goAskem.com - a Java Servlet-based Web App

John M. Thompson

• What It Is
• goAskem Software Environments
• Key Functionality
• Data Model Overview
• Demo
• How Can I Do That?

A "Web Application"

• All software is centralized
• All access is browser-based

An "Application Service"

• Provides a complete set of functionality
• Self-contained on the server (software, storage)
• Cost is based on a pay-as-you-go model

Employed Web Technologies

• HTML for all Static Page Presentation
• JavaScript for Client-Side Logic
• Java for all Dynamic Page Creation
• Java for all Server-Side Logic

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Notable in two regards:

1. All components are open-source (available at zero expense), and
2. Virtually identical software runs on both Linux and Win 98/Me/NT.

Development Environment

• Pentium III with Windows Me
• Apache 1.3.14 WebServer
• JDK 1.3
• Jakarta-Tomcat Version 3.2.1 (Java Servlets Ver 2.2)
• MySQL database w/Mark Matthews JDBC Driver

Production Environment

• Pentium III with Red Hat Linux 6.2
• Apache 1.3.14 WebServer
• JDK 1.3
• Jakarta-Tomcat Version 3.2.1 (Java Servlets Ver 2.2)
• MySQL database w/Mark Matthews JDBC Driver

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User Registration & Login

Email Send (Passwords, Invoicing)

Assessment Management

• Creation & Save
• Recall & Edit
• Publish (prepare for WWW Delivery)
• Copy
• Delete

Assessment Web Delivery & Scoring

Assessment Results Viewing

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Two categories of users: Administrators, Respondents.

Users become Administrators by registering.

Administrators create and publish assessments.

Respondents access and respond to assessments.

Administrators review results and manage assessments.

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Running locally on:

• Pentium II/333MHz
• 64MB RAM
• Slow (Notebook!) Hard Drive

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So. You say there's a Web Application in your future? What do you need to do to launch such a site?

Required Skill Set - much of this you can learn as you go.

• Broad application design & development skills.
• Web Server, Servlet Container, Database Server configuration skills.
• Basic networking skills.
• Java language skills.
• Java platform knowledge - Servlets, JSPs and Java Beans (?), JDBC, JavaMail (?).
• Database design skills (consistent with domain demands).
• HTML authoring skills (graphic design skills won't hurt).
• Client-side JavaScript skills.

Development Environment

• Pentium III-class desktop Java development machine.
• Linux or NT Server (PII/PIII-class).
  • could be your Development box, or
  • could be your ISP-based box if you have high-speed connection and can configure test and production environments separately.

Software Downloads

• Apache's Web Server (www.apache.org).
• Apache's Tomcat Servlet Engine (www.apache.org).
• Sun's JDK 1.3 (java.sun.com).
• Java IDE - Sun's Forte For Java CE (java.sun.com).
• MySQL Database Server, JDBC Driver (www.mysql.com, or Red Hat Linux 7.0).

ISP Services

• Host-It-Yourself - provided you have the connection speed and firewall, or
• Dedicated/Co-located ISP-managed server offering appropriate Java and database configurations (www.forethought.net).
• Secure Commerce Server for credit card processing.

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TOC

Originals are accessible from  http://www.iwaytechnology.com/jt/index.html.