The rest of the semester - Weeks 7 to 16

I have been a *little* slack in updating my blog, and for that I apologize... but the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of of... well, how do I say this? Suffice to say that it had been a blur of sleepless nights and endless stress. The weeks following up to the alpha test date must have been the most intense as I have been working round the clock to finish up 80% of my system before presenting it to my lecturer. It wasn't very pleasant and the stress is wrecking havoc on my body functions.

Anyway, here's what I have done for my project broken down by the weeks:

Week 7
More research being done especially in an area where I feel that I am not good in - actionscript. It isn't easy to search for relevant tutorials pertaining to actionscript over the internet so the progress for this is quite slow. Besides, I feel very insecure when it comes to coding in actionscript and doing the online tutorials is taking longer than I have originally anticipated.
I've managed to come up with a second design for the look and feel for my website. I completely scraped the first because it looked cluttered.

This is my 2nd interface design:

This week, I also have *almost* finalized a list of features to incorporate for my website. I now know that in addition to the flash energy calculator, I also am intending to do administrative login where the site admin can do some changes and updates to the site. So far I have designed and mapped out a simple content management system for the website that I am able to code for.

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Weeks 8-9
Not much is being done this 2 weeks as I am concentrating on writing up my project proposal documentation. Miss Megan Chudleigh is taking over the classes for these two weeks and she is such an inspiration! I must say that she has been a great help in terms of advice and motivation.

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Week 10
The proposal documentation was due early in the week and I am glad I was able to hand it in on time. Now full steam ahead for the final year project!

I changed my look and feel yet again... hopefully for the last time. This is how it looks like:


So for the rest of the week, this is what I have manage to accomplish

• Code the website into basic HTML based on the photoshop design template.
• Create a database structure for the website.
• Beginning work on my PHP framework to build the website upon.
  

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Week 11
Although I have finally been able to get into the rhythm of things, there is still alot of work to be done before this project could be completed, and my other subjects keep vying for attention as well. It is really tough to balance it all out with several assignments to do. Progress for this week is a continuation from last. So for this week, this is what I am doing:

• Completion of PHP framework
• Creating administrative login/logout structure using PHP server-side session variables ($_SESSION)
  
• Implementing the 'Forgot password?' function to the site
• Start coding on the page content management system

After having cut out the design template and converting it into HTML and doing some additional reading up on PHP, I decided to encapsulate the design in a PHP class so it could easily be added to every page that I'm doing in the project.

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Week 12
I am starting to experience short bouts of panic attacks throughout the entire week as the semester is nearing its end. Coding has been tedious and I tend to do more silly mistakes and errors as I panic more. Debugging takes its toil as I spend extra rest time to do it. This week's progress is still a continuation of last week's:

• Continue work on page CMS
• Implementing chat features for both admin and user login
• Start coding the simple and advanced search function on the site
  

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Weeks 13-14
The alpha test for our final year project is scheduled to be on the 3rd of July in week 14. My system needs to be 80% ready by that date. I am really trying to get all my admin features and my quiz done by that time so I have the next 2 weeks after that to focus all my attention on my flash energy calculator. I have to leave that for last as I cannot afford to lose precious time trying to code something that I am very unsure about. The flash energy calculator is a touch-and-go thing for me right now. So for these 2 weeks, I am doing:

• Implementation of PHP quiz including administrative functions for it
• Coding the news script including administrative functions and adding it in the search function
• Coding the dynamic sitemap page (This is a nifty little feature I thought of doing. Each additional page added by the admin in the CMS will automatically appear in the sitemap according to its relevance e.g. main page, sub page etc)

3rd of July: The alpha test didn't go very smoothly for me even though I managed to complete everything except my flash energy calculator. The two guests from the R&D department that my lecturer invited to sit in for the presentation didn't seem to like the color combination that I have chosen for my site. They thought that the green in the banner was way too dark and the overall look and feel was too plain and uninteresting. *sigh*
Note to self: I should lighten the green up a bit to make it a little brighter.

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Weeks 15-16

The toughest of weeks are still ahead of me. These last 2 weeks have been allotted to work solely on the flash energy calculator. It was very tedious trying to figure out how to make actionscript work properly in flash. I am sure it is just a lack of experience on my part that makes it ten times as difficult for me to program and figure out actionscript, and the lack of proper actionscript documentation on the internet.

In the end, what I have managed to create is a long shot from what I have intended to do in the first place, but it works! I mean, the calculator actually manages to calculate, which is a miracle in itself! I also managed to use the 'LoadVars()' function to transfer the price per kW/h variable (from a PHP script that loads from the MySQL database) between my flash application and my database. That means, if the price of electricity changes in future, the admin can change it accordingly from the admin login and the new price will be used in the calculations in the flash application. Wow, that is such a milestone for me!

If given more time to experiment, I could have probably made a better flash energy calculator. But this will have to suffice for now. As it is, I have gone to new heights in coding that I have never gone before and it had made me a better web programmer!

Nearing the completion of the project, I've managed to stumble across a handy open Source project called TinyMCE (http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/) capable of enhancing my page administration as well as the news administration. It is a tool that adds word like features to the text areas where the user types in page content / news post content. With a little customization, I was able to make the tinyMCE JavaScript Editor fit in nicely. This helped me resolve the issue that users had to be proficient in HTML in order to write texts in my page content management system.

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Conclusion - An After Thought

Looking back on this project, I'm able to see which areas could have needed better focus and which areas should not have been as prioritized. The programming of the website (PHP) took up a lot of the time and left less time to make the energy calculator just the way I wanted it to turn out. For instance, if I could have put focus differently, I would have made it more possible for the user to customize their own energy usage in the energy calculator more than is currently possible. It would also be nice to show a sub-usage on each appliance when values are chosen or typed in. More appliances could also be added to the energy calculator such as aquarium, kettle, coffee machine (and other kitchen appliances), gaming consoles etc. Also, had there been time enough in the end I would have liked to add in tool tips for the users when they click on an appliance in the energy calculator, giving them good tips & tricks (like when they click on fridge/freezer, they would be reminded to defrost it from time to time for higher efficiency).

Also, currently the administrator can only administrate the kWh price in the energy house, whereas I imagined that it could have been more useful to add in options for the administrator to set watt usage values for many different appliances in the house, or maybe something even better - making it possible for users to type in how many watts the different appliances in their own household use. On the other hand, I feel that the extra time spent on coding the website has also been worth while, making it a more robust system, with a content management system that works quite well. Overall, I feel that I got everything pretty much rounded off. Of course given more time or if I have handled my time management better, it would have been possible to add in more features and make the current ones even more elaborate and user-friendly.

Finally I would like to add that I've taken great care in adding plenty of comments in my code, so it should be quite easy to follow up on how I do the different functions in there.

My final year project can be viewed at:
http://www.swunleashed.com/greenleaf

Calm before the storm? - Week 4, 5, 6

A few weeks has passed by since we had the green light to work on our final year project. So far what I have managed to achieve within that short period of time isn't astronomical. All I did was searching on the internet for relevant tutorials on Flash actionscript, PHP and MySQL. Also I researched for an appropriate look and feel for my upcoming site design by going through many professional websites that appealed to my taste of design. Nothing really significant as of yet. I guess I'm just relieved at this point that my title has been approved. Hopefully the oncoming weeks will be more productive than this one. I should really sit down and plan out a 'to-do' list of everything that I want to incorporate into website so that I know how to further plan a timeline for them all. What really worries me is the fact that I may or may not figure out how to code my energy calculator in flash. That is going to be a significant challenge for me in this project.

Aah yes, that also reminds me of something else I did this week. I also managed to do some research on electrical charges provided by Malaysia's leading energy provider, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). On top of that, I also went to a few shops selling home electrical appliances to take notes on how many watts does the appliances use. This is going to be very useful for when I start coding my energy calculator. The sales assistant in the shop was nice enough to give me some very useful information on which appliance in each category that was their bestseller. This will help me later in deciding which wattage to use when doing my calculations.

A very useful formula I found over the internet to calculate the energy usage of an appliance:

Wattage x Hours Used Per Day = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption (1 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000 Watts)

Judgement Day - Week 3

Finally. Solid weeks of agonizing over titles that has to be 'creative', 'new', 'out-of-the-ordinary', had come to an end. My title, as it is, had been approved. So to speak. Now it's on to the painstaking task of developing it, piece by piece, bit by bit, byte by byte. I wish myself luck, because I certainly need all of it. Short of a miracle, I foresee this project as the bane of my life at the moment.

I wish everyone else, best of luck.

Brain Stagnation - Week 2

First off, I would like to sincerely apologize in regards to my first post. It was way too melodramatic and when I read it through again today, I went 'What on earth was I thinking?' I sounded like I was overly high on something. My bet would be on caffeine, not weed. I don't smoke weed. Anyway, I will keep my future posts more down to earth and to the point. Amen to that!

Second week. Still no approval of our final year project proposals. And frankly, I'm getting restless and worried about it. Very much so. The time alloted to us for this was already the bare minimum, and now, it is really cutting it close with two weeks down and no sign of approvals from the VU lecturer. I sincerely hope that by week 3, all of us would be approved and be able to start working on our respective projects. I get all nervous and sweaty just thinking about this. Eeee!

As it is right now, what I have done throughout the entire week was just some preparation and some more researching on what I intend to do for my final year project. Little things such as working out a timeline and timetable for my project, looking up sources to get information needed for my project, looking up relevant tutorials to strengthen my skills in Flash, Photoshop and Illustrator. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting no where as I tend to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work to be done that all I can do is pace back and forth in my room, being totally unproductive.

For now, I will keep my fingers crossed for the proposals to be approved by next week. Till next week then!

A Certain Something - Week 1 of Hell's Classes

Week 1 for me could very much be likened to approaching the Gates of Hell itself. Once inside, there is no turning back. Literally. Overly dramatic I know, but on a more serious note, coming back from my semester break holiday was not something I was looking forward to. And the notion was enforced tenfold just after the first week of class. Oh, where do I even start ranting?

First off, confusion was rife and bountiful, especially after the feedback we (my classmates and I) received in regards to our final year project proposal. I was literally pulling my hair out trying to come up with a more creative and interesting topic proposal to replace my old one - which had been labeled as "over ambitious" and "uninteresting". Personally, I feel that we should have been given much more time to think this through thoroughly. A few semesters in advance might have helped much in alleviating this daunting problem that is now plaguing us to no end. To top this off, we also have to precariously balance our schedule as well as execute a well planned time management system that is crucial to the final completion of our final year project and the numerous lesser assignments that we have to do along the way.

With different opinions coming from different sources, the inevitable catastrophe had simmered to a boil. Nerves are wrecked, brains are fried and emotions are running on stress fuel. At least, mine are. With the first week gone and proposals unapproved, it is doubtful that we can start working on our final year project soon. God help us all.

Nevertheless, I have kept researching for more features and interesting titbits that I could add to help give my project that extra 'edge'. After all, I'm really hoping to put in all the extra effort that I could possibly give to finish up my course with a bang. So to speak.

In here, I will also be blogging some about my views on the online copyright laws that my lecturer had been explaining in class. As a multimedia student, knowing about the copyright laws is very essential and relevant and I am glad that Ms Jeya had taken the time to explain it to us in greater detail.

How many of us actually plagiarize contents from the Internet without a second thought? I think I speak for the majority when I say that many of us do. Before I became a multimedia student, I did not appreciate the work and effort that has gone into building these contents and graphics that I so often take without asking for permission from the author/creator. Now that I am in the IT field, I can see what what I did previously was lawfully and morally wrong. But due to the vastness of the Internet and because it reaches out beyond boundaries and international borders, most of these copyright laws cannot be enforced. It is up to us, the users, to maintain the decency to not plagiarize another's work and pass it off as our own. And we can't plead innocence on the pretense of not knowing about Fair Use or any other laws that has been enacted to protect the rights of authors and artists.

Just put yourself in their (original authors and artists) shoes and walk a mile. Comfy? I think not.