 50 valign top align middle gt lt hl align center valign top gt lt hi gt You have logged in successfully lt hl gt lt a name top gt lt a gt lt td gt lt td width 25 3 gt lt td gt SERY SEE colspan 3 gt lt td colspan 3 align center gt lt a href template php gt To My Projects page lt a gt lt td gt lt tr gt lt table gt lt body gt lt html1 gt Note the difference between HTML and PHP is that when embedding a HTML page in PHP the backslash character needs to be included before any otherwise PHP will not read it correctly 4 12 3 Cascading Style Sheet Style css A cascading style sheet defines the font sizes and styles for all the HTML code on the site It can be embedded included in a HTML page or it can be external which means that it is stored as a separate page and then linked to each HTML page I set up an external cascading style sheet at this stage with a view to managing all the styles on the site to ensure consistency and be visually appealing I have included the file style css on the accompanying CD If I had more developed technical skills I would have liked to give users an option on what colour schemes and font text sizes they 61 would like to see on the site so they could choose for themselves This would be in keepi
24. he research into my daily practice as a trainer so the development is taking place outside work on my own computer which puts the users in a situation where they cannot see the development process except periodically 4 10 Configuration Details In order to start the development process I needed to be able to set up my own local computer to run the Apache Web Server MySQL and PHP applications and configure them to run simultaneously and allow MySQL and PHP to read each other This difficulty arose later at the stage where I was uploading the artefact to a server in order to allow for user testing I will discuss this further later but my reflections on the initial configuration on my local computer are outlined below 29 3 04 Diary Reflections Technical Difficulties I am struggling to configure MyPHPAdmin and MySQL for multiple users which is very frustrating At this point I keep getting the error message Error The additional Features for working with linked Tables have been deactivated To find out why click here Clicking here brings me into a manual that is written for someone with considerably more technical knowledge than I currently possess In other words it s not particularly user friendly an example is e HTTP and cookie authentication modes are recommended in a multi user environment where you want to give users access to their own database and don t want them to play around with others Nevertheless be
25. ink to everything you n 7 Ss 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 erID as you have project ID you find the user f 18 19 20 21 22 table resources 23 resourceID smallint 1 not null auto_increment 24 erID as you have project ID you find the user f 25 date Timestamp not null full index elie 26 resouxce text 100 null gt 1 CM_mysql A mysal Z phptier Z client side lal Draw AN Autoshapes a COR AS Bll So LA Hlg Ready 4 7 5 STEP 5 Tables2basic2 xls Following a suggestion from Cormac on an e mail a new TAB Macrol has been added to provide a visual representation of the database structures to help to get an overview of how the database will look This was done with help from Bagui and Earp 2003 The learning involved in doing the visual representation of the database involved learning how to use database design 47 entity relationship visual diagram models for strong and weak entities attributes relationships primary keys and foreign keys See Appendix A for a glossary of terms Note the addition of a transactions table which I thought would be necessary for querying the database but as the structure emerged I found to be irrelevant as each user will have projects and the projects will have files comments and resources Therefore queries can be constructed using the user and project ID s In database language this would be that the foreign key in the project table would be the use
26. k and was a major factor in my thinking about how entity s and relationships work Note Cormacs contributions highlighted in yellow These contributions again point out how crucial the contributions of others are for me in the process of my learning Cormac in knowing the way queries are constructed in SQL had a good understanding of the way a query in SQL would work In particular Cormacs intervention can be 46 seen in the way the primary and foreign keys are changing The keys define the relationships between entities So a user doing a project would need the users ID to appear in the project table of the database This is called a foreign key The primary key in the user table is the users ID As the users ID appears in the project table it shows the link between a user and the project that the user does This learning is evident in Fig 4 4 Tables2basic1 xls STEP 4 Fig 4 4 Tables2basicl xls CM_mysq tab IS Microsoft Excel tablesZbasict Wee G File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help 8X DEHAN SAY Be F B z 2 i FY mee 7 12 H B S H S A a a H31 a f don t need userID as you have project ID you find the user form there A B Cc E F G H I J K es 1 ctions table put a transactionID field in each table and link to the transaction table 2 3 type 4 userID smallint 1 not null auto_increment 5 username text 16 null 6 userpassword text 16 null h ve one instance of each user can l
27. le resources resourceID Date Resource Projected Table files fileID Date Filepath Type Smallint Timestamp Text Smallint Type Smallint Timestamp Text not null not null Null not null not null not null Null Auto_increment Auto_increment full index full index not null Smallint Projected 4 8 Database Using MyPHPAdmin which is a web interface to access MySQL I constructed the database thesis which contains all the tables as per Fig 4 8 4 9 Reflections on Politics My diary entry below indicates some of the issues I was reflecting on around the management of my time and resources while working in a commercial organization I was hoping to be able to use some of the computer facilities in work and also avail of some time in work to develop the artifact as part of my training role As my organization is developing a culture of reflective practice for managers involving a construction of a portfolio of their work I thought that some of the programming I was doing might be useful in helping with this and also when the artifact is finished I will be making the research available to some of my colleagues My diary entry at the time illustrates some issues that arose in terms of support Fionnuala Flanagan a contributor to the H Dip M Sc in Education and Training Management in DCU 52 suggested that these issues may occur in a similar way for other people in their own practice conte
28. ll Null Null Null not null Null Null not null not null not null not null Null not null not null not null primary Auto_increment key Auto_increment full index full index Auto_increment full index Auto_increment full index Resource Projected Table files fileID Date Filepath Projected Text Smallint Type Smallint Timestamp Text Smallint 100 100 Null not null not null not null Null not null Auto_increment full index 4 7 8 STEP 8 Tables3basicl xls Following Tariq Alis narrative the to do list table has been added to allow for the project management element of the portfolio system STEP 8 Fig 4 8 tables3basic1 xls Table users userID Username Password Firstname Lastname Table projects Projected Title Description userID Date Table to do list todolistID list item due date userID Projected Table comments Type Smallint Text Text Text Text Type Smallint Text Text Smallint Timestamp Type Smallint Text Date Smallint Smallint Type Size 51 not null Null Null Null not null Null Null not null not null not null Null Null not null not null primary Auto_increment key Auto increment Auto increment full index full index Commented Smallint 1 not null Auto_increment Date Timestamp not null full index Comment Text 400 Null Projected Smallint not null Tab
29. llint Smallint Text Timestamp Text Type Smallint Timestamp Text Smallint Type Smallint Timestamp Text Smallint 49 not null Null Null not null not null Null not null not null Null not null Null not null not null Null not null not null not null Null not null Auto_increment Auto_increment Auto_increment Auto_increment Auto_increment primary key primary key foreign key full index full index full index full index table files fileID Date Filepath transactionID Type Smallint Timestamp Text Smallint 100 not null not null Null not null Auto_increment full index STEP 7 Tables2basic4 xls Addition of first and last name fields in the user table following a contribution from Cathal Note the removal of the transaction table which Cormac suggested is unnecessary if the projectID and userIDs are to be used for querying the database STEP 7 Fig 4 7 tables2basic4 xls MySQL tab Table users userID Username Userpassword Firstname Lastname Table projects Projected Title Description userID Date Table comments Commented Date Comment Projected Table resources resourceID Date Type Smallint Text Text Text Text Type Smallint Text Text Smallint Timestamp Type Smallint Timestamp Text Smallint Type Smallint Timestamp Size 1 16 16 16 16 Size 50 not nu
30. n of the artifact which is again a feature of the original tutorial design structure The same structures that newproject php and addproject php use to process data are found in the files newlink php and addnewlink php newcomment php and addnewcomment php 67 newtodolistitem php and addnewnotodolistitem php The first page sets the variables and the second page processes the details The one difference is that the links and comments are attached to a project rather than to a user In other words for the purposes of querying the database the user accesses their comments and links to a particular project See Macrol tables3basicl xls for an overview of the database structures 4 12 8 Uploading Files myupload php and uploadmyFile php Like the resources and comments that are added by users files are added to a project The myupload php and uploadmyFile php were slightly different from adding comments or resources in that the files that are uploaded onto the web are actually stored in a separate folder on the server called userfiles The database stores the Filepath for the uploaded file The file size is limited to about 1 5 MB All of this is similar to the tutorial that Bob introduced me to The chief difference is in the types of extensions allowable for uploading which are GEE PGi lt deG Jp a5 X15 DE PES allie or way The original tutorial allowed bby POE OS JEHEL The page the user s
31. nd developers of learning objects A recommendation may be that some middle ground be found which reduces the conflict between the open source community and commercial vendors This may have to be negotiated at a local level within the users context As this diary entry indicates the fact that the computer support function in my organisation is outsourced This outsourced organisation has tie in connections with other commercial database and server sided scripting vendors there is a significant problem in terms of support in my organisation The use of commercial products could not be countenanced in terms of the cost of buying licenses and also in terms of the ongoing support for such applications This financial cost in addition to the costs in terms of time of learning to program in server sided scripting languages and SQL is potentially prohibitive for anyone seeking to go down this route In addition the recurring fees in terms of licenses etc are an additional annuity cost 53 These reasons are my motivation for using open source software which being financially cost free provide an opportunity for low cost development for me I also felt that the open source community being one where collaboration is in evidence through the releasing of source code would provide reasonable support through online tutorials etc One of the difficulties as a result of this approach however is that I am relatively unsupported in terms of bringing t
32. ne in Windows etc In other words I completely failed to get to grips with the configuration as the supports available for a novice are inadequate Maybe this is a recommendation for the Open source community It also reflects the problems with 40 the Windows platforms market penetration as the point and shoot and plug and play philosophy doesn t encourage or support adequately the use of open source software such as Apache Web Server MySQL and PHP These initial separate installs that I couldn t get to work I had to uninstall as I am not technically literate enough to edit the properties of the already installed files Also on the Moodle installation documents it suggests uninstalling all previous versions of the above packages The installation of EasyPHP was considerably easier as it did not involve any configuration editing The documentation from Moodle was very useful in installing and running it and pointed to the folder www as being the one in which to store php and html files It also has already got MySQL set up in a separate folder and pointed out that there is a difficulty in MySQL in setting it up for multiple users and linked tables Having downloaded and installed the EasyPHP package I wondered how I was going to configure it to run correctly I also wondered how I would learn the syntax of the languages SQL and PHP and how they would interact and work together I would not have managed to resolve these without the con
33. ng with my values though my current skill level doesn t allow for it I would not rule it out in the future as an option though The cascading style sheet is one of the standard ones on Microsoft FrontPage which is installed on my local computer and I use as a HTML editor One of the functions available in Microsoft FrontPage is the generation of standardized external cascading style sheets I have just copied a standard cascading style sheet into my own site as style css css is the extension for a cascading style sheet This sets the standard for each of the HTML tags such as the lt a gt tags for links and lt h gt tags for text etc In the future I would hope to offer users the capability to choose their own style sheet which reflects their own taste but this is currently beyond my technical abilities The style sheet is incorporated into each page on the site with this code lt link rel stylesheet type text css href style css gt This appears between the lt head gt lt head gt tags in the html code An example of how the homepage looks with the cascading style sheet is below in Fig 4 10 Cascading Style Sheet Home Index php Fig 4 10 Cascading Style Sheet Home Index php 62 Welcome to My Portfolio Research Manager Mozilla Firefox Joe File Edit View Go Bookmarks Tools Help Ub a Gl e Go d 4 x Oh 6 lt OD http focathost index php sj GL Firefox Help Firefox Support
34. o Program Gary Greenberg cited in the NLII Annual Review 2003 discusses e Portfolios and advised session attendees to get started before waiting for the time when they think they can get it right ibid 2003 28 Given the length of time for this study I found the quote above to be a pragmatic cue to learning the programming by doing Reflecting on how I learned how to programme in HTML I found that learning by trial and error and by actually doing the programming was the only way I could get to grips with the syntax of the language With this in mind I started to learn to programme with PHP 4 12 2 Initial steps in PHP 57 The first step in the process of learning to program in PHP was to copy all of the files from the tutorial that Bob introduced me to into the folder C Program Files EasyPHP1 7 www and seeing how they worked I became aware that this is the folder to use for web files in PHP from reading through documentation at the http moodle org site which uses EasyPHP to support Moodle Moodle is the open source course management system CMS that DCU use At this point I do not understand the technical syntax of the programming language PHP in terms of variables and arrays As with HTML programming I adopted the view that why learn to re create the wheel if I can pick up what I need from other websites which is a feature of open source development Many open source sites exist which make source code available su
35. o system which has been user tested which can be used by learners in their learning and development My aim is to monitor each contribution made by all the participants in my learning and make this process of learning and design visible to myself and other learners I aim to incorporate the design requirements of the participants in the study into the e Portfolio in so far as my technical abilities will allow 4 6 Cycle One 4 6 1 Reflections on the Installation Technology Downloading the applications is relatively straightforward if they are downloaded in a bundled package where they are all pre configured such as EasyPHP Downloading the individual applications and configuring them on a windows XP platform proved beyond my capabilities as it involved using the Dos shell and configuring the 39 operating system in that way I could not find any simple explanation which explains to a layman how this is done on any of the web resources of which I compiled a large number This may be due to the fact that most developers using these applications develop them on Linux and already have knowledge of the hardware and how to configure operating systems It may also be due to the fact that Apache MySQL and PHP can be located in bundled packages such as EasyPHP The only disadvantages I can imagine in relation to this approach is that if something goes wrong not understanding what is happening in the background may mean difficulties in re
36. rID and the files comments and resources tables which are in relationship to the project table have the projectID as the foreign key STEP 5 Fig 4 5 tables2basic2 xls Macrol tab E Microsoft Excel tables2basic2 BAX Sl File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help 8X DEHA SAY tee F7 z le FY g B Bs PA B EA Al X Database design elements E z z 5 z F z H i z K T H W o E ma entity telatinchin i 5 a The 2 a transactions table which a was 2 unnecessary i gt mN Macrol CM_mysql Z mysal phptier dient side Ki elie Draw gt 3 AutoShapes N Ye Of 4A Be D 2 A ETE Saag Ready 48 4 7 6 STEP 6 Tables2basic3 xls Note the addition of a project ID field in the tables files resources comments which is for querying in SQL This reflects the learning from the previous table For a full visual representation of these tables please see the file Tables2basic3 xls on the accompanying CD STEP 6 Fig 4 6 tables2basic3 xls The MySQL tab Table users userID Username Userpassword Table transactions transactionID userID Transaction Table projects Projected transactionID Title Date Description table comments Commented Date comment transactionID table resources resourceID Date Resource transactionID Type Smallint Text Text Type Smallint Smallint Text Type Sma
37. rentiation and integration of knowledge ibid 2004 36 4 2 Initial Stages The People 4 2 1 The Participants David Gallagher and Tariq Ali third level students and co workers John Flynn A manager in the organization Darragh Power The researcher In keeping with my educational values the participants in this study are considered as co researchers In incorporating the contributions of others in their own words I hope to live my educational values and allow for multiple voices to emerge This plurality of voices is a factor in demonstrating rigour in qualitative research according to Winter 1989 4 2 2 Other contributors and supervisors Cormac Moran and Cathal Gurrin have provided considerable assistance with database design and SQL In addition Cathal is a supervisor for my thesis Margaret Farren is also a supervisor and has provided tremendous support throughout the study Realtan Ni Leanain another supervisor on the course has also provided considerable assistance in relation to the focus of the study Enda Lydon Aoife O Brien Fiona Williams Fionabarra Hallissey Brendan Ryan Claire Thomas Trudy Corrigan and Miriam Fitzpatrick some of my class mates in the M Sc in Education and Training in DCU have contributed significantly to the research process All of the people listed above have at various times influenced my thinking in relation to the study 37 A tutorial which I found out about through
38. responding about action research methodologies on e mail Bob suggested I take a look at the tutorial Bob and the tutorial remain anonymous at their own request Reflecting on this process I am struck by the living interventions of others shaping the course of my learning practice and that sharing information is a very constructive process I am also struck by the ideas of Winter 1989 on rigour which suggest that multiple voices and perspectives show rigour in a qualitative research study Another factor in establishing rigour is the interaction between theory and practice 4 6 4 The three tier design approach Technology My initial thoughts in relation to the usage of Apache web server MySQL and PHP were very chaotic In not understanding the way the applications interact I found it very difficult to conceptualise the design process An intervention from theory in this regard was Williams and Lane 2003 which I found very helpful My diary entry below illustrates this 17 3 04 Diary Reflections Hugh Williams and David Lane Web Database Applications with MySQL and PHP Book I ve just purchased the book which seems to be the definitive text on the creation of web database applications with MySQL and PHP I found many of the tutorials on the web pitched at too high a level in that I can understand the logic of object oriented programming but the syntax and language of strings arrays variables and objects is a diffi
39. s no attempt at figuring out the tables in relation to an entity relationship model The entity relationship model of database design is the standard model for database design It involves identifying the separate entities involved in this case users and the projects they have to do and the files comments and resources that constitute the project The ways separate entities relate to each other are called relationships STEP 1 Fig 4 1 database tables Microsoft Excel database tables BAX a File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help E pHga 68Y rRe S B z 2 i FVMBA 7e B SARH w Aa 2 B18 X f A B Cc D E F G H I J K L M Na I 2 3 Table 4 Users _ usemame password projectname dates comments resources fles topic 5 Darragh Power 6 David Gallagher 7 John Flynn 8 Tariq Ali 9 10 11 Users linkedto projects linkedto dates linked to comments 12 linkedto comments linkedto dates 13 linkedto resources linkedto topic linked to dates 14 linkedto dates 15 linkedto todolist linkedto to do list 16 17 18 l 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 M 4 gt MN Sheet1 Sheet2 Sheet3 al Si Drawy AutoShapesy CIOE QS Bild O Z A S 25O Ready 4 7 2 STEP 2 Tableslbasic xls Initial design following three tier approach as a result of reading Williams and Lane 2002 Note the introduction of the three tabs 44 e MySQL Database Structures e PHP
40. tributions of others A key example is discussed in the next section 4 6 3 Social aspect of research is vital The People 16 3 04 Diary Reflections The Tutorial As a result of my correspondence with Bob the student from the other that I met through Rev Je Kan Adler Collins Living Action Research forum I downloaded a tutorial from a contributor to the course in the other university I had a look at Bobs own Reflective Practitioner tool which they designed and it influenced my thinking in terms of what I would like to see possible for my own reflections The tutorial shaped my thinking around the rough structure of the PHP and HTML and how they interact and I will probably use much of the source code from this tutorial which I will tailor to suit my own artifact This tutorial proved to be an invaluable source of source code for the application and much of the structure for the application is taken from it Without this overview of how an application might work this research would be impossible for me as an absolute novice in programming in PHP and application development I made contact with Bob through Living Action Research List Serv which is run by a Rev Je Kan Adler Collins an action researcher in the medical profession based in Japan I posted a link to a web page I designed with my class mates on the M Sc in DCU 41 http student dcu ie powerd3 classweb which prompted Bob to make contact and as a result of cor
41. with both sets of results being output into a table The best compromise I can currently come up with is to have the projects shown by their end date 4 12 7 Adding A Project newproject php and addnewproject php In a similar way to the login html and login php pages the pages newproject php and addproject php act as a pair The newproject php page sets the variables and the addproject php puts the variables in an array and submits them to the database I adapted this from the tutorial Fig 4 12 newproject php 66 Welcome to Your Portfolio add a project Mozilla Firefox Og File Edit View Go Bookmarks Tools Help W i Gl 8 co Ad tP e O L htipi focalhost newproject php x ia Firefox Help Firefox Support _ Plug in FAQ Done This page allows the user to set the end date for the project which will hopefully work for the users in helping them with their project management These pages work in the same way as login html and login php in that the submission form on login html sets the variables and the login php page processes the submission of the variables to the database The code for the submission in this case is as follows query INSERT INTO project VALUES NULL userID date title Sdescription As you can see the array details match the column names on the table projects in the database This paired approach is evident throughout the desig
42. xts and may offer a transferable aspect of the research 26 3 04 Diary The development of the artefact in work is problematic for a number of reasons 1 The technical support company for my employer have specific commercial tie ins with a number of other vendors which means that open source material such as PHP and EasyPHP cannot be installed on PC s in the office This means that I need to have my own computer There is a politics in the use of open source with the LAMP Linux Apache Web Server MySQL and PHP platform being a low cost competitor of the commercial software vendors The aspects of the platform that are transferable to a windows platform are difficult to install and are subject to an environment where the commercial vendors are openly hostile to the use of open source software This reflects the potential loss of earnings that they represent to a commercial vendor It also means that the artefact I develop is necessarily focussed on individual learners rather than towards organisational learning There is also a parallel perception in the open source community in terms of using MySQL in a commercial environment whereby it is strongly advised on the MySQL website that commercial users purchase a commercial license for the product This dichotomy would be significantly more problematic for a larger scale project in a commercial environment and may make the use of open source software prohibitive for other trainers a
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