Award: Module Title: Assignment Title:

International Diploma in Computer Studies Visual Basic Small File Editor

Examination Cycle: December 2008 Candidate Name: NCC Education Candidate No: Submission Date: Important Notes:
Plagiarism using the thoughts or writings of others as though they were your own without acknowledgment is an offence. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with the NCC Education Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy. Any thoughts, ideas or quotations which dont belong to you must be fully attributed to their sources using the appropriate in-text citation and a bibliography as described in the Harvard Referencing System. Authors work that is used in your assignment and not referenced is plagiarism. At diploma level work omitting either citations or bibliography will be limited to a maximum 50 %; at advanced diploma level to a maximum 45%; at Honours and PgD level to a fail. You must complete the Statement and Confirmation of Own Work found at the back of every NCC Education assignment. You must attach the signed and completed form to your assignment. If you gain an unfair advantage or collude in any way whatsoever (other than on joint assignments) you are liable to be disqualified. Cheating is an offence. You could lose marks if you exceed the recommended word count by more than 10%. A digital copy as well as a paper copy must be submitted (on disk or similarly acceptable medium). Media containing viruses, or media which cannot be run directly, will result in a FAIL grade being awarded for this module. Electronic media will also be checked for plagiarism, so beware.

Marker's comment:

Moderator's comment:

Mark:

Moderated Mark:

Final Mark:
NCC Education Ltd 2008

Visual Basic

December 2008

Final

International Diploma in Computer Studies

Visual Basic

Introduction
Capturing data as a simple table and storing this data in a file is a common requirement of many simple Tasks. For some applications of this nature the overhead of using a Database Management System may not be appropriate. The purpose of this assignment is to produce a system to capture some specifically structured data as rows (to be considered as file records) in a two dimensional array of strings. In this assignment the data record is to represent the details of Films held in a DVD collection. A very convenient means to capture such data is by means of the DataGridView control being used without any connection to a database source. Hence is would be wise to commence your preparation for this assignment to be come familiar with the DataGridView control by referring to the Help provided in the Visual Basic IDE. Data validation of the data as it is typed into the grid is straight forward to achieve with the DataGridView control as there are appropriate event handlers integral to this control. Considering the data held in the DataGridView as a representation of a small file then the next stage would be to transfer this data to a Text File on disk. As, at this stage, we are confined to serial files the only way we can edit our file is to read it back into the DataGridView control, perform the edits via the control and then recreate the file on disk. Design and Implementation of the System As each row in the DataGridView will be a record for the text file it may be convenient to concatenate all the string items that make up a record to be one string before it is committed to disk. This approach implies that when the file is read back the single string records would have to be decoded into the fields in the record that match the requirements of the original data record design. Although the recommended textbook gives adequate coverage of the fundamentals of VB 2005 any particular assignment may require candidates to investigate other aspects of the language by using the Help facility provided by the Integrated Development Environment of VB 2005.

Aim
The assignment is to produce the system as described in the Introduction that presents a robust user interface and a reliable communication between the user interface and the filing system.

Visual Basic

December 2008

Final

NCC Education Ltd 2008

International Diploma in Computer Studies

Visual Basic

Task 1 20 Marks

Design a record structure appropriate for the capturing of data about films stored on DVDs. Define the data validation criteria required. Design the algorithms that would achieve this data validation.

Task 2 20 Marks
Implement and test the data capture process using a DataGridView.

Task 3 10 Marks
Produce evidence, including screen shots, of the editing capabilities of the DataGridView.

Task 4 20 Marks
Design, implement and test the means by which the records held in the DataGridView are transferred to a text file on disk.

Task 5 20 Marks
Design, implement and test the means by which the records held on disk are transferred to a DataGridView.

Task 6 5 Marks
Produce evidence, including screen shots, of the complete process of editing and updating file of DVD information.

Task 7 5 Marks
Produce a publishable working copy of a compiled version of the completed assignment together with some installation notes. The installation notes should include the system requirements. This publishable copy, that includes a setup file, should be on an appropriate medium (zip disk, CD-ROM, DVD etc.).

Visual Basic

December 2008

Final

NCC Education Ltd 2008

International Diploma in Computer Studies

Visual Basic

Guidance
The assessment of your project will to a large extent depend upon the quality of the documentation that you have produced. Thus, for each stage of the development of software: Give a detailed design including, where appropriate, the design of any algorithms. Build in error handling to involve meaningful messages that would ease any future maintenance of the software. Annotate all implementation. Design a testing strategy. Justify the design of suitable comprehensive test data. Show evidence of testing. Where appropriate, detail any major remedial action that you have taken in the light of the testing process.

Submission Requirements
A word-processed document incorporating the full documentation of each of the SEVEN Tasks detailed above. The document should be submitted both in paper form and digital form on a disk. Refer to the Guidance Notes above when producing your final documentation. Note the requirement in Task 7 to submit a publishable copy of the compiled system. Warning: All media must be virus free! Media containing viruses, or media which cannot be run directly, will result in a FAIL grade being awarded for this module.

You must read and understand NCC Educations policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism. You must complete the attached form Statement and Confirmation of Own Work. You must attach the completed form to your assignment.

Visual Basic

December 2008

Final

NCC Education Ltd 2008

International Diploma in Computer Studies

Visual Basic

Statement and Confirmation of Own Work

Programme/Qualification name:
Each NCC Education assessed assignment submitted by you must have this statement attached to the assignment as the cover page or it will not be accepted for marking. Please ensure that this statement is either firmly attached to the cover of the assignment or electronically inserted into the front of the assignment.

Student declaration I have read and understood NCC Educations Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism. I can confirm the following details: Student ID/Registration number: Name: Centre Name: Module Name: Module Leader: Number of words: I confirm that this is my own work and that I have not plagiarised any part of it. I have also noted the assessment criteria and pass mark for assignments. Due Date: Student Signature: Submitted Date:
Visual Basic December 2008 Final NCC Education Ltd 2008