Programming Assignment

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is for you to get hands-on experience with designing, constructing and using a database for a real-world domain. You will see all aspects of database creation, from understanding the domain to using the final database from external applications.

Assignment submission and deadlines

To pass the programming assignment, you must pass all five tasks described on this page. You will do the assignment in groups of two.

You must submit your solutions through the Fire reporting system. Read the separate notes on registering in the Fire system, submitting assignment tasks and requesting your group’s PostgreSQL account.

You must submit your group’s solutions to each task by the given deadline. After submission, your assignment will be graded (“pass” or “reject”) and you will receive comments on your solution (for tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4). If your submission is rejected, you are allowed to refine your solution and re-submit it.

To pass the final part of the assignment, you must demonstrate your system to one of the teachers. Your files for task 5 must be uploaded to the Fire system after you have demonstrated your system, and before the task 5 deadline.

Introduction

In this assignment you will design and construct a database, together with a front end application, that handles university students and courses. You will do this in five distinct tasks:

  1. Task 1: Designing the database schema (I)
  2. Task 2: Designing the database schema (II)
  3. Task 3: Constructing the database (I)
  4. Task 4: Constructing the database (II)
  5. Task 5: Writing a front end application

Each consecutive task will be based on the previous, so it is one single assignment that you will do. It will not be possible to only do the fifth task for instance, since you will then have no database to build your application on.

For each task you will hand in and get feedback on your results. Since errors in one task may propagate to the next one, it is wise to hand in your solutions early to get more chances for feedback.

Be sure to read through the full description of the assignment before you start since the requirements we place on the system must influence your initial design as well.

Domain description

The domain that you will model in this assignment is that of courses and students at a university. So as not to make the task too large and unspecified, you will here get a description of the domain that restricts the problem somewhat. Note that the described domain is not identical to Chalmers or GU.

The university for which you are building this system is organized into departments for employees, such as the Dept. of Computing Science (CS), and study programmes for students, such as the Computer Science and Engineering programme (CSEP). Programmes are hosted by departments, but several departments may collaborate on a programme, which is the case with CSEP that is co-hosted by the CS department and the Department of Computer Engineering (CE). Department names and abbreviations are unique, as are programme names but not necessarily abbreviations.

Each study programme is further divided into branches, for example CSEP has branches Computer Languages, Algorithms, Software Engineering etc. Note that branch names are unique within a given programme, but not necessarily across several programmes. For instance, both CSEP and a programme in Automation Technology could have a branch called Interaction Design. For each study programme, there are mandatory courses. For each branch, there are additional mandatory courses that the students taking that branch must read. Branches also name a set of recommended courses from which all students taking that branch must read a certain amount to fulfill the requirements of graduation, see below.

A student always belongs to a programme. Students must pick a single branch within that programme, and fulfill its graduation requirements, in order to graduate. Typically students choose which branch to take in their fourth year, which means that students who are in the early parts of their studies may not yet belong to any branch.

Courses are given by a department (e.g. CS gives the Databases course), and may be read by students reading any study programme. Some courses may be mandatory for certain programmes, but not so for others. Students get credits for passing courses, the exact number may vary between courses (but all students get the same number of credits for the same course). Some, but not all, courses have a restriction on the number of students that may take the course at the same time. Courses can be classified as being mathematical courses, research courses or seminar courses. Not all courses need to be classified, and some courses may have more than one classification. The university will occasionally introduce other classifications. Some courses have prerequisites, i.e. other courses that must be read before a student is allowed to register to it.

Students need to register for courses in order to read them. To be allowed to register, the student must first fulfill all prerequisites for the course. It should not be possible for a student to register to a course unless the prerequisite courses are already passed. It should not be possible for a student to register for a course which they have already passed.

If a course becomes full, subsequent registering students are put on a waiting list. If one of the previously registered students decides to drop out, such that there is an open slot on the course, that slot is given to the student who has waited the longest. When the course is finished, all students are graded on a scale of ‘U’, ‘3’, ‘4’, ‘5’. Getting a ‘U’ means the student has not passed the course, while the other grades denote various degrees of success.

A study administrator can override both course prerequisite requirements and size restrictions and add a student directly as registered to a course. (Note: you will not implement any front end application for study administrators, only for students. The database must still be able to handle this situation.)

For a student to graduate there are a number of requirements she must first fulfill. She must have passed (have at least grade 3) in all mandatory courses of the study programme she belongs to, as well as the mandatory courses of the particular branch that she must have chosen. Also she must have passed at least 10 credits worth of courses among the recommended courses for the branch. Furthermore she needs to have read and passed (at least) 20 credits worth of courses classified as mathematical courses, 10 credits worth of courses classified as research courses, and one seminar course. Mandatory and recommended courses that are also classified in some way are counted just like any other course. As an example, if one of the mandatory courses of a programme is also a seminar course, students of that programme will not be required to read any more seminar courses.

System Specification

You will design and implement a database for the above domain, and a front end application intended for students of the university. Through the application they should be able to see their own information, register to, and unregister from courses.

Formally, your application should have the following modes:

  • Info: Given a students national identification number, the system should provide
    • the name of the student, the students national identification number and their university issued login name/ID (something similar to how the CID works for chalmers students)
    • the programme and branch (if any) that the student is following.
    • the courses that the student has read, along with the grade.
    • the courses that the student is registered to.
    • whether or not the student fulfills the requirements for graduation
  • Register: Given a student id number and a course code, the system should try to register the student for that course. If the course is full, the student should be placed in the waiting list for that course. If the student has already passed the course, or is already registered, or does not meet the prerequisites for the course, the registration should fail. The system should notify the student of the outcome of the attempted registration, and the reason for failure (if any).
  • Unregister: Given a student id number and a course code, the system should unregister the student from that course. If there are students waiting to be registered, and there is now room on the course, the one first in line should be registered for the course. The system should acknowledge the removed registration for the student. If the student is not registered to the course when trying to unregister, the system need not notify this, but no student from the waiting list (if applicable) should be promoted in that case.

Task 1: Designing the database schema (I)

Your first task is to design the database that your application will use. The goal of this task and the next is to reach a correct database schema that could later be implemented in PostgreSQL.

  1. You are to create an E/R diagram that correctly models the domain described above. Hint: if your diagram does not contain (at least) one weak entity, (at least) one ISA relationship, and (at least) one many-to-at-most-one relationship, you have done something wrong. You can use any tool you like for this task, as long as you hand in your solution as an image in one of the formats .png, .jpg, .gif or .pdf. The tool Dia is available on the school computer system, has a mode for ER diagrams, and can export diagrams to image files, but using any other tool is also OK.
  2. When your E/R diagram is complete, you should translate it, using the (mostly) mechanical translation rules (see this document for a summary), into a database schema consisting of a set of relations, complete with column names, keys and references.

Important

For task 1, you should hand in

  • diagram.X: your E/R diagram, where .X is one of .png, .jpg, .gif or .pdf.
  • schema1.txt: the database schema that you get from translating the diagram into tables. If submitting a text file, clearly mark keys (e.g. _key_). If any attribute can be null, indicate so by writing (nullable) or similar next to it. If you have made any non-obvious choices, when choosing which translation apporoach to use (e.g. ER or Null) include a comment about why you decided on using it.

No .doc files!

Deadline: Tuesday 2016-02-02 before 23.59

Task 2: Designing the database schema (II)

Your second task is to ensure that the database correctly captures all constraints of the domain, not just those induced by the translation of your diagram, by the use of functional dependencies.

  1. Identify the functional dependencies that you expect should hold for the domain. Do this starting from the domain description and the set of attributes in your schema from task 1. Do not only look for functional dependencies in your relation schemas! If you do, then any potential errors in your schema would not be caught, nor will you find any extra contraints not already captured by the relational structure! At least one such constraint exists in the domain. You should always look for the functional dependencies in the domain description. Remember to check for functional dependencies with multiple attributes on the left-hand side of the arrow.
  2. When you have found all interesting dependencies, they should then be checked against the relations from task 1. For any constraints not already captured by your relation schema, either
    • add the extra constraint to your schema, or
    • argue why your schema should not capture the constraint (see e.g. the difference between 3NF and BCNF for why not all constraints can be captured).
  3. Further, do the same for any constraints needed to handle cyclic relationships in your diagram. Specifically, address the issue concerning a student’s programme and branch.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of things you may want to consider when searching for functional dependencies:

  • department names and addresses
  • study programme names and abbreviations
  • branch names
  • student names and identification numbers
  • student programmes and branches
  • course names and codes
  • course classifications and prerequisites
  • course waiting lists
  • . . .

Important

For task 2, you should hand in

  • fds.txt: the full list of functional dependencies that you have identified for the domain, in a .txt file.
  • schema2.txt : the database schema that you get after updating your schema from task 1 with any added constraints.

No .doc files!

Deadline: Thursday 2016-02-11 before 23.59

Task 3: Constructing the database (I)

When your design of the database has been approved, the next task is to construct the database by implementing the database schema in a database engine (PostgreSQL).

  1. You should create all tables, marking key and foreign key constraints in the process, and you should also insert checks that ensure that only valid data can be inserted in the database. Examples of invalid data would be the grade ‘6’, or a course that takes a negative number of students.

  2. When you have created the tables, you should fill the tables with example data. This can be time-consuming, but it is an important part of the development of a database. Having data in the database is crucial in order to properly verify that it behaves the way that you expect it to. You should fill the tables with enough data so that it is possible to test that your application can handle the various operations specified above. Just inserting tons of data is of no use if the data still doesn’t test all parts of the database. Here is a (very) non-exhaustive list of data you will need to include:

    • A handful of students, at least one of which fulfils the requirements for graduation and a couple that do not for different reasons.
    • A number of courses that test all of the various aspects a course. This includes classifications, mandatory, recommended etc. You need at least three waiting students for two different (limited) courses.

    Important: When you insert data in the database, do it by writing the insert statements in a file that can then be executed. This way you won’t have to re-do all the work if there is something that you need to change with the table.

  3. Since you know exactly what information your application will need from the database, in what forms, it is a good idea to write views that provide that information in a simple form. In a real setting, we would even ensure using privileges that the application cannot work with anything but these views. Unfortunately we cannot let you test working with privileges on the PostgreSQL machine we use, but we will still expect your application to adhere to the privileges we list.

    Following the system specification, create these views:

    View: StudentsFollowing

    For all students, their basic information (name etc.), and the programme and branch (if any) they are following.

    View: FinishedCourses

    For all students, all finished courses, along with their names, grades (grade 'U', '3', '4' or '5') and number of credits.

    View: Registrations

    All registered and waiting students for all courses, along with their waiting status ('registered' or 'waiting').

    View: PassedCourses

    For all students, all passed courses, i.e. courses finished with a grade other than ‘U’, and the number of credits for those courses. This view is intended as a helper view towards the PathToGraduation view (and for task 4), and will not be directly used by your application.

    View: UnreadMandatory

    For all students, the mandatory courses (branch and programme) they have not yet passed. This view is intended as a helper view towards the PathToGraduation view, and will not be directly used by your application.

    View: PathToGraduation

    For all students, their path to graduation, i.e. a view with columns for

    • the number of credits they have taken.
    • the number of mandatory courses they have yet to read (branch or programme).
    • the number of credits they have taken in courses that are classified as math courses.
    • the number of credits they have taken in courses that are classified as research courses.
    • the number of seminar courses they have read.
    • whether or not they qualify for graduation.

Important

For task 3, you should hand in

  • tables.sql: your SQL code for creating the tables.
  • insert.sql: your .sql file that contains the insert statements for the data.
  • views.sql: your SQL code for creating the listed views.

Note that SQL code should be in plain text format. Make sure that PostgreSQL can execute your files before you hand them in. Test this by clearing out your database (e.g. using the instructions for deleting everything) and then running your SQL files.

Deadline: Friday 2016-02-19 before 23.59

Task 4: Constructing the database (II)

When your tables and views are implemented correctly, the next task is to create two triggers to handle some key issues in registration and unregistration. Here is a piece of code to get you started on the first trigger. But first, you should define one more view that can be used by your triggers, and your application in Task 4:

View: CourseQueuePositions
For all students who are in the queue for a course, the course code, the student’s identification number, and the student’s current place in the queue (the student who is first in a queue will have place “1” in that queue, etc.).

When a student tries to register for a course, it is possible that the course is already full, in which case the student should be put in the waiting list for that course. When a student unregisters, it might be that there is now room for some student who is in the waiting list, and who should then be registered for the course instead. Such things are typically handled via triggers. You should write two triggers that:

  1. when a student tries to register for a course that is full, that student is added to the waiting list for the course. Be sure to check that the student may actually register for the course before adding to either list, if it may not you should raise an error (use RAISE EXCEPTION). Hint: There are several requirements for registration stated in the domain description, and some implicit ones like that a student can not be both waiting and registered for the same course at the same time.
  2. when a student unregisters from a course if the student was properly registered and not only on the waiting list, the first student (if any) in the waiting list should be registered for the course instead. Note: this should only be done if there is actually room on the course (the course might have been over-full due to an administrator overriding the restriction and adding students directly).

You need to write the triggers on the view Registrations instead of on the tables themselves (third bullet under task 3 above). (One reason for this is that we “pretend” that you only have the privileges listed under Task 4, which means you cannot insert data into, or delete data from, the underlying tables directly. But even if we lift this restriction, there is another reason for not defining these triggers on the underlying tables - can you figure out why?)

Prepare test cases (in SQL) for testing both insertion and deletion to check the triggers work. Make sure your test suite covers all the points listed under task 5, that we will check the complete application for.

Important

For task 4, you should hand in

  • triggers.sql: your SQL code for creating the two triggers.
  • triggertest.sql: your SQL code for testing insertion and deletion
  • setup.sql: SQL code that sets up your database for testing the triggers. This will normally be the concatenation of files tables.sql, insert.sql and views.sql from Task 2 but there might be some small differences (e.g. it might be necessary to insert different data to make it easier to test the triggers). We should be able to test your triggers by executing files setup.sql, triggers.sql and triggertest.sql (in that order).

Note that SQL code should be in plain text format. Make sure that PostgreSQL can execute your files before you hand them in.

Deadline: Tuesday 2016-03-01 before 23.59

Task 5: Writing a front end application

The last part of this assignment is to write an application that students can use to communicate with your database. This application should be a Java program that uses JDBC to connect to the PostgreSQL database to request and insert the proper data.

To your help when writing your application we provide you with a stub file that contains the code for connecting to PostgreSQL on the local system. It also contains hooks for the three operating modes of the application, and this is where you should insert your code. The idea is that you should not need to focus so much on the pure Java parts of the application, but rather get straight down to business with the database-interfacing code.

The stub file, StudentPortal.java, looks like this (the yellow highlighting shows the part you need to edit):

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/* This is the driving engine of the program. It parses the command-line
 * arguments and calls the appropriate methods in the other classes.
 *
 * You should edit this file in two ways:
 * 1) Insert your database username and password in the proper places.
 * 2) Implement the three functions getInformation, registerStudent
 *    and unregisterStudent.
 */
import java.sql.*; // JDBC stuff.
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;  // Reading user input.

public class StudentPortal
{
    /* TODO Here you should put your database name, username and password */
    static final String USERNAME = "";
    static final String PASSWORD = "";

    /* Print command usage.
     * /!\ you don't need to change this function! */
    public static void usage () {
        System.out.println("Usage:");
        System.out.println("    i[nformation]");
        System.out.println("    r[egister] <course>");
        System.out.println("    u[nregister] <course>");
        System.out.println("    q[uit]");
    }

    /* main: parses the input commands.
     * /!\ You don't need to change this function! */
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        try {
            Class.forName("org.postgresql.Driver");
            String url = "jdbc:postgresql://ate.ita.chalmers.se/";
            Properties props = new Properties();
            props.setProperty("user",USERNAME);
            props.setProperty("password",PASSWORD);
            Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, props);

            String student = args[0]; // This is the identifier for the student.

            Console console = System.console();
            usage();
            System.out.println("Welcome!");
            while(true) {
                String mode = console.readLine("? > ");
                String[] cmd = mode.split(" +");
                cmd[0] = cmd[0].toLowerCase();
                if ("information".startsWith(cmd[0]) && cmd.length == 1) {
                    /* Information mode */
                    getInformation(conn, student);
                } else if ("register".startsWith(cmd[0]) && cmd.length == 2) {
                    /* Register student mode */
                    registerStudent(conn, student, cmd[1]);
                } else if ("unregister".startsWith(cmd[0]) && cmd.length == 2) {
                    /* Unregister student mode */
                    unregisterStudent(conn, student, cmd[1]);
                } else if ("quit".startsWith(cmd[0])) {
                    break;
                } else usage();
            }
            System.out.println("Goodbye!");
            conn.close();
        } catch (SQLException e) {
            System.err.println(e);
            System.exit(2);
        }
    }

    /* Given a student identification number, ths function should print
     * - the name of the student, the students national identification number
     *   and their issued login name (something similar to a CID)
     * - the programme and branch (if any) that the student is following.
     * - the courses that the student has read, along with the grade.
     * - the courses that the student is registered to. (queue position if the student is waiting for the course)
     * - the number of mandatory courses that the student has yet to read.
     * - whether or not the student fulfills the requirements for graduation
     */
    static void getInformation(Connection conn, String student) throws SQLException
    {
        // TODO: Your implementation here
    }

    /* Register: Given a student id number and a course code, this function
     * should try to register the student for that course.
     */
    static void registerStudent(Connection conn, String student, String course)
    throws SQLException
    {
        // TODO: Your implementation here
    }

    /* Unregister: Given a student id number and a course code, this function
     * should unregister the student from that course.
     */
    static void unregisterStudent(Connection conn, String student, String course)
    throws SQLException
    {
        // TODO: Your implementation here
    }
}

The intended behavior of the program is that you use it from the command line, giving some student identification number as an argument (what exactly that is depends on your design). This corresponds to the student “logging on” to the portal. Once logged on, the student can choose one of the three modes “Information”, “Register” or “Unregister”. If the first is chosen, all information for that student should be printed. Exactly what information must be printed is given by the system requirements specified above. If one of the latter modes are chosen, the student will be prompted for a course to register to or unregister from, and the application should perform the requested operation and print the result (success, failure).

The stub file above can be compiled and run as it is, only nothing will happen in any of the modes. Your task is thus to fill in the actual logic of these three tasks.

Running your application could look like this:

$> java StudentPortal 123456-7890
Welcome!
Please choose a mode of operation:
? > i
Information for student 123456-7890
-------------------------------------
Name: Emilia Emilsson
Student ID: emem
Line: Information Technology (IT)
Branch: Systems Development

Read courses (name (code), credits: grade):
 Set Theory (MAT050), 5p: 5
 Functional Programming (TDA450), 10p: 5
 Object-Oriented Systems Development (TDA590), 10p:  4

Registered courses (name (code): status):
 Databases (TDA356): registered
 Algorithms (TIN090): waiting as nr 3

Seminar courses taken: 0
Math credits taken: 5
Research credits taken: 0
Total credits taken: 25
Fulfills the requirements for graduation: no
-------------------------------------

Please choose a mode of operation:
? > r TDA350
You are now successfully registered to course TDA350 Cryptograhy!

Please choose a mode of operation:
? > r TDA381
Course TDA381 Concurrent Programming is full, you are put in the
waiting list.

Please choose a mode of operaion:
? > quit
Goodbye!
$>

Note that the exact formatting is only a suggestion, you may choose to format your output differently as long as you give the proper information back to the user.

To get access to the PostgreSQL jdbc drivers from your application, you should download it from https://jdbc.postgresql.org and import it into your java CLASSPATH.

Alternatively you can import the file into an Eclipse project if you are using it.

Your student application should behave as if it has only the following privileges:

  • SELECT ON Courses
  • SELECT ON StudentsFollowing
  • SELECT ON FinishedCourses
  • SELECT ON Registrations
  • SELECT ON CourseQueuePositions
  • SELECT ON PathToGraduation
  • INSERT ON Registrations
  • DELETE ON Registrations

We will check your submitted code to ensure that you adhere to these privileges, even though we cannot get the system to enforce them automatically.

Important

For task 5 you should hand in

  • The source code for your Java application but read below!.

However, the fifth task will not be corrected through the submission system, even though you should still submit your source code. Instead you should come to one of the supervision sessions and demonstrate your running application, and we will accept or reject it on the spot (pending the check of the submitted code for authority violations). As you probably realize, if all of you wait until the last Friday we will quite simply not have time for everyone, so come early!

Here is a list of what we will test your application for:

  1. List info for a student.
  2. Register the student for an unrestricted course, and show that they end up registered (show info again).
  3. Register the same student for the same course again, and show that the program doesn’t crash, and that the student gets an error message.
  4. Unregister the student from the course, and then unregister again from the same course. Show that the student is unregistered.
  5. Register the student for a course that they don’t have the prerequisites for, and show that the registration doesn’t go through.
  6. Unregister the student from a restricted course that they are registered to, and which has at least two students in the queue. Register again to the same course and show that the student gets the correct (last) position in the waiting list.
  7. Unregister, unregister again and re-register the same student for the same restricted course, and show that the student is first removed and then ends up in the same position as before (last).
  8. Finally, unregister a student from an overfull course, i.e. one with more students registered than there are places on the course (you need to set this situation up in the database directly). Show that no student was moved from the queue to being registered as a result.

Ensure that the data you have put into your system can handle all these cases. Please prepare before you ask us to check your application, so that running through these cases will be smooth. Please fill the following form before demonstration (demo form )

Deadline: Friday 2016-03-11 on the practical session