29.MyIsern-1.3-review

1. Installation Review: Myisern team Red

I was able to download the installation file through their google project hosting site but none of them actually had a blog page that easily pointed to it. I can't really say much because my team didn't do the same since it wasn't assigned to us but it would have been helpful. After downloading and unzipping the file I realized that there really isn't any way to start this program without having to use ant to deploy it. But there is always the option of uploading the war file to your tomcat manager. I decided to just run it from ant and then uses the tomcat manager to access the website. There didn't seem to be much a guide either but there was a README file that contained what the site could and could not do. Lastly I did run ant -f verify.build.xml to run all the tests and it looks like all the tests passed. Emma showed:

Class 60%
method 25%
block 29%
line 26%

2. Code format and conventions review:

Right off the bat there were many variables that weren't being read according to Eclipse. Otherwise the code and the javadocs actually seem neat and tidy. There are comments in place of missing code and it is all easy to read. Everything seems to be up to standards and coding is modular which helps readability.

3. Test case review:

So far the only tests that exists where 4 tests that ensure that the three adding pages and the main menu page showed up on the test host. There was also a test for the model that made sure that the instance of the model followed the singleton method. Other than this there were no other tests.

As for breaking the buggah, the page had many links that didn't work, such as all the editing pages as well as a few buttons that didn't do what it said it would do. The print buttons for Organization and collaboration didn't work. In the read me file it did state that the editing functions still weren't developed so I can see why those pages didn't work but I couldn't see why the print button didn't work.

On the other hand, the adding functions did work and I could see it added after brought up the display page. Otherwise I had no idea if I added the item or not.

4. User Interface review:

As for the UI, it was texted based with no graphics. It was a bit hairy to read and a bit confusing but this is still a work in progress. I could see it going a long way with a simple UI using css or even basic html. As for screen real estate, being text based it used screen real estate very well. Sizing the screen to just about any respectable size still still held the interface clearly. Lastly, there are many improvements that can be made here aside from the basic html/css layout design. Everything seems to be aligned to the top left which is great for resizing the screen but horrible at full screen.

5. Summary and Lessons Learned:

The things that I've learned is that looking back on my own program I can see how a simpler approach might actually be better then complicated css/html code thrown everywhere. It might not be the prettiest of all the projects but it does get some of the jobs done with mild discomfort. I also realized how important it is to actually give feedback to the user after they have accomplish a task such as editing or adding a researcher. Without letting them know that the action was completed, it just adds more steps to actually getting through the page.