Project

A Final report for a dissertation that will be submitted in partial fulfilment
of a University of Greenwich Masters Degree
Alumni Website USING WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY
Name: Deepak Rangarajan
Student ID: 000471595
Programme of Study: MSc Computing and Information Systems
Date Proposal Submitted: 26/05/2010
Project Hand In Date: 30/08/2010
Supervisor: Ms Sophie Peter
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Contents
Chapter 1................................................................................................................................................. 6
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6
Objectives ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 2................................................................................................................................................. 8
Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 8
1.0 What is Open Source Software? ....................................................................................................... 8
1.1 What is the difference between Open Source – Websites and Commercial Websites? ................ 10
1.2 Does Open Source works for business users? ................................................................................ 10
1.3 Open Source Software Security ...................................................................................................... 11
1.4 Advantages of open source software security................................................................................ 11
1.5 Dis-advantages of Open-Source Security ........................................................................................ 12
1.6 Common web-based open source Editors are ................................................................................ 12
1.7 Cascading Style sheets .................................................................................................................... 12
1.8 Advantages of CSS ........................................................................................................................... 13
1.9 Validating Websites ........................................................................................................................ 13
2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 15
2.1 PHP .................................................................................................................................................. 15
2.1.1 Why we need Dynamic content ................................................................................................... 15
2.1.2 Installation ................................................................................................................................... 16
Downloading Apache for Windows .................................................................................................. 16
Installing Apache for Windows ......................................................................................................... 17
Running Apache for Windows .......................................................................................................... 18
2.1.1 PHP and State (Sessions, cookies, forms and URL) ...................................................................... 18
2.1.2 What is a cookie? ......................................................................................................................... 19
2.1.3 PHP SESSION Variables ................................................................................................................ 20
2.2 MYSQL ............................................................................................................................................. 21
2.2.1 Installing MYSQL .......................................................................................................................... 21
How to delete, edit and search data..................................................................................................... 22
Deleting rows .................................................................................................................................... 22
2.3 Reason to choose PHP and MySQL in my project ........................................................................... 28
2.3.1Cost factor ..................................................................................................................................... 28
2.3.2 Licence of PHP .............................................................................................................................. 28
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2.3.3 Easy to use ................................................................................................................................... 28
2.3.4 Cross-Platform Compatibility ....................................................................................................... 29
2.3.5 Stability ........................................................................................................................................ 29
2.3.6 Speed ........................................................................................................................................... 30
2.4 Comparison between PHP and ASP ................................................................................................ 30
Cost Factor: ....................................................................................................................................... 30
Compatibility .................................................................................................................................... 31
Speed ................................................................................................................................................. 31
Additional expenses .......................................................................................................................... 31
Base language used in PHP and ASP................................................................................................ 31
Database connectivity ....................................................................................................................... 31
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 32
Chapter 3............................................................................................................................................... 32
3.0 Implementation .............................................................................................................................. 32
3.1.0 HOME PAGE ................................................................................................................................. 32
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 33
3.1.1 Registration Page ......................................................................................................................... 33
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 34
3.1.2 User created ................................................................................................................................. 34
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 35
3.1.3 Forgot username .......................................................................................................................... 35
3.1.4 Forgot Password .......................................................................................................................... 36
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 36
3.1.5 About us ....................................................................................................................................... 37
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 37
3.1.6 View /Edit profile ......................................................................................................................... 37
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 38
3.1.7 Recent discussions ....................................................................................................................... 38
3.1.8My discussions .............................................................................................................................. 39
3.1.9 Categories .................................................................................................................................... 39
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 40
3.1.7 Contact us .................................................................................................................................... 40
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 40
4.0 Database ......................................................................................................................................... 41
Message database structure ............................................................................................................. 42
3
Chapter 4............................................................................................................................................... 43
6.0 Comparison of Site with Batchmates.com ...................................................................................... 43
6.1 My Alumni Website......................................................................................................................... 46
User ................................................................................................................................................... 46
Explanation ........................................................................................................................................... 46
User created ...................................................................................................................................... 46
7.0 Requirement Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 47
Chapter 5............................................................................................................................................... 48
8.0 Further Research ............................................................................................................................. 48
8.1 Advantages of networking sites ...................................................................................................... 48
1. To find out good jobs! How does it work? ................................................................................... 49
2. To make good friends and meet and an opportunity to meet new people ..................................... 49
3. To overcome shyness .................................................................................................................... 50
4. Promoting business in the website ................................................................................................ 50
8.2 ITIL Concept – Information Technology Infrastructure Library ...................................................... 50
8.2.0. The History .................................................................................................................................. 50
a) Service support ................................................................................................................................. 52
1. a Service Desk ................................................................................................................................... 52
1.b The Incident management .............................................................................................................. 52
1.c The problem Management ............................................................................................................. 53
1. d Change Management ..................................................................................................................... 54
1. e Release Management .................................................................................................................... 54
2. Service delivery ................................................................................................................................. 55
2. a Service Level Management ............................................................................................................ 56
2. b Capacity Management ................................................................................................................... 56
2. c IT Service Continuity Management ................................................................................................ 56
2. d Availability Management ............................................................................................................... 57
8.3 Legal Chapters ................................................................................................................................. 58
8.3.1 Data protection Act 1998 ............................................................................................................. 58
1. a Subject rights.................................................................................................................................. 58
1. b Conditions with respect to First Principle ...................................................................................... 59
8.3.2. Safe harbour US-European ......................................................................................................... 60
Legal definition...................................................................................................................................... 60
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 60
Recommendations – ............................................................................................................................. 61
4
Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 62
Appendix1 ............................................................................................................................................. 63
Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................................ 63
Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................................................ 64
Appendix 4 ERD Diagram .................................................................................................................... 65
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Chapter 1
Introduction
In today’s world social networking websites like orkut, face book has turned out to be a very
important tool for students and professionals to stay in touch with their beloved friends. In
other case, after the graduation, graduates take their own career path and leave their friends.
The aim of the my project using PHP and MYSQL is mainly to indicate the powerful features
of the alumni websites which will benefit the current students, past student, upcoming
students and they can also know about their alumni status and their experiences. It’s a very
strong networking tool website which enables students to get introduced and stay in touch
with their old friends.
Objectives
The main objective of my project is to develop an enhanced version of an alumni website

with more features which would make the users feel more interactive, informative and very
friendly website.
For evaluation purpose batchmates.com is used, which is a alumni site which lets the students
studied in the college register and be in touch with other alumni students
The site must also be developed in such a way that the students can search friends from
school as well.
Apart from guiding the students with various career options the site is made more interactive
with features like:
 Send hi messages
 blog on various topics of interest
 Discussion forums
 create one's profile with the option to edit
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 Locate/search friends by name, institute & city, advanced search facility which includes
batch, category and country.
Other features could include as follows:

 Network
 My Mail Box
 Hi Notes
 My photos
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
1.0 What is Open Source Software?
Open Source is a software where web developers can use the Source code which is normally
reserved for copyrighted users. Open source doesn’t mean only the code is open to all the
developers but in spite of that fact there are more terms for open source to comply with the
criteria.
“The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the

following criteria:
1. Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the
software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing
programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a
royalty or other fee for such sale.
2. Source Code
The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source
code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not
distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of
obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost
preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code
must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program.
Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such
as the output of a pre-processor or translator are not allowed.
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them
to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
4. Integrity of the Author's Source Code
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The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form
only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code
for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must
explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The
license may require derived works to carry a different name or version
number from the original software.
5. No Discrimination against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
6. No Discrimination against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a
specific field of endeavour. For example, it may not restrict the program from
being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
7. Distribution of License
The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is
redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those
parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being
part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that
distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license,
all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights
as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software
distribution.
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software
The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed
along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that
all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source
software.
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of
interface. “
“Referenced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source”
9
1.1 What is the difference between Open Source – Websites and
Commercial Websites?
Open Source Commercial

It is open to all and everyone can It is not accessible to everyone but
access the code. only the person who is developing the
website in a place or company will
have access to the code
Free to Use Payment should be done to access
websites if and when necessary
Security system is open-source Security system is not available to
public developers to understand the
security system.
It is a best software for non-profit Best for websites which includes
organizations selling, publishing and advertisements
Easy to edit and use as any one In commercial , it is not really easy to
developers can edit and re-use the edit things as it has to be done
websites through another administrator
1.2 Does Open Source works for business users?
After reading this article stated in reference 1.a. I can clearly understand that business
organizations while using open-source software really aim to get a version which includes
more support, updates and services.
On the other side, the business people also analyse to what extent they need the open source
software and for what purpose and how critical it will be for their operations. Some people
also say that freebased community service software is good for testing and for other needs but
when it comes to critical needs some business people go for the pay-enterprise open-software.
“Bill Parducci, CTO of Los Angeles-based Think Passenger Inc., which builds online
communities for companies and their customers, said open source code is important to
his three-year-old start-up because it lowers technology costs and allows customization
of key source code. “
10
"The concept of an organization pushing out the code faster so their clients can get the
code faster, I don't agree with that," Parducci said. "Customers can't keep up." Because
of such pressures, Linux vendor Red Hat Inc. doubled the length of its new version
cycles several years ago to better meet the needs of its customers, he said. "Software is
more stable and supportable when [new versions are] less frequent. There's no value in
software that doesn't work predictably."
“Referenced from
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9066615/Does_the_open_source_development_mod
el_work_for_business_users_?taxonomyId=11&intsrc=kc_top&taxonomyName=developme
nt”
1.3 Open Source Software Security
Security is always important when it comes to any website development. Nowadays, people
or the business organizations are very concerned about the security system due to virus threat,
hacking and many more. Let’s see how far open source security system helps us to prevent
havoc to customers.
1.4 Advantages of open source software security
1. Open-Source gives code access to all the people so that anyone can find and fix the
threat.
2. When released, the open source software gives a clear idea about the level of security
they provide and their further damages if happened. It also instructs by updates.
3. The open source code can be modified by the end user according to their security
specifications.
4. Normally in open –source software the compiler which creates code is highly trusted
and also a fact that the developer who have access to compiler code can identify any
malfunction in the code.
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1.5 Dis-advantages of Open-Source Security
1. As the open source code is open to everyone. Even the hackers can use the code
which is the main drawback of this security system.
2. It is not a guarantee that the threat can be found out just by making all the developers
to access code.
1.6 Common web-based open source Editors are
1. Amaya
2. Edit plus
3. Expression web
Browsers:
1. Internet Explorer (proprietary)
2. Fire Fox (Open-Source)
1.7 Cascading Style sheets
Cascading style sheet is a method to show the look of the webpage. It plays a very important
role in the design of the website. The appearance of the webpage is controlled by the CSS.
CSS has been approved by the W3C School in the late 1996 in order to improve the
appearance of the web page document. There are two stages CSS level 1 and CSS level 2 and
both were approved by W3 School.
Linking an External Style Sheet
<link rel="stylesheet"href="ss1.css"type="text/css"/>
“Browser sends an HTTP request to fetch the style sheet from the web server. “
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The W3 School has the CSS validation service in which the documents can be tested and
verified as CSS verified. The below link is the W3 C validation tool.
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
1.8 Advantages of CSS
 Less time consumption

 Complexity is less and the design is separated from content
 The site gets load faster
 Compatible with browsers
 It has got improved search engine results
1.9 Validating Websites
The W3 School has got various validating websites such as
1. W3C Mark up Validation Service

2. W3C CSS Validation Service
3. Cynthia Accessibility Validator
W3 C Mark Up Validation Service – this validation service can be done by the below
link
http://validator.w3.org/
After clicking the above link, the user needs to enter the URL of their website and click
check to find out the whether the web document has properly passed W3 web standards
for the website.
It displays a result as code to be placed in the web document which in turn displays a logo
of validation in the page of website.
Coding
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“<p><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer"> <img
src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-xhtml10"alt="Valid XHTML 1.0
Transitional" height="31" width="88" /></a>
</p>”
W3 C CSS Validation Service – this validation can be done by clicking the below link
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
After entering the URL of the website, the validator checks for the CSS standards and
then returns the result of the webpage with a logo code which can be displayed in the
website to indicate that the document is CSS validated.
Coding
“ <p>
<a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer">
<img style="border:0;width:88px;height:31px"
src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss"
alt="Valid CSS!" />
</a>
</p> “
Cynthia Accessibility Validator – the below link is used to test the website in
accordance with accessibility with respect to WACG guidelines/ Section 508 Guidelines.
http://www.cynthiasays.com/
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2.0 Introduction
2.1 PHP
PHP is an Open-Source Programming Language used in creating dynamic websites. It is

abbreviated as Hypertext pre-processor. The product was originally called as Personal
home page. The PHP language is in its fifth generation helping web developers to a very
large extent. PHP is also named as server –scripting language which also can be embedded in
HTML code.
Compared to other web technologies php is very easy in creating layouts, generally on
creating web looks, sounds and so on.
“PHP is an official module of Apache HTTP Server, the market-leading free Web server that
Runs about 67 percent of the World Wide Web (according to the widely quoted Net craft Web
Server survey).
2.1.1 Why we need Dynamic content
Nowadays the webpage is not really static. When the information grows to a large extent
more number of web pages are been generated and is no longer static and it is called as
dynamic. For example purpose let’s say we are going to develop a selling website - (shopping
website) and we have got around 10,000 products to sell. In this case, the user has to sit down
and write 10,000 web pages which is really very horrible and impossible to do due to time
consuming and business ethics. Thereby we create one web page and store the information of
10,000 products in the database and program it to retrieve the product information if the
customer gives a request on it. This makes the job easier and also the website becomes a very
easy to use one. By just selecting the product the database connected to the webpage will give
information about the product, the prices and many more as designed in the database form or
in the front end.
Since there are more updates, different competitive websites on the market is is always best
to ensure that we have got the latest website – like different customized pages for the user to
15
easily navigate, the update information and many more. This makes the web page more
dynamic which can be easily done by PHP and the MYSQL.
PHP is a a cross platform language thereby any business organization operating with any
operating system can easily run the languages, on the other side , being an open source, it is
very easy for the people to understand the scripts.
MYSQL can be faster than any database. It has got cross Platform compatibility and it is a
highly recommendable when it comes to interaction with database and it is an open-source
database.
2.1.2 Installation
The php runs in Apache server which can be installed freely from the internet.
http://httpd.apache.org/
From this above linked website we can download the content of the apache server. It is
termed as one of the popular http server in the whole of internet. It is a open –source hyper
text transfer protocol
Downloading Apache for Windows
Before installing we need to download the file apache_1_3_#_win32-src.msi
When you go into the website you will find the recent and current details of downloading
with the database. The files contain a run time called as apache run time. Also you need the
Microsoft 1.10 in your computer before we install the apache. If you have got windows 2000
you don’t need to download or otherwise you need to download it. The instruction for the
installer can be downloaded from any one of the mirror directly in the website.
Normally the code is available in .msi distribution or you can get it from a zip file. You need
to extract once you download the zip file. The zip file which will contain source code, ms-dos
line ending etc.
It is always better to always go with zip file rather than going into sources like .tar.gz or .tar.z
which is more complex for the windows user s. You need to understand more functions and
dos line ending to complete them. Thus it is advisable to go with the zip file.
16
Generally, the apache is a .exe file format which can be installed directly into our Pc .It was
then modified after the update of windows 2000 and due to more users using windows the
.msi package came to help people install apache very soon than the .exe file. This is how the
apache server is downloaded from the internet.
Installing Apache for Windows
Now let’s install first with the .msi file. Download the file and run it. There will be a message
prompt telling you the exact update on the installation.
 “Whether or not you want to run Apache for all users (installing Apache as a
Service), or if you want it installed to run in a console window when you choose the
Start Apache shortcut.
 Your Server name, Domain name and administrative email account.
 the directory to install Apache into (the default is C:\Program Files\Apache
Group\Apache although you can change this to any other directory you wish)
 The installation type. The "Complete" option installs everything, including the source
code if you downloaded the -src.msi package. Choose the "Custom" install if you
choose not to install the documentation, or the source code from that package.”
“Referenced from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/windows.html”
When the installation is in process the apache will configure according to the directory and
the installation section you selected. If there is a file which is already there in the directory
the file will not be overwritten. Instead of that you will get a copy called the .default.conf file
name. After installing, you need to check the previous file to see what has happened and
update any other files which are not configured.
Edit the file in the configuration conf directory if required. This must be done after the
installing the apache.
If you uninstall the configuration will be removed. This happens for all the files you created
in the directory.
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Running Apache for Windows
There are many ways to run apache – the following are
 The service one where the machine will boot automatically and then the apache will
be running until the machine log off.
 From a window but when you close the window the server will be disconnected.
After installing, you have to follow certain steps to start the apache. From the start menu in
the window click the console application option. Until we stop it the apache will be running .
When you shutdown then the apache will stop running.
2.1.1 PHP and State (Sessions, cookies, forms and URL)
The HTML and PHP - HTML is stateless page. Each page is not related to the previous page
(Independent). It can transfer data from one form to another.
PHP POST FUNCTION
• “The built-in $_POST function is used to collect values from a form sent with
method="post".
• Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others and has no
limits on the amount of information to send.
• Note: However, there is an 8 Mb max size for the POST method, by default (can be
changed by setting the post_max_size in the php.ini file).
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<form action="welcome.php" method="post">
Welcome <? php echo $_POST ["fname"]; ?>!<br />”
“Referenced from Lecture notes – Internet and web technologies (Open Source) by Dr Ray
Stoneham”
PHP GET FUNCTION
The $_in GET function uses a method =”GET” to collect values from a form. The
information sent through GET has got limits and will be visible to everyone.
2.1.2 What is a cookie?
Cookie is a small file that is embedded in the user computer. It is often used to identify the
user.
When the computer initiates a page through the browser every time, the browser sends the
cookie also. In php, we can create and retrieve cookie values.
Retrieving cookie values
“ <?php
// Print a cookie
echo $_COOKIE["user"];
// A way to view all cookies

print_r($_COOKIE);
?>
<?php
if (isset($_COOKIE["user"]))
echo "Welcome " . $_COOKIE["user"] . "!<br />";
else
19
echo "Welcome guest!<br />";
?> “
Deleting a Cookie
• When deleting a cookie you should assure that the expiration date is in the past.
• Delete example:
<?php
// set the expiration date to one hour ago
setcookie("user", "", time()-3600);
?>
“Referenced from Internet and Web technologies (Open Source) lecture notes by Ray
Stoneham “
“https://cms1.gre.ac.uk/teachmat0910/COMP1444/course/schedule.asp?banner=COMP144
4”
2.1.3 PHP SESSION Variables
• When we open a application, we open it, work on it and then make some changes and
close the application. This is nothing but a Session. Now, the computer knows who
you are and when you ended the application. But this is not available in the internet
because the web server does not know who you are because the hyper text transfer
protocol (http) doesn’t maintain any sessions.
• In PHP, the session allows the user to store the information on the server. But still, the
session is a temporary one and will be deleted once the user has finished working on
the website. Hence, PHP session solves this problem
• A Unique ID is created by the session for each visitor and they store the information
based on the Unique ID. The ID is stored in cookie or it can be stored in the URL
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2.2 MYSQL
MYSQL stands for Structure Query Language. It is a relational database management system
(RDBMS) which can be used by many users as it doesn’t cost any money to buy the software
in many cases. MYSQL is a standardized database where information can be stored, organize
and access. MySQL is a database server.
 MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications

 MySQL supports standard SQL
 MySQL compiles on a number of platforms
 MySQL is free to download and use
“MySQL can easily be integrated into Perl programs by using the Perl DBI (Database
Independent interface) module. DBI is an Application Program Interface (API) that allows
Perl to connect to and query a number of SQL databases (among them MySQL, mSQL,
PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, and Informix).If you installed Linux as suggested in Chapter 2,
MySQL and DBI are already installed.”
2.2.1 Installing MYSQL
Extract the source from the MYSQL site and then save them in tmp files.
“# cd /tmp/src/
# gunzip -dc mysql-x.xx.xx.tar.gz | tar xv
# cd mysql-x.xx.xx
# ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
# make
# make install”
“Reference from http://www.id.uzh.ch/dl/schulung/lehrtexte/php-mysql.pdf”
21
How to delete, edit and search data
Deleting rows
We have only entered new information in our database and viewed it. It is possible to delete
or lose the data when so delete.php will do the exact same thing like delete. It works exactly
like view.php. The sql command is slightly different.
"DELETE FROM personnel WHERE id=$id", which tell MySQL to delete the row
that contains the id corresponding to the variable $id. Generally, the SQL command for
deleting a row is DELETE FROM database_name WHERE
field_name=somevalue
<HTML>
<?php
$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "");
mysql_select_db("learndb",$db);
mysql_query("DELETE FROM personnel WHERE id=$id",$db);
echo "Information Deleted";
?>
</HTML>
Once again we modify our previous viewdb2.php script to viewdb3.php to add this new
feature. The additions should be obvious.
<HTML>
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM personnel",$db);
echo "<TABLE BORDER=2>";
echo"<TR><TD><B>Full Name</B><TD><B>Nick
Name</B><TD><B>Options</B></TR>";
while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<TR><TD>".$myrow["firstname"]."
".$myrow["nick"];
22
echo "<TD><a href=\"view.php?id=".$myrow[id]."\">View</a> ";
echo "<a href=\"delete.php?id=".$myrow[id]."\">Delete</a>";
}
echo "</TABLE>";
?>
</HTML>
Try clicking on delete and then view the database again with viewdb3.php to verify that
the row was really deleted. You may have to refresh your browser.
Editing data
So far we have viewed and deleted database content. But sometimes we need to edit
database content. For this we will modify our previously coded input.php file. By now you are
familiar with the concept of passing variables by URL. We will call this modified script
addedit.php:
<HTML>
<?php
if($submit)
{
$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root","");
Presented by developerWorks, your source for great tutorials ibm.com/developerWorks
Create dynamic sites with PHP & MySQL Page 14
$sql = "INSERT INTO personnel (firstname, lastname, nick, email, salary)
VALUES ('$first','$last','$nickname','$email','$salary')";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
echo "Thank you! Information entered.\n";
}
else if($update)
{
$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root","");
$sql = "UPDATE personnel SET
firstname='$first',lastname='$last',nick='$nickname',email='$email',
salary='$salary' WHERE id=$id";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
echo "Thank you! Information updated.\n";
23
}
else if($id)
{
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM personnel WHERE id=$id",$db);
$myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result);
?>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
<input type="hidden" name="id" value="<?php echo $myrow["id"]?>">
First name:<input type="Text" name="first" value="<?php echo
br>
Last name:<input type="Text" name="last" value="<?php echo
$myrow["lastname"]?>"><br>
Nick Name:<input type="Text" name="nickname" value="<?php echo
$myrow["nick"]?>"><br>
E-mail:<input type="Text" name="email" value="<?php echo $myrow["email"]?>"><br>
Salary:<input type="Text" name="salary" value="<?php echo
$myrow["salary"]?>"><br>
<input type="Submit" name="update" value="Update information"></form>
<?
}
else
{
?>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
First name:<input type="Text" name="first"><br>
Last name:<input type="Text" name="last"><br>
Nick Name:<input type="Text" name="nickname"><br>
E-mail:<input type="Text" name="email"><br>
Salary:<input type="Text" name="salary"><br>
<input type="Submit" name="submit" value="Enter information"></form>
<?
}
?>
24
</HTML>
Code looks quite complex. But really it isn't. Previously input.php had two
features: it could add information to the database or could show the form. We'll add two
more
features to it: the ability to show the same form but with values of a particular person already
there and the ability to update records for that person. The SQL commands for entering new
information and updating existing information are different, so we can't use our previous
code
for entering information.
The script searches for the $submit variable. If it contains some value, then someone
submitted new data and the information is entered into the database. If $submit does not
contain any value, then someone might have just posted their updated information, so we
check $update. If it contains a value, then we update that person's record with the SQL
statement "UPDATE personnel SET
fieldname1='$variablename1',fieldname2='$variablename2' ......... WHERE id=$id";".
Otherwise, if someone provided the id in the query string, we show that person's information,
but this time in a form so he may change it. If all these are not the case, we simply have to
show the old form.
Experiment with the script. Open it with your browser to see what comes up. Then call it
providing query string ?id=1. Change the information and click update. Verify whether the
database is updated by viewing the database with viewdb3.php.
Another new element was just introduced. It is the global PHP variable $PHP_SELF. This
variable always contains the name of the script it is in and its location. We have used this
variable in a 'form action' so no matter what you name this file, this script will always post
information to itself.
Once again we modify our viewing script incorporating this feature. Here's the listing for
viewdb4.php:
<HTML>
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM personnel",$db);
25
{
".$myrow["lastname"]."</a><TD>".$myrow["nick"];
echo "<TD><a href=\"view.php?id=".$myrow[id]."\">View</a> ";
echo "<a href=\"delete.php?id=".$myrow[id]."\">Delete</a> ";
echo "<a href=\"addedit.php?id=".$myrow[id]."\">Edit</a>";
}
echo "</TABLE>";
?>
</HTML>
Searching our data
Information is useless if you can't find the data you require from a wealth of information. We
need a way to search our database, so let's implement a search function. The page will show
a static form initially and will show the search result when we have something submitted.
<HTML>
<?php
if ($searchstring)
{
$sql="SELECT * FROM personnel WHERE $searchtype LIKE '%$searchstring%' ORDER
BY firstname ASC";
$result = mysql_query($sql,$db);
{
".$myrow["nick"];
echo "<TD><a href=\"view.php?id=".$myrow["id"]."\">View</a>";
}
26
echo "</TABLE>";
}
else
{
?>
<form method="POST" action="<?php $PHP_SELF ?>">
<table border="2" cellspacing="2">
<tr><td>Insert you search string here</td>
<td>Search type</td></tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="searchstring" size="28"></td>
<td><select size="1" name="searchtype">
<option selected value="firstname">First Name</option>
<option value="lastname">Last Name</option>

<option value="nick">Nick Name</option>
<option value="email">Email</option>
</select></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><input type="submit" value="Submit" name="B1"><input type="reset" value="Reset"
></p>
</form>
<?php
}
?>
</HTML>
The script checks whether a search string exists. If $searchstring contains a value, then we
have something to search; otherwise, we just show an HTML form. The part of code that
searches is similar to our viewdb2.php. The SQL command deserves a bit of explanation
here. Let's look at it closely. The SQL command is:
"SELECT * FROM personnel WHERE $searchtype LIKE '%$searchstring%' ORDER BY
firstname ASC"
Two news things are introduced here, "LIKE" and "ORDER BY". LIKE simply means 'sounds
27
like'. The '%' sign represents any possible combination of characters (numbers or letters). So
to find people whose first name starts with 'J' we would use the SQL command
"SELECT * FROM personnel WHERE firstname LIKE 'J%'"
To find those people with a name ending with J we have to use '%J'. If we wish find people
with 'J' anywhere in their name (first, middle, or last) we have to use '%J%'.
'ORDER BY' simply orders the records in ascending or descending order. The syntax is:
"ORDER BY fieldname order_method" where order_method is ASC or DESC allowing the
ordering to be done in ASCending or DESCending order.
Presented by developer Works, your source for great tutorials ibm.com/developer Works
Create”
“Referenced from http://www.id.uzh.ch/dl/schulung/lehrtexte/php-mysql.pdf”
2.3 Reason to choose PHP and MySQL in my project
2.3.1Cost factor
Refer Appendix 2
2.3.2 Licence of PHP
The licence of the PHP open source software is guaranteed by GPL (Gnu General Public
Licence). The php can also be released by GPL and by its own licence. The users can easily
download the PHP and MYSQL from the internet at no charge. Only people receiving from
overseas will get the nominal charge for disk storage or CD writing and the delivery charges
whenever applicable. So the licence helps the web developer to a greater extent.
2.3.3 Easy to use
PHP is easy to use as it doesn’t need a deeper understanding like JAVA. The syntax is very
easy to understand and is user friendly. Many of functions (specific) like fetching emails or
28
opening an oracle database connection is predefined for you. Also, there are more editors
available in the internet for the development of PHP code. Another important factor, php
coding are editable which makes the developer job much easy than an ASP.net developer.
2.3.4 Cross-Platform Compatibility
Php and MYSQL have got very good cross platform compatibility. They run on each flavour
of platforms like the Windows, Linux and UNIX. Most percentage of the servers runs on
these particular platforms. The PHP is compatible with three major servers mentioned below
1. Apache HTTP Server for Unix and Windows
2. Microsoft Internet Information Server
3. Netscape Internet servers
The php codes can be developed in one OS and can be implemented in another OS due to its
cross-platform compatibility.
Table 1.2 Operating systems and Web Servers for php
Variables Unix Windows
Flavours Aix,A/UX ,Digital Unix/TRU Windows 95/98/ME

64 MAC OS X , Net BSD
Windows NT/2000/XP/2003
and more
Web Servers Apache, Netscape and fhttpd IIS, PWS,Netscape,Apache,

Omni
2.3.5 Stability
Stability plays a very important role for the web developers. In PHP stability refers to the
server which doesn’t need to be rebooted often in the php. Also when there is a release of
software the php doesn’t get affected with the compatibility. On the Whole Server, the
Apache server is found to be a better stable one which never crashes like others.
29
2.3.6 Speed
PHP is very fast in its execution especially when compiled with an Apache module on the
UNIX side. Compared to CGI scripts, PHP are much faster in execution. The time for
execution is very limited and fast both with the php and mysql.
Thus these are the main factors which made me to choose PHP and MYSQL for my web
development.
2.4 Comparison between PHP and ASP
There are many differences in PHP compared to ASP. I would like to post here some
information based upon my research on reading an article about PHP and ASP.
ASP is nothing but Active server pages whereas php is defined as hypertext processor. Both
these languages are used in creating dynamic websites. The dynamic website is created in
such a way that they can exchange information and interact with the database. Asp runs on
Microsoft server called IIS (Internet information server) which is originally from Microsoft.
The PHP runs on different servers like UNIX, Linux and internet information server also. It is
multi-running language and can be used in different operating systems.
Here are some important differences about PHP and ASP
Cost Factor:
PHP programs can run in Linux server which is free but ASP can run only on Internet
information server (IIS) which needs to be installed in a windows server platform and
is not freely available. Connectivity of database is also expensive in Asp as the
Microsoft version MS-SQL needs to be purchases. In case of PHP, MYSQL is
required - this is freely available in the internet.
30
Compatibility
PHP is platform independent as it runs on various platforms like Linux, windows,

UNIX and Solaris. But here, ASP is related with windows platforms. It can also run in
Linux platform if ASP-apache server is installed. Thus PHP is more platform
compatibility compared to ASP.
Speed
When comparing the speed of both the languages – PHP comes first and then
followed by ASP. This is because of the fact that the php code runs very quickly in
PHP compared to ASP code. Also, PHP runs on its own memory space but ASP is
built in Com based architecture which an over head for the server.
Additional expenses
PHP code can be obtained freely in the internet and hence it is cost free and also a lot
of code can be found in many forums in the development website. Php has got some
good mechanisms like inbuilt ftp, sending email from web and encryption methods.
But in ASP, we need some configuration tools which need to be purchased. This is the
main drawback in ASP which also creates additional expenses to the programmer / or
the company who designs the website.
Base language used in PHP and ASP
Asp (Active server pages) base language is more related to Microsoft windows
product. It uses visual basic coding and syntax. PHP coding is done on C++ language.
The syntax is also based like the C/C++
Database connectivity
Asp.net mainly uses MS-SQL database for connectivity. While, php on the other side
uses various database like MS Access and so on. The most popular being used is MY-
SQL
31
Conclusion
According to my analysis, both the languages have got equal importance. The only
difference is the different aspect of web design and factors they provide and they
don’t provide. It again depends on the developers on what to choose and what not to
choose. Based on the factors given above I come into a conclusion that php is better
than asp due to it ease of use and features availability and less complexity in
designing. I would recommend Asp for a e-commerce website as it has got more
solutions than PHP. But on the whole, I choose PHP as my programming language for
my project due to its extensive features like open –source coding, cost factors and less
complexity in designing.
Chapter 3
3.0 Implementation
3.1.0 HOME PAGE
Continued...
32
Explanation
The above screenshot is the home page website which is hosted in stuweb server. The small
login page in the left hand side of the home page asks for the login control – the email id or
the username and the password. The other control is the general new user sign up. - Click
here to register, password forgotten and so on.
3.1.1 Registration Page
33
Explanation
The above screenshot represents the new user registration page which normally filled with
required fields for registration like Name, the preferred user name, Email id, and password.
The new users are expected to complete these fields and register themselves in order to get
use of this alumni website.
3.1.2 User created
34
Explanation
This screen shot is the user created page in the alumni website. Now the user has successfully
registered and can use all the services of the alumni website. They can search their friends by
search method by city, name and so on.
3.1.3 Forgot username
35
3.1.4 Forgot Password
Explanation
Both the screenshot defines the forgotten username or password. It depends on the customer
problem. When the user type in the email address then the user name or password is sent to
the email address. Thus the user can retrieve the data back and use the alumni website.
36
3.1.5 About us
Explanation
This web page about us section explains about the general introduction of the alumni website
and also it tells what the website
3.1.6 View /Edit profile
37
Explanation
The view and edit profile is the screenshot which is shown above. It is implemented in such a
way that the user once logged in can view their profile and edit their personal information and
so on. This goes without saying that the user is logged in .
3.1.7 Recent discussions
38
3.1.8My discussions
3.1.9 Categories
39
Explanation
The above three screenshot represents the discussion forum which is listed as Recent
discussion, the profile discussion which is My discussions and the categories available in the
discussion forum.
3.1.7 Contact us
Explanation
This screenshot displays the contact information of the website owner. Currently, it is
showing the contact name of the person, the location and the email address by which the
admin can be contacted. Basically, this page will be helpful to people who wanted to contact
in future about alumni website or to develop alumni websites.
40
4.0 Database
This screenshot represent the MYSQL table database where the details of the users are stored
and operated. The main my stuadmin of the Greenwich university website is used to
populate the table details.
41
Message database structure
42
Chapter 4
6.0 Comparison of Site with Batchmates.com
The below screen shot explains the process of creating a new user in the website
http://batchmates.com the alumni portal. When I create a new user in my alumni website, it
takes only few minutes to finish the registration process. In batchmates.com it is taking a long
time to finish.
The main motive of the website is to get registered and search for the alumni if they are
available in the site or meet new people. It is mainly a kind of communication tool both for
networking as well as finding their missed one or dear ones.
I have pasted screen shots of batchmates.com and also my website screenshot just to show the
process speed of creating users. This makes the user feel happy as many people find very odd
to type in more questions and register.
43
44
45
6.1 My Alumni Website
User
Explanation
The above screenshot represents the new user registration page which normally filled with
required fields for registration like Name, the preferred user name, Email id, and password.
The new users are expected to complete these fields and register themselves in order to get
use of this alumni website.
User created
46
This screen shot is the user created page in the alumni website. Now the user has successfully
registered and can use all the services of the alumni website. They can search their friends by
search method by city, name and so on.
The above screenshot represents the registration process of batchmates.com and my website.
I personally, registered in that website to know about the usability and accessibility to make
an analysis.
Thus I have done a small comparison to understand the process of the website and I feel that
my website creation page is much quicker than batchmates.com
7.0 Requirement Analysis
 Languages required –
1. PHP
2. MYSQL
 Windows operation system
 UNIX server
 System Analysis design study to draw the ERD diagram
47
Chapter 5
8.0 Further Research
I have done my proto-type website in open-source technology. On the other side, it was very
important for me to conduct a further research on different areas of IT, problems in open-
source, advantages and also other issues to prevent my site from any IT problems. Also, I
generally analysed the steps or precautions to be taken as a web developer in all stage process
of developing the website. I went into research about the advantages of open-source first and
found out few advantages of networking sites which is very impressive nowadays. Another
important concept was the ITIL concept which helps the website developers or business
operations organizations to a greater extent with their set of services, support, rules, and
procedures to make things simpler. I have explained the concept of ITIL in detail –
(information technology infrastructure library). The next one I noticed was the data
protection act 1998 which is commonly found in many UK secured sites i.e when the user
tries to send information the website will ask for a further check to tick the box and click I
agree to send information to process the personal data. The UK data protection act 1998 is
used to protect information thereby preventing fraudulent actions or mislead information to
third parties. Also, United States had introduced a new safety act called the Safe harbor
which in turn was managing information of the people in the United States of America and
also the two countries the UK and United States of America formed a framework called the
European Safe harbor framework between the two countries.
This further research was carried out to understand the different issues and available IT
technologies to safeguard the website from any incidents which might affect the other party
and also the business operations. Thus my following further research is listed below.
8.1 Advantages of networking sites
 To find out good jobs

 To make good friends and an opportunity to meet new people
 To overcome shyness
 Promoting business in the website
48
The below links are the examples of networking sites-
1. http://facebook.com
2. www.orkut.com
1. To find out good jobs! How does it work?
Well, the basic success is the fun design of the website, the user –friendly environment and
the entertainment factors (like photo sharing, chatting and so on) which makes millions of
people to join. For example say Orkut and face book which has got millions of people
meeting online daily, sharing knowledge i.e. transfer of knowledge becomes more powerful
in these websites. Also, we can find out that people creating new communities on various
topics like marketing, jobs and so on. Nowadays, the recruiters have started to create
communities for recruitment and on the other side the recruiters started to search people
profiles in the networking sites to recruit them. The person profile can really help the person
to get a good job through networking sites also. This is one of the most advantage factors in
networking sites.
2. To make good friends and meet and an opportunity to meet new people
The networking sites are mainly for people to make friendship and so this is considered to be
the best place for meeting friends online. Due to the advancement in networking sites, people
who are really looking for some friendship can now use the tool to search people of their own
interest and then send a wink or a message and then start a good friendship and meet in real
life and can proceed to many things like marriage etc. In real life, i have seen my friend who
met a friend in facebook and then met in real life and then get married and living happily. So
the advantages of networking sites are not low as we think. Indeed, it is a very good
communication tool for making friends and more if we use properly.
49
3. To overcome shyness
Internet has been a very easy tool for contacting people. Using these networking sites, the
people who are really shy can establish good contacts by chatting, sending emails and can
overcome their shyness. This is a very good platform for people with shyness to overcome
and also helpful for people to overcome depression.
4. Promoting business in the website
People who are doing some scale or large scale business can create their business profile,
they can also upload their company details, logo, and pictures in the networking site and it is
free for them. If they have a site then can also paste the link on the website and can post more
business advertisements, groups, and their description. Thus this website helps the business
person to establish contacts which could help them in sales and networking and many more.
8.2 ITIL Concept – Information Technology Infrastructure Library
ITIL defines a set of rules and techniques established for information technology operations,
information technology implementation and management service. It gives good practices for
an organization to render their IT needs. ITIL does it with certain procedures which can be
followed by IT organization to get benefited. ITIL is registered trade marker of United
Kingdom office of government commerce called as OGC.
8.2.0. The History
Due to large developments and growing dependence in the IT industry, the Goverment of
United Kingdom Central Computer and telecommunication Agency named CCTA gave
some recommendations to the IT industry. The concepts and rules were developed in a view
50
to sort out many problems in the IT service, developments, operations and management
sector.
“ITIL was built around a process-model based view of controlling and managing operations
often credited to W. Edwards Deming and his plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle.[1]”
“PLAN
Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with
the expected output. By making the expected output the focus, it differs from other
techniques in that the completeness and accuracy of the specification is also part of
the improvement.
DO
Implement the new processes. Often on a small scale if possible.
CHECK
Measure the new processes and compare the results against the expected results to
ascertain any differences.
ACT
Analyze the differences to determine their cause. Each will be part of either one or
more of the P-D-C-A steps. Determine where to apply changes that will include
improvement. When a pass through these four steps does not result in the need to
improve, refine the scope to which PDCA is applied until there is a plan that involves
improvement.”
ITIL has been divided into different components for different sectors and they are stated as
below
1. IT service management a) Service Support

b) Service Delivery
51
a) Service support
Basically, the service support given by ITIL is to support business functions. It is also
concerned about the support given is done in a proper way. The process model for any
business has got an entry factors which is normally the customers and the users.
The services they support are as follows
 Updates
 Real process solution
 Queries
 Ask for something new to change
When the users ask for a query or any problem the service desk functions as the single
contact point for the user. Service desk always try to solve at first instance the incident and if
it is not solved it is then forwarded to secondary and other divisions to solve the incident. The
Incident can lead to a chain process – as incident management, problem management,
change, release and configuration management. This process is monitored using
configuration management database.
1. a Service Desk
The main work of service desk is to sort out the incident and also the request. Other features
are as follows-
 Service desk try to maintain single point of contact for the user
 “Single point of entry”
 “Single point of exit “
 Make the customers feel easy
The other service of service desk would be to manage the entire requests and handled it
properly by having a proper communication with the customers by informing them the
progress about the incidents and so on.
1.b The Incident management
The main aim of the incident management is to solve the incident and restore it back to the
normal operations. It also tries to minimize the worst effect on business operations.
52
The main objective of the incident management service is to safeguard the business
operations.
1.c The problem Management
The IT infrastructure may not be always right for all the business functions or operations. The
problem management here tries to eradicate the cause of the incidents and also they try to
figure out on how to avoid them. These incidents are mainly caused by the IT techniques
which are not really suitable for every function.
“A problem is a condition often identified as a result of multiple incidents that exhibit

common symptoms. Problems can also be identified from a single significant incident,
indicative of a single error, for which the cause is unknown, but for which the impact
is significant.
A known error is a condition identified by successful diagnosis of the root cause of a

problem, and the subsequent development of a work-around.”
There are many differences between problem management and incident management. The
problem management is there to resolve the problem thereby stopping further incidents to
occur. The incident management is mainly aimed at bringing the incident to the normal
condition i.e. responds to the service request by the business organizations with respect to
business functions or operations incidents.
The problem management process is the every important process as it prevents incidents and
problems on the business. Professionally, it sends the solution or the information to the help
desk 1 and help desk 2 and therefore trying to safeguard the business functions or operations
(incidents) before they pop in and that is the reason the problem management process is very
important than the incident management.
The problem management services might include
1. Sharing of information to the service desk

2. Analysis ( to avoid incidents)
3. Updating information to the organizations.
53
“The Error Control Process iteratively diagnoses known errors until they are eliminated by
the successful implementation of a change under the control of the Change Management
process.
The Problem Control Process aims to handle problems in an efficient way. Problem control
identifies the root cause of incidents and reports it to the service desk. Other activities are:
 Problem identification and recording

 Problem classification
 Problem investigation and diagnosis
A technique for identifying the root cause of a problem is to use an Ishikawa diagram also
referred to as a cause-and-effect diagram, tree diagram, or fishbone diagram. Alternatively,
a formal Root Cause Analysis method such as Apollo Root Cause Analysis can be
implemented and used to identify causes and solutions. An effective root cause analysis
method and/or tool will provide the most effective/efficient solutions to address problems in
the Problem Management process.”
1. d Change Management
Change management is a management technique to make sure that the procedures and
methods are not affected with the current changes.
The main features of chain management includes
1. Less problem in services

2. Changes making good way to the business organization thereby improving the
economy.
1. e Release Management
For the whole IT infrastructure, the release management is used. The release management is
worked out by a team of software migration experts for hardware and software distribution,
licence controls and platform-independent for the whole IT infrastructure. Another
54
responsibility of the release management is the quality control during implementation and
development of software. So these control enables the user to get proper software and
hardware tested, licensed and a certified –version one.
“The goals of release management include:
 Planning the rollout of software

 Designing and implementing procedures for the distribution and installation of
changes to IT systems
 Effectively communicating and managing expectations of the customer during the
planning and rollout of new releases
 Controlling the distribution and installation of changes to IT systems
Release management focuses on the protection of the live environment and its services
through the use of formal procedures and checks.
A Release consists of the new or changed software and/or hardware required to implement
approved changes.”
2. Service delivery
The service delivery concept is to make sure that ICT services should provide excellent
support to business users.
“The discipline consists of the following processes, explained in subsections below:
 Service Level Management

 Capacity Management
 IT Service Continuity Management
 Availability Management
 Financial Management”
55
2. a Service Level Management
Service level management reviews the level of IT services specified in the service level
agreement (called as SLA). It ensures that any agreements of service should be in the name of
operational agreement between IT internal and external support providers. Also, the service
level management combines with operation process to control the activities.
Service level management is responsible in many ways like
1. It maintains a catalogue which displays a list of services

2. It makes the IT service plans exist for business users and organization
3. The services to be rendered as and when required by the business users
2. b Capacity Management
Capacity management aims at helping the organization by matching their IT resources to

business demands. The activities are as follows
1. Planning with respect to Capacity

2. Work Management
3. Application
4. Management w.r.t performance
5. Management w.r.t resource
6. Management w.r.t demand
2. c IT Service Continuity Management
The IT service continuity management continues to follow the process and it does make sure
that even after a serious incident occur the IT services can recover and continue. The IT
continuity management measures are not only for recovering but also for reducing the risk of
incident in first place.
“Continuity management is regarded by the application owners as the recovery of the IT

infrastructure used to deliver IT Services, but as of 2009 many businesses practice the much
further-reaching process of Business Continuity Planning (BCP), to ensure that the whole
56
end-to-end business process can continue should a serious incident occur (at primary support
level).”
Reference d from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Infrastructure_Library#Capacity_Man
agement
Continuity management follows some basic steps:
 It involves in deep risk analysis w.r.t IT services thereby the risk assessment leads to
identify the threat, assets and vulnerability for each IT services.
 By conducting BLA analysis (Business Impact Analysis), the continuity management
identifies the activities to be recovered.
 Implementing proper plan
 Finding out the solution for recovery or options for recovery
 Test and implement the plan from time to time.
2. d Availability Management
Availability management makes the organisation to have the IT service availability

continuously in order to help the business go well with an affordable cost.
“Availability Management addresses the ability of an IT component to perform at an agreed

level over a period of time.
 Reliability: Ability of an IT component to perform at an agreed level at described

conditions.
 Maintainability: The ability of an IT component to remain in, or be restored to an
operational state.
 Serviceability: The ability for an external supplier to maintain the availability of
component or function under a third-party contract.
57
 Resilience: A measure of freedom from operational failure and a method of keeping
services reliable. One popular method of resilience is redundancy.
 Security: A service may have associated data. Security refers to the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of that data. Availability gives a clear overview of the end-
to-end availability of the system.”
Referenced from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Infrastructure_Library#Availability_M
anagement
8.3 Legal Chapters
8.3.1 Data protection Act 1998
Nowadays the websites
DPA called the (Data protection act) 1998 is an act in the U.K parliament which defines how
people information is protected by the government by this act especially in agreements and
online documentations. Any person /organization holding personal information for any other
purpose are legally obliged with this act.
1. a Subject rights
The data protection act has created rights for the people who use the information, who have
stored their information and who process the information.
The person rights are as follows -
1. Subject to a small fee, the person can view the data of the organization
2. The person has the right to correct any wrong information in the data by requesting
them. Failing to accept the request, the court can issue the order to destroy the data
/information stored.
3. The data should not be used for marketing purpose
4. The data should be processed or used in such a way that it doesn’t bring any damages.
58
The act contains normally eight data protection principles
1. The personal information should be treated very confidentially, fair manner and
processed lawfully. There are certain points we need to remember to process the
information lawfully which we will see later in this chapter.
2. The personal information of the person/company should be used only for specified
lawful purpose and should not be processed in any other way which will hinder the
exact purpose or anything illegal.
3. The data should be related with the purpose and should not contain any other data
which is excessive in relation.
4. The necessary information should be updated in a regular basis and should be
accurate.
5. The information which is processed should be destroyed once the purpose of it is
over. The data can be stored for longer use only if the purpose needs it.
6. Process of data /information should be done w.r.t to the data rights under this act.
7. The personal data which is very sensitive information should be guarded safely.
Hence action will be made against any organization or individual processing the
information in an un-authorised way / illegal way.
8. The data should not be transferred to any other country / or within the European
Economic area until the country demands for the personal information to be processed
with respect to data rights act.
1. b Conditions with respect to First Principle
1. Processing should be done only if the user gives the permission to do it.
2. For performance, the processing is required.
3. If there is a legal obligation, processing can be done.
4. To carry out public function, processing can be done.
5. For the interest of third parties, the processing is necessary
59
8.3.2. Safe harbour US-European
The data protection act came into effect in the year 1998 by the European commission. The
European commission also came up with a rule that they are prohibiting the transfer of
personal data to non-European nations.
Both the Europe and the United States were in the goal of enhancing the privacy protection of
users. United States took a different approach from that of the European nations and the act
was said to be safe harbour act. In order to safeguard the privacy and to diffentiate their
different approaches both the European commission and the united states developed a
framework called the safe harbour framework
Legal definition
“A safe harbor is a provision of a statute or a regulation that reduces or eliminates a party's

liability under the law, on the condition that the party performed its actions in good faith.
Legislators include safe-harbor provisions to protect legitimate or excusable violations. An
example of safe harbor is performance of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment by a
property purchaser: thus effecting due diligence and a "safe harbor" outcome if future
contamination is found caused by a prior owner.”
Referenced from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_harbor
Conclusion
Open – Source development and researching about it has been a great experience for me.
Firstly, it took me a bit of time to understand the concept of open source technology but was
not really as difficult as compared to other technology. I also researched about the advantages
of networking sites, Open source security factors, the languages PHP and MYSQL (the
database). W3 school website was very easy to learn the php and mysql general concepts as it
was given in a very precise manner. Also, internet E-books has helped me to a greater extent
to understand PHP and MYSQL. After research of PHP and MYSQL I went on to find
information about evaluation purpose website ( www.batchmates.com) . The advantages and
60
dis- advantages of open-source security, validating websites to check the web documents , the
php sessions and cookies , security were among the other re-search undertaken w.r.t.
dissertation.
I registered myself as a user to access the batchmates.com thereby I researched about the
usability and accessibility of the website. I did this research before developing my website in
php and mysql. My whole project aim is to create an alumni website using web 2.0 and also
to do a research on why open source websites are better compared to other technologies like -
commercial websites. This made me to research about the difference between and advantages
between the opens source websites and the commercial websites. Then, I studied about the
factor which helped me to choose these languages in project. I did a comparison between two
technologies – PHP and ASP and write few detailed information about both and also gave a
conclusion at the end. Then, I started with the implementation process, tested the website and
found the website to work. Then started to research on other issues and then gathered some
information which I will follow for my website and their operations in future. ITIL concept
and Data protection act were one among them.
Thus I had done a thorough research on various open-sources, IT issues and done the
implementation of a alumni site using PHP and MYSQL.
Recommendations –
In future also, I would recommend more developers to choose the open –source field and
work on designing dynamic websites in this modern online era world. As a web developer the
developer should not only update with programming and testing and developing the site but
also he needs to be aware of all the process in the industry – the issues, and how the issues
can be solved , need to update what all new organizations are helping to clear the business
operations problem or how to prevent a problem to our website operations . In one word,
external environment also needs to be studied along with internal web environment.
61
Bibliography
1. <Internet> based source www.php.net

2. <Internet> based source http://www.id.uzh.ch/dl/schulung/lehrtexte/php-mysql.pdf
3. <Internet> based source http://downloads.mysql.com/docs/mysql-tutorial-excerpt-5.1-
en.pdf
4. <Internet> based source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software
5. <Internet> based source
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9066615/Does_the_open_source_developme
nt_model_work_for_business_users_?taxonomyId=11&intsrc=kc_top&taxonomyNam
e=development
6. <Internet> based source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software_security
7. <Internet> based source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Infrastructure_Library#History
8. <Internet> based source http://www.itil-officialsite.com/home/home.asp
9. <Internet> based source http://hubpages.com/hub/5-Advantages-of-social-networking-
sites
10. <Internet> based source http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/
11. <Internet> based source http://www.quality-web-programming.com/blog/advantages-
of-css-cascading-style-sheet/
62
12. Referenced from “Internet and Web technologies (Open Source) lecture notes by Ray
Stoneham “ 2010
“https://cms1.gre.ac.uk/teachmat0910/COMP1444/course/schedule.asp?banner=COMP
1444”
13. <Internet> based source http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/

14. <Internet> based source http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_ref_mysql.asp
Appendix1
Fig 1.0
Fig 1.0 explains the logo of open Source
Appendix 2
63
Table - 1.1 Comparison of different cost using development tool, server and RDMS
Item Asp/Sql Server ColdFusion JSP/Oracle PHP/MYSQL

Mx/SQL server
Development $0-2499 $599 $0-~2000 $0-249

tool
Server $999 $ 2298 $0-~35,000 $0
RDBMS $4999 $4999 $15,000 $0-200
“The value obtained above is totally referenced from the below link “
“http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/67/07645574/0764557467.pdf”
The above table comparison clearly shows that how valuable cost-wise for a web developer
to use the three important tools for web design. This is the main reason for my project to
create website in PHP and MYSQL.
Appendix 3
64
Appendix 4 ERD Diagram
BLOGS UPDATE
NAME/INSTITUTE DELETE
/ CITY
EDIT
WELCOM Discussion
E MSG forum
USER PROFILE
LOGIN USER SEARCH
NAME/CITY/INSTITUTE
HI
NOTES
MY
BLOGS
NETWORK PHOTOS
Birthday
reminder
WELCOME
MSG
MSG
LOGIN USER SEARCH FEATURE
65
66
67

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A Final report for a dissertation that will be submitted in partial fulfilment

of a University of Greenwich Masters Degree

Alumni Website USING WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY

Name: Deepak Rangarajan

Student ID: 000471595

Programme of Study: MSc Computing and Information Systems

Date Proposal Submitted: 26/05/2010

Project Hand In Date: 30/08/2010

Supervisor: Ms Sophie Peter

The main objective of my project is to develop an enhanced version of an alumni website

Other features could include as follows:

1.0 What is Open Source Software?

“The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the

“Referenced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source”

Open Source Commercial

1.2 Does Open Source works for business users?

1.3 Open Source Software Security

1.4 Advantages of open source software security

1.6 Common web-based open source Editors are

1. Internet Explorer (proprietary)

2. Fire Fox (Open-Source)

1.7 Cascading Style sheets

Linking an External Style Sheet

1.8 Advantages of CSS

 Less time consumption

1.9 Validating Websites

The W3 School has got various validating websites such as

1. W3C Mark up Validation Service

PHP is an Open-Source Programming Language used in creating dynamic websites. It is

2.1.1 Why we need Dynamic content

Downloading Apache for Windows

Before installing we need to download the file apache_1_3_#_win32-src.msi

Installing Apache for Windows

“Referenced from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/windows.html”

There are many ways to run apache – the following are

2.1.1 PHP and State (Sessions, cookies, forms and URL)

(Independent). It can transfer data from one form to another.

PHP POST FUNCTION

Welcome <? php echo $_POST ["fname"]; ?>!<br />”

PHP GET FUNCTION

2.1.2 What is a cookie?

Retrieving cookie values

// A way to view all cookies

2.1.3 PHP SESSION Variables

 MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications

2.2.1 Installing MYSQL

“Reference from http://www.id.uzh.ch/dl/schulung/lehrtexte/php-mysql.pdf”

<option value="lastname">Last Name</option>

“Referenced from http://www.id.uzh.ch/dl/schulung/lehrtexte/php-mysql.pdf”

2.3 Reason to choose PHP and MySQL in my project

2.3.2 Licence of PHP

2.3.3 Easy to use

2.3.4 Cross-Platform Compatibility

1. Apache HTTP Server for Unix and Windows

2. Microsoft Internet Information Server

3. Netscape Internet servers

Table 1.2 Operating systems and Web Servers for php

Variables Unix Windows

Flavours Aix,A/UX ,Digital Unix/TRU Windows 95/98/ME

Web Servers Apache, Netscape and fhttpd IIS, PWS,Netscape,Apache,

2.4 Comparison between PHP and ASP

Here are some important differences about PHP and ASP

PHP is platform independent as it runs on various platforms like Linux, windows,