joeni

* About this file

This repository is my work for my bachelor's assignment for the study of

Informatics at [[https://uhasselt.be/][Hasselt University]]. Because of the sheer size of the project,

it's imperative that I keep track of all the things that have to be done.

In this file, I try to collect them all, in a structurally sound way.

It's possible that this file will be removed in the future, to be combined with

another file to make use of Org's clocking features, but for now, everything

will be listed here.

* Agora

*Note: Agora is NOT a priority right now!* This has been discussed with the

 promotor, and implementing the administration and courses system is a LOT more

 important than having a social platform. Nevertheless, once Courses and

 Administration are finished, work on Agora can commence, thus if there is work

 that should be done, it will be listed here, to avoid forgetting it.

** Models

** Views

** Templates

** Forms

*** TODO Post form

*** TODO Group form

*** TODO Account settings form

*** TODO Account collection form

** Urls

* Courses

** Models

*** TODO Implement group of student in a course

Dixit Lamotte: "Some studies are so big, the students have to be split up in

different groups." Thus, implement a system where the students /can/ be split in

groups by the education team of the course. If no groups exist, then they're all

treated as one giant group.

** Views

** Templates

** Forms

** Urls

** Other

* Administration

** PAGES

Eventually, a finished page consists of

- A finished template

- All models that can be accessed from that page, are finished

- A working view function

- A working URL link

- If applicable, working forms (= All forms can initiate, store, and modify

  data, and display the right error messages)

This does not include CSS or other things that overlap multiple pages. This

checklist therefore is a list of all pages that are basically done, and don't

need further action.

- [ ] Roster

- [X] Bulletin Board

- [ ] Index

- [ ] Curriculum

- [ ] Pre-registration

- [ ] Settings

- [ ] Forms

- [ ] Jobs

- [ ] Rooms

- [ ] Login

*** Rooms

**** TODO SVG rooms in an HTML canvas

That would make them clickable, so information about the rooms at UHasselt can

be retrieved by just clicking on them. You'd have to make an SVG blueprint of

the campus but eh.

** Notes

At this moment: *Implement what is already in the models.* By finishing what I

already have, I can create space in my mind for the new things.

** Models

*** TODO IBAN validator

IBAN numbers have a special format, which needs to be valid. For this, a

validator must be written.

*** TODO BIC validator

See [[IBAN validator]]

*** *ALERT* SQL standard issues!

I've got several fields that should be unique, but can also be null.

SQLite indicates two null values in the same column as a NOT UNIQUE,

but that's wrong, according to the SQL standard. This excerpt from the

PostgreSQL documentation:

In general, a unique constraint is violated if there is more than one row

 in the table where the values of all of the columns included in the constraint

are equal.

 However, two null values are never considered equal in this comparison.

 That means even in the presence of a unique constraint it is possible to

 store duplicate rows that contain a null value in at least one of the

constrained columns.

 This behavior conforms to the SQL standard,

 but we have heard that other SQL databases might not follow this rule.

 So be careful when developing applications that are intended to be portable.

** Views

*** TODO Forms, documents, ... generators

This is mainly about the legal documents that should be generated for students,

like degrees, evidence of being a student, ... These are often not to display

information, but should be put out as a PDF file, that the user can then print.

This should be done using the ReportLab Python PDF library.

Check out [[file:///home/simba/Documentation/Django/howto/outputting-pdf.html]] for

more information on how to do this.

** Templates

** TODO Roster

** TODO Personal settings

** TODO Public page

** Forms

*** TODO Personal details form

** Urls

** Other

*** TODO Implement roster system

All students (and staff) have personal rosters. This system should be able to

automatically update that. The roster will automatically show the following:

- Course schedules :: For all courses that the student follows, show the

     scheduled rooms /for their group/. If no groups are made, show the complete

     course schedule.

- Exam roster :: Show all exams of the student.

- Room reservations :: If a student has reserved a room, that will show up in

     their roster.

- Custom schedulings :: The user can also make custom schedulings, and attach

     necessary info to them.

The roster automatically opens on the current week, except when it's Saturday or

Sunday; then it shows next week.

All this data is presented through a clear and nice HTML page, and is

automatically updated in a personal iCal-file, that the user can connect to.

If that is finished, make a special form to ask for generic planning from a

certain study, course, ...

*** TODO Implement alumni system

UHasselt Alumni need to be able to give a new e-mail address. This should become

available when one has obtained a degree.

*** TODO Implement study costs system

The costs that have to be paid, must be recorded, and be presented. Data from

each year needs to be available. Check for what should be recorded at [[https://uhintra02.uhasselt.be/studdosst/sdsInschrijvingsgeld.aspx][the website]].

*** TODO System for rulings exam committee

These are probably messages that are sent out to a specific user, regarding

special measures, or some stuff like that.

*** TODO System for automatic creation of exam schedules

This system checks all current students, and needs the following info:

- For each Course:

  - The (amount of) students

  - The type of exam (verbal, writing, ...)

  - (Optionally) a notification

  - The amount of exams that have to take place

And attempts to fulfill the following requirements:

- *All exams for model trajects are spread as far as possible from one another*

- No student has overlapping exams

- All exams must take place in the given timespan

- Different exams can be given in the same room, but the maximal capicity

  must be respected

- The algorithm prefers interspacing of 2 empty seats per student. These empty

  seats may be occupied by students from other exams.

- Exams take place only in rooms with at least *double* the amount of students

  for that exam (to allow spacing). Of course, these spaces can be occupied by

  another exam batch.

- Exams that require special equipment (e.g. computers, ...) must be respected

- Rooms that already have reservations will be overridden, but a warning will be

  placed to inform about the deletion of the previous reservation.

The data is then printed to the screen, after which it can be verified. If

everything is okay, the user can accept the proposed planning, after which the

room reservations are automatically carried out.

After this point, students can view their exam rosters, and their personal

schedules are automatically updated.

*** TODO Refactoring of roster functionality

The roster needs a lot of preparation before being sent to the template. It's

currently hastly written and in the view module, but it can't stay there.

In the future, make a special roster module, and move all functionality there.

Refactor the functions, make tests so they're safe against errors, and so on.

* Report

All this needs to be put together in a giant report. For comparison: Joris'

thesis was a whopping 84 pages. Given the size of my project, I think I won't be

much below that.

** Points to talk about

*** DONE Why this MUST NOT be the final version

    CLOSED: [2018-08-14 Tue 23:17]

Joeni should not be the end, because a website is not the right medium for the

main digital platform of a university. Explain how the current UI is an example

of what could be. Also mention that the current existing database is suited for

directly hooking into with the new program.

*** DONE Why JavaScript is actively banned

    CLOSED: [2018-08-14 Tue 23:17]

    Explain the client side problem, the advantages of server-only programming,

    and my law: "If you can't make your website function properly without

    JavaScript, it shouldn't be a website in the first place."

*** DONE Explain lightweight HTML5/CSS3 usage

    CLOSED: [2018-08-14 Tue 23:17]

    Explain the benefits of providing _meaning_ through good use of HTML5, and

    why CSS3 is made using SCSS.

    Also give some examples of what the low use of divs and classes brings for

    advantages, including for impaired web users

*** TODO Django/Python

    Defend the usage of Django and Python. Explain also why other languages

    may've been beneficial, but Django was the most compelling reason for

    Python, and why Python isn't a bad choice after all, despite the better idea

    of Haskell/Clojure/...

    Also: Why no standalone software: Because that can be done later, but web

    based is what it is now, and that needs replacement. Native software can be

    done later if necessary.

*** TODO Caching

*** TODO Security

    Basically explain how Django has built-in security, for what exploits etc.

*** TODO Org

    Tricky one. Explain why Orgmode-syntax is allowed, how this is implemented

    (DTL filter), how to disable, and why this shouldn't pose a security threat.

*** TODO Why standards are followed, even if that breaks with certain browsers

*** TODO Why user data is stored in a different table and connected 1->1 with User

Because this is what is recommended in the Django documentation, and it makes it

way easier to add new fields, or remove some, in the future.

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/topics/auth/customizing/#specifying-a-custom-user-model

*** TODO Write about how some functionality is now implemented by implication

An example: There's now no dedicated button to download a scorecard from the

curriculum.

However, because the pages are so simple and clear, browsers like Firefox allow

that same functionality with their builtin "print webpage" capability. An

example of 90% of the functionality implemented with 10% of the effort.