For Assignment 2 we had to build off of our existing Assignment 1. We had to send users to a log-in page instead of straight to an invoice page. In the log-in page, users could sign in to an existing account or register for a new account. If they needed to register, they were taken to a registration page. Data was pulled using file i/o from the server and then used or displayed on the browser. This data was utilized throughout the whole website as the product information was needed to create an invoice and users needed to be logged in for them to check out and be sent an invoice. A critical part of Assignment 2 required us to have this data validated as it was passed to and from the server as well as throughout all the different pages. Click this link for more information.
I learned how important it was for code to be placed in the correct areas because otherwise, the whole thing wouldn't work. This is something I still need to work on and it's a process but I'm making progress for sure. I learned how passing data throughout the server and webpages worked, it's very interesting to see it all work together. I don't even want to begin to think about how the bigger websites like Facebook or Twitter works as what we are learning is at the very base level of development. I also learned how to give the user a personalized experience by allowing them to create and log in to their own account.
I did not work with a partner for Assignment 2.
When I needed help I consulted with classmates to see if they could help figure out my dilemmas, but most of the time I was just Googling everything and trying to figure it out myself. I also utilized the debugger and the console in the browser to help me figure out the problems I was having. Most of the things I needed help with was knowing where to place everything. I utilized code from students from previous semesters and was able to get a better picture of how things worked, this helped me immensely. Another big thing I was having trouble with that prevented me from moving on to the other things I needed to add was linking the pages together, specifically having to display the products in the first place. Professor Port was able to help me address the problem quickly and I was able to move on.
Developing this assignment was different because it required us to pass data through multiple pages as opposed to just one or two pages. Those pages being just the product display page and invoice page. It was much more difficult than Assignment 1 for sure. My low confidence in my skill combined with the "short" amount of time to develop the pages made it challenging for me. A lot more thought was needed to put into this assignment because again of all the pages we had to consider and work with.
If I were to estimate the percent the times I spent doing these things, I'd estimate 60% of the time was thinking about how to do something, 15% was writing the code and the remaining 35% went to testing and debugging. With most of the time being dedicated to thinking about how to to do something, writing the code for it came easy. Testing and debugging took the second most amount of time because although I knew what code to write, I didn't know where to place it so I had to adjust accordingly.
What worked will with this project was being able to implement the log-in and registration pages, and being able to have data passed through all these pages in addition to to and from the server. I am also satisfied with how my website looked. What didn't work well was failing to implement the correct code in the correct spot so it can all work together. I also keep forgetting to comment code so others, as well as me (when I look back at it) can understand it better.
If I could go back in time and do things differently. I would start way way earlier. Obviously I didn't learn my lesson from Assignment 1 and didn't start on it as soon as possible, and continued to work on it piece by piece, day by day, one thing at a time. This ultimately costed me in the end but I'm glad that I was able to put something out in the end. I also would've tried to consult with others more for help when I needed it.