COMP249 Assignment: Job Board Web Application
This semester we will be writing a simple job board application called Jobs! that allows users to post job position descriptions.
To give you an idea of what the application does, there is a demonstration version at http://comp249.stevecassidy.net/.
Since this is your first significant web application, we’ve cut down the features to make it manageable. However we maintain the core of the application and what you write could be extended to something like a real product. Your application will support logging in users, posting jobs and viewing job listings. We don’t require you to be able to register new users or handle user profile changes etc.
You are given a ‘starter kit’ which contains the bare outline of the application. From this starting point, you will implement the full site in phases according to a detailed set of functional requirements. At the end of each phase, a set of automated tests will be used to see if you have met the criteria for that phase. Some of the marks for this assignment will be based on your passing these automated tests.
While this task may seem quite daunting, it should be achievable if you work through the examples we have provided and work on the problem bit by bit. We have run similar tasks in the past in COMP249 and most students have succeeded in getting a working system going.
Level 1
The first phase of the project involves writing a basic web application that can serve two pages.
Level 2
In this phase you will interface to a backend database and provide views that list all positions.
Level 3
The next phase of development adds the ability to login to the application and post new position listings.
Going Further
This is just the start of the project. In Assignment 3 you will rewrite the application to use Javascript in the front end and connect to a back-end service that I provide. There will be scope to implement new features when you tackle that assignment.
Required Python Modules
This project makes use of the following Python modules that you will need to install to complete the work and run the tests:
- Bottle – web development framework
- Bottle SQLite plugin – for database access from Bottle
- WebTest – for testing web applications
You can use the module installer in PyCharm to install these libraries for your project.
Starter Kit
The starter kit is a zip file containing a set of Python files to get you started on this project. These files provide a framework for you to work within, you will need to add more code of your own and possibly more modules (Python files, templates) to complete the implementation.
You can download the starter pack here: comp249-2018-jobs-starter. It is also available as a Bitbucket project comp249-2018-jobs-starter, if you are a git user you could fork the repository from there – please be sure to keep your own version private if you keep your work on Bitbucket (or Github).
The contents of the starter pack are as follows:
database.py– code to create the database and load sample datamain.py– main application script with a simple exampleinterface.py– stubs for the level 2 required functionsusers.py– stubs for the level 3 required functionspositions.json– sample job listings taken from the github jobs API.level1_functional.py– functional tests for Level 1level2_functional.py– functional tests for Level 2level2_unit.py– unit tests for Level 2level3_functional.py– functional tests for Level 3level3_unit.py– unit tests for Level 3static– directory containing a sample CSS file
The database.py module contains code to create the database tables that you will need for the assignment and load in some sample data from the positions.json file. You need to run this file to create the database when you start the project. You can also re-run it if you want to reset your database to a known state.
The database contains the following tables:
users: fieldsnick(user nickname),password,avatar(URL of an avatar image)sessions: fieldssessionid,usernick, where usernick is a reference to the nick field in the users tableposts: fieldsid,timestamp,usernick,content
There are also two other tables votes and follows that are not used in the core requirements but that you can use if you wish to implement further features.
Each user is identified by a nickname that is stored in the nick field in the users table. This field is used as a foreign key in other tables to refer to the user. To select data from both tables you will need to do a query with a join.
The positions table deserves further comment. The id field is an auto-incremented integer id for each post, you don’t need to give this a value, it will automatically get a new unique value when you insert a row. The timestamp field will also default to the current time and date in the format ‘2015-02-20 01:45:06’ if you don’t provide a value when you add a row. So, to add a row to the positions table you just need:
sql = """INSERT INTO positions (owner, title, location, company, description) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)"""
cursor.execute(sql, [usernick, title, location, company, description])
db.commit()
The code as provided includes a sample Bottle application which you can run. It doesn’t do much other than generate a static page that links to a copy of these notes. This is your starting point for development and you should write your code so that main.py is the main application (when I run your code, this is what I’ll look for).
You can run the functional and unit tests (level1_functional.py level2_unit.py) to check that you have met the requirements at each level. To do this, open the file in PyCharm and click ‘Run’, choose to run as “Python unit-test”. Alternately, run them from the command line eg. python level1_functional.py.
Note that if you follow the written requirements set out in the pages linked above, you should pass the functional tests. A reasonable way to work would be to read and implement each functional requirement in turn and then run the functional tests when you are done as a check.
Submission
You will submit this work in two parts: after you have completed Level 2, and after you have completed Level 3. The Level 2 submission is intended to check on your progress with the assignment so that we can provide you with feedback and identify anyone who needs support. See iLearn for the dates of these submissions.
For each submission you should submit a zip file with the same structure as the starter pack. We will expect to run main.py to see your application. Include any support files that you need for your application to work. A good idea would be to unpack your zip file at a new location and try to run it yourself.
Grading the Assignment
This assignment is worth 20% of the final marks for COMP249 and 25% of the final marks for ITEC649. Marks for ITEC649 will be scaled up accordingly (multiplied by 1.25). A total of 12 marks will be entirely based on achieving the stated functional and unit-test requirements and passing the automated tests. The remaining 8 marks will be based on the quality of the code and documentation that you provide, and on the appearance of your web application.
Each automated test is worth 0.5 marks; there is a total of 24 tests giving 12 marks in total. The breakdown of tests for each level is as follows:
| Level | Functional Tests | Unit Tests | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | – | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
The pass requirement is different for COMP and ITEC students:
- COMP249: To pass this assignment you must pass all of the automated tests.
- ITEC649: To pass this assignment you must pass all of the tests for Level 1 and Level 2
The remaining 8 marks will decide whether you get a Credit or Distinction/High Distinction for the assignment. The criteria are:
- Appearance (3 Marks)
- Your web application is visually well designed and consistently styled. For a Credit, you will have applied a clear design to all pages in your application. For a D/HD your design will include some novelty or use advanced aspects of HTML/CSS and possibly Javascript.
- Code Quality (3 marks)
- Your code is readable and well structured. For a Credit, we should not have any trouble working out how you implemented a given feature. For a D/HD, you will have thought hard about how the application as a whole fits together and made good use of modules.
- Documentation (2 Marks)
- You have provided appropriate documentation. For a Credit, you will have used documentation strings and in-line comments where appropriate in your code. For D/HD, you will have provided documentation of your application that would be useful to a future developer.
Your final grade will be calculated based on your performance against the above criteria.