Updates

November 2022

In November, we encountered issues with the overall design of the project. The design language was tricky to manipulate every time we wanted to make a change to borders, sizing, and other elements. We decided it was necessary to restructure the design of the project using a new design language. We were also able to implement several key features. Action items completed this month include:

• Implemented PDF deletion successfully
• Redesigned UI for a much cleaner user experience and more polished table view
• Finalized layout plans for the new pages to add (edit and referral views)
• Met with sponsor to get approval and feeedback on current state and direction of the project

Current action items we’re working on include:

• Get dates on referrals
• Finalize the referral page
• Finalize the edit page

October 2022

The dependency issues encountered in September have been addressed and solved. There were new difficulties with the resource book going blank when trying to edit resources, and the resource book edit behavior was not uniform across the different platforms among the team. However, these issues have been fixed, and we began focusing on implementing changes according to our list of action items. The action items completed so far include:

• Links to resource websites are live and clickable
• Readability and resizing of the resource table improved
  • Column Headings no longer overlap when the window is minimized
• Functionality of adding a new resource improved
  • Texas is set as the default state when entering a new resource’s address

Current action items we’re working on include:

• Formatting an edit resource book layout
• Creating the ability to delete PDFs from a resource

September 2022

In order to start implementing changes, the team needed to have appropriate development environments set up on each of their devices. We made changes to the original project build strategy so that the database was usable and editable on any operating system with less prerequisite software download requirements. Once the project was deployed, we went over a list of ideas for the semester, establishing action items as well as affirming that a server lending would not be beneficial to client or group. Once a list of UX/UI current versus expected behaviors was built, we identified source files of interest for each feature and finalized a timeline for implementing these changes. Entering October, we have just encountered an issue with running the project (due to outdated software) and are currently working to fix it.

August 2022

To ensure the whole team becomes adequate enough to edit the web application, most of the time was spent familiarizing with frameworks and technologies such as NodeJS and MongoDB. Once the team became more familiarized with the technologies, the next phase was coming up with ideas to fix issues the website has originally. We ended the month by visiting the CACCC and discussing potential changes with our project partner Lydia.

For the month of November and beginning of December, our team focused primarily on making sure the website we designed runs on all of the computers on CACCC. Initially we had issues setting up the website on their network due their firewall not allowing us to connect. We bypassed the firewall by using a router to connect to their computers directly. Then, we were finally able to get the website running on their computers.

Currently, we are working on the user manual to help our partners troubleshoot the website when issues occur and giving them instructions on how to navigate the website. We are also designing a poster containing information about our presentation which we will be presenting soon.

For the front end, we added a sidebar on the left side of the screen that opens and closes on click. When opened, the sidebar displays all the categories that our sponsor uses to categorize their resources. When the user clicks on any one of the categories, the user will be redirected to a page where only resources that fit the category will be displayed.

Update: We presented our work to our audiences and anyone who was curious about our project. Our judges seemed very pleased with our results! We even had a couple workers from different non-profit organizations come up and tell us that they would very much want something like this integrated into their own systems too!

As we close in on October, here are the updates for this month:

We finished implementing functionalities such as create, add, update, delete so the user can modify their resource information accordingly. In order to use these functionalities, we need to create the necessary forms. We have two forms designed. The first form shown is our add form. The user would input the necessary data such as the resource type, name, address, hours of operation, phone number, website, and a brief summary about this resource. After they are done filling in the information, they can press the submit button to add the new resource to their records. The user can also choose view all to view all the records they have stored on the website.

The next form we created displays all the information about the resources that are on the record. The user can choose any of the resources and modify its contents as desired, by clicking on the black pen. The user can also delete the resources in a few clicks. The user would have to user can choose any of the resources and modify its contents as desired. The user can also delete the resources in a few clicks. The user would have to click on the red trash can and upon clicking the user would get a pop up message asking them to confirm their action. Once they click yes, the resource is successfully deleted from the website. The user can also sort the city, state, and zip code as necessary.

These are our major updates to the website this month. Everything is going according to plan as we slowly cross out the list of things our partners are asking for.

This is the beginning of the second semester that this project is being worked on in EPICS.  Here are the improvements we have made since.

We have organized the different resources by putting them into tabs. For the client page, we were able to display one of the client’s information and since almost all of the information in the binder is formatted in the same way, if the backend finishes copying the information from the binder to the database and forward all that information to the website, all the data will be displayed.

 

 

 

 

 

We also began adding functionalities such as the ability to add, delete, and update resources. Currently, only the add functionality works and it wouldn’t be long before the other two are finished since if we can add, then implementing delete will come more naturally.

 

 

 

 

 

For the website, we are primarily focused on making sure everything works first and then coming back later to make everything look pretty.

For the backend we have been setting up the database and was able to connect the database to the server. We are also transferring information from the binder to the database.