General
The goal of the two assignments is to recreate the basic functions of Trade Me. This will include:
1. The ability to register on the site as a new user
2. The ability to login as a regular user or as an administrator
3. The ability to change your registration detillls
4. For administrators, the ability to view all current users
5. For administrators, the ability to block/unb1ock a user
6. The ability to post and bid on auctions
For the system, the ability to notify users who have been outbid on an auction by another user
8. For the system, the ability to recognise when an auction has expired
9. For the system, the ability to notify users who have won an expired auction
10. For the system, the ability to notify a user whose auction has expired without bids
The features above will be considered the "must-haves" of the system. The first five items will form the core of Assignment One, and the next five the core of Assignment Two.
For each of the two assignments, we will suggest some "nice-to-haves," such as the ability to add an image of your auction item, or the ability to add questions and answers to an auction.
Good marks will be obtained by implementing the core features well. Excellent marks will be obtained by implementing one or two of the nice-to-have features in addition to (i.e. not instead of) the core features.
PART 1
The first assignment is to deal with the challenge of registering new users to your auction site.
Requirements (Must-haves)
Create a front page that uses valid HTML and CSS to show users a set of current auctions. (For now, the "auctions" can be some static I-ITML content, perhaps added to your page using a simple PHP include directive). This page should have a navigation element that allows the user to login or reglster.
To allow a new user to register, you should collect the same information that Trade Me does on their registration page. Upon successful completion of the form, you should gen- erate and send an email using PHP to the new user to verify their email address. Emails may be sent from sapphire to addresses Gcs . ocago. ac .nz, Gstudent .otago . ac .nz, and Gmailinator . com. The email should contain a link that the user can click to verify mem- bership on your site.
After registering, the user should be able to log in to a page that shows them a list of cur- rent auctions (the same static content as before), and shows them that they are logged in, along with some of their registration details. You should provide some way of allowing the registration details to be changed by the user. You should also allow the user to log out.
If the user is recognised as an administrator at login, then you should provide a page that shows all users that are currently members of the system. Administrators should have the ability to block and unblock members from using the system.
You should use PHP sessions and a database table of users/passwords to authenticate users and allow them to log in. For this assignment, storing each user's details in one row of the users table is sufficient.
Quality Control
You should use valid HTML and CSS, and you should not place barriers in front of your users in terms of usability and accessibility. '
Your application should work on Firefox and IE8 (Windows), Firefox, Safari and Opera (Mac), and Firefox (Linux). For part 1 , there is little that should cause browser- specific problems, as long as you stick to the standards.
Security concerns will be gentle for this assignment, as we have more to cover on this topic over the rest of the semester. However, we expect that any data that comes from the client will be treated as tainted until proven otherwise, so that a regular user will not be able to add arbitrary code to your page by means of input fields.
Possible Enhancements (Nice-to-haves)
You may wish to:
• Create an attractive design for the site, implemented in CSS.
'If you use HTML5 then the single warning is acceptable. If you use CSS 3 the errors generated by gradient backgrounds are ok, just make sure you have good fall-backs in place.
PART 2
Instructions on how to submit your assignment for marking will be provided nearer the due date. The assignment will be submitted electronically, but you must also hand in a single-page report, with a cover-sheet attached to it. The report should describe, in broad terms:
• What happens when each of the must-haves is triggered by a user or by the system (i.e. what we should expect to see when we're trying it out).
• What parts of your site use Ajax, and for what purpose.
• What nice-to-haves you have chosen to add, and what we should do to try them out (or where we should look for them).
Requirements (Must-haves)
Extend your auction Web site from Assignment One by adding:
• For regular users, the ability to post new auctions, and bid on auctions in-progress.
• For administrators, the ability to remove an auction in-progress.
• For the system, the ability to recognise when an auction has expired and take appro-priate action.
• For the system, the ability to notify users who have won an expired auction (by email).
• For the system, the ability to notify a user whose auction has expired without bids (by email).
You should make it clear to users when they have been outbid on an auction.
You should utilise Ajax at least once on your site, but it is your choice as to what element of your site uses it, and what particular enhancement it brings. You may use a framework such as }Query if you wish.
Your site should be available at http : //web212 . ot ago . ac . na-username/ass ign2. How you manage your roll-out from development to production is up to you, but it is recom¬mended that you take an approach similar to that in Lab 16.
Quality Control
• We expect your HTML and CSS to validate, and produce no warnings. 2
• Client-side scripting should be unobtrusive, and degrade gracefully.
• Your site should work on the list of browsers specified for Assignment One.