Database Learning Management System

How to Compile and Run

The Learning Management System allows teachers and students to interact with discussion forums. Users running LMSClient will be able to connect to the LMSServer, and all the functions and processing will be run on the server side. Users can create an account and choose their role or login if they already have an account. Teachers are allowed to create and edit courses and discussion topics in the system. Teachers also have permission to edit, delete and reply to posts made by students and assign grades to the post. Students can make posts and reply in discussion forums. All the data will be stored in files to ensure even if the server stops, all the data will not be lost. The program also allows multiple users to connect to the server at the same time, and each user won't interrupt other users' action. All the updates of posts, comments and discussion forums will be refreshed after the user leaves and reenters the page.

The user should have 2 text files called "Person.txt" and "Post.txt" to run the program. The user should run both LMSServer and LMSClient. The user should enter the host name and port number through GUI pop-up in the LMSClient program. If the server and client are on the same computer, the host name should be localhost; if they are on different computers, the host name should be the IP address of the computer running the server program. The host number is "2111" . If connected correctly, a GUI message will pop up and say the connection is established.

Users will use GUI pop up to interact with the program. There will be buttons to help users get into the function they want to use, as well as drop-down menus for selecting courses, discussion forums, and posts.

Special note: please do not enter "null" or "~" as any input since we are using them as a seperator to read and write strings and convert them to Post objects between client and server.

Classes

LMSServer.java

The Server side of the project, and process all the data.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
person2	Person	private	A new Person object.
personArrayList	ArrayList< Person >	static	The ArrayList of all the users.
postArrayList	ArrayList< Post >	static	The ArrayList of all the posts.
courses	ArrayList< String >	static	The ArrayList of all the courses.
postGateKeeper	Object	Private static	Make sure all actions associated with postArrayList and personArrayList run in order, won't interrupt each other and don't run into race conditions.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
Person person2	public	Initialize the class fields to their associated parameters.

Methods

Name	Return type	Parameters	Modifiers	Description
getPerson2	Person	None	public	Returns the Person object person2.
setPerson2	void	Person person2	public	Sets the Person object person2.
run	void	None	public	The run method of the LMSServer class, that runs in which receives, process and sends data from and to the LMSClient.
writeToFile	void	None	public	The method to write to the file to ensure data persistance even after server is closed.

LMSClient.java

The Client side of the project, user uses GUI to interact with the system. The client will send user inputs to the server and receives data from the server.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
person1	Person	None	A person object.
objectOutputStream	ObjectOutputStream	private static	The object that writes objects.
objectInputStream	ObjectInputStream	private static	The object that reads objects.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
Person person1	public	Initialize the class fields to their associated parameters.

Methods

Name	Return type	Parameters	Modifiers	Description
getPerson1	Person	None	public	Returns the Person object person1.
setPerson1	void	Person person1	public	Sets the Person object person1.
inputHostName	String	None	public	A GUI pop up to allot user enter the host name.
stringInLinesMethod	String	String s	public	A method to break any string longer than 160 characters to smaller p
fileImporter	ArrayList< String >	String fileName	public	Allow users to import files for discussion topics, posts and replies.
titleGetter	String	ArrayList< String >fileData	public	Gets the title of the discussion forums.
stringToPost	Post	String postString	public	Convert a Post object to a string, for display in GUI.
studentSelection1GUI	void	None	public	A GUI pop up for most of student's functions.
createCourseGUI	void	None	public	A GUI pop up for teachers to create a course.
createDiscussionGUI	void	None	public	A GUI pop up for teachers to create a discussion forum under a course.
noDiscussionGUI	void	None	public	A warning GUI pop up to tell the user there aren't any discussion forum under the selected course.
gradeStudentGUI	void	None	public	A GUI pop up for teachers to grade students' posts.
deleteDiscussionGUI	void	boolean noDiscussionForum, String courseName1	public	A GUI that allows teachers to delete a discussion forum.
editDiscussionGUI	void	boolean noDiscussionForum, String courseName1	public	A GUI that allows teachers to edit a discussion forum.
commentOnStudentPostsGUI	void	None	public	A GUI that allows other users to comment on a student's post.
editStudentPostGUI	void	None	public	A GUI pop up that allows teachers to edit students' posts.
teacherOption2	void	None	public	Most of teachers' GUI pop up menus.
teacherMenu1	void	None	public	The initial menu of teacher.
invalidInputMessage	void	None	public	A GUI pop up for all invalid inputs.

Post.java

A class that constructs a "Post" object, which will be the post made by the student, under each discussion topic.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
courseName	String	private	The course name of the discussion is under.
discussionTopic	DiscussionTopic	private	The discussion topic the student is posting under.
post	String	private	The content of the post.
reply	ArrayList< Reply >	private	An ArrayList of the replies to the post.
student	Student	private	The student who made the post.
timeStamp	String	private	The time the student made the post.
grade	double	private	The grade that the teacher assigns to the post.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
String courseName, DiscussionTopic discussionTopic, String post, ArrayList< Reply > reply, Student student	public	Initialize the class fields to their associated parameters.

Initialize the grade to -1, to indicate the post has not been graded. Document the time stamp of the time and calling the toString() method to make the class field timeStamp to be the string of current time stamp. |

Methods

Name	Return type	Parameters	Modifiers	Description
getGrade	double	None	public	Returns the grade.
setGrade	void	double grade	public	Sets the grade.
getCourseName	String	None	public	Returns the course name.
setCourseName	void	String courseName	public	Sets the course name.
getDiscussionTopic	DiscussionTopic	None	public	Returns the discussion topic.
setDiscussionTopic	void	DiscussionTopic discussionTopic	public	Sets the discussion topic.
getPost	String	None	public	Returns the post content.
setPost	void	String post	public	Sets the post content.
getReply	ArrayList< Reply >	None	public	Returns the ArrayList of the reply.
setReply	void	ArrayList< Reply > reply	public	Sets the ArrayList of the reply.
getStudent	Student	None	public	Returns the student who made the post.
setStudent	void	Student student	Public	Sets the student who made the post.
getTimeStamp	String	None	public	Returns the time the post being made.
setTimeStamp	void	String timeStamp	public	Sets the time the post is being made.
toString	String	None	public	Formats the post to a String, which can be sent between server and client class.

DiscussionTopic.java

A class that constructs a "DiscussionTopic" object.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
topic	String	private	The content of the topic.
timeStamp	String	private	Record the time the discusstion topic being made.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
String topic	public	Initialize the class field to their associated parameters.
Document the time stamp of the time and calling the toString() method to make the class field timeStamp to be the string of current time stamp.

Methods

Name	Return type	Parameters	Modifiers	Description
getTopic	String	None	public	Returns the content of the topic.
setTopic	void	String topic	public	Sets the content of the topic.
getTimeStamp	String	None	public	Returns the time the discussion topic is being made.
setTimeStamp	void	String timeStamp	public	Sets the time the discussion topic is being made.

Reply.java

A class that constructs a "Reply" object.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
response	String	private	Record the content of the response.
person	Person	private	Record the person who made the reply.
timeStamp	String	private	Record the time the discusstion topic being made.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
String response, Person person	public	Initialize the class field to their associated parameters.

Document the time stamp of the time and calling the toString() method to make the class field timeStamp to be the string of current time stamp. |

Methods

Name	Return type	Parameters	Modifiers	Description
getResponse	String	None	public	Returns the content of the reply.
setResponse	void	String response	public	Sets the content of the reply.
getPerson	Person	None	public	Returns the person how made the reply.
setPerson	void	Person person	public	Sets the person how made the reply.
getTimeStamp	String	None	public	Returns the time the discussion topic is being made.
setTimeStamp	void	String timeStamp	public	Sets the time the discussion topic is being made.

Person.java

A class that constructs "Person" object.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
name	String	private	The name of the user.
username	String	private	The username of the user.
password	String	private	The password of the user.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
String name, String username, String password	public	Initialize the class field to their associated parameters.

Methods

Name	Return type	Parameters	Modifiers	Description
getName	String	String name	public	Returns the name of the user.
setName	void	None	public	Sets the name of the user.
getUsername	String	String username	public	Returns the username of the user.
setUsername	void	None	public	Sets the username of the user.
getPassword	String	String password	public	Returns the password of the user.
setPassword	void	None	public	Sets the password of the user.

Teacher.java

The "Teacher" class is a child class of "Person" class. Fields

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
name	String	private	The name of the user.
username	String	private	The username of the user.
password	String	private	The password of the user.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
String name, String username, String password	public	Initialize the class field to their associated parameters.

Student.java

The "Student" class is a child class of "Person" class.

Fields

Name	Type	Modifiers	Description
name	String	private	The name of the user.
username	String	private	The username of the user.
password	String	private	The password of the user.

Constructor

Parameters	Modifier	Description
String name, String username, String password	public	Initialize the class field to their associated parameters.