Accomplishments/Updates

• Completed the print page feature, and modified it to meet project partner requirements
• Completed modifications to the online form based on the requirements from Kids-U
• Populated Kid-U sites on the enrollment form (weren’t there previously)
• Began process to off board the code for next semester

Issues

• We couldn’t complete our other goals due to the time constraints.
• The system to print PDF’s had to be re-worked since the system looked too cumbersome to work with.

Goals that were set for April

• Fully implement a way to download a PDF of the online form. ✔️ (complete)
• Finish modifying the online form based on project partner feedback. ✔️ (complete)
• Update the student roster with changes based on partner feedback. (not completed)
• Update the report card system to accept multiple report cards. (not completed)
• Update grade column to show grades from previous years. (not completed).

Accomplishments/Updates

• Started working on the fully migrated code
• Developed prototype code to convert the online form into a PDF that can be printed
• Nearly finished modifying the online form according to project partner requirement
• Updated the age system to automatically update each kid’s age annually

Issues

• ASP.NET and the other tools used to make the project are completely new to most members of the team

Goals for April

• Fully implement a way to download a PDF of the online form.
• Finish modifying the online form based on project partner feedback
• Update the student roster with changes based on partner feedback
• Update the report card system to accept multiple report cards
• Update grade column to show grades from previous years

Goals that were set for March

• Understand the code from the GitHub ✔️
  • Complete. We understand enough of the code to work with it
• Learn C#, ASP.NET, and other tools required to work on the project ✔️
  • Complete. We learned the basics, enough to work on the project
• Update the age system to reflect a student’s current age ✔️
  • Complete
• Implement legally binding signatures for the online form ✔️
  • Complete. Although the end result is different from what we expected, we completed based on feedback from the project partner

Accomplishments/Updates

• Understood project requirements and made a list of tasks to accomplish by the end of the semester
• Completed project brief and project plan
• Got access to the code for the project
• We managed to successfully compile and run the code on every team member’s device

Issues

• Our team as a whole has little experience with C# and the other tools required for the project
• We got access to the database and code much later than expected.

Goals for March

• Understand the code from the GitHub
• Learn C#, ASP.NET, and other tools required to work on the project
• Update the age system to reflect a student’s current age
• Implement legally binding signatures for the online form

Goals that were set for February

• Get access to the code ✔️
  • Complete. We got access to the GitHub repository that stores all the project code
• Set up our computers with the tools required to work on the project ✔️
  • Complete. We managed to successfully compile and run the code on every team member’s device
• Gain a better understanding of the project and set clear requirements for the project ✔️
  • Complete. We spoke to our project partner and made a list of tasks to do by the end of the semester.

Accomplishments/Updates

• We had a team bonding activity where we chose to go have boba together.
• We met up with the project partner and mentor
• We assigned roles for each team member
• We looked at the previous teams documents to have a better understanding of the project

Issues

• Due to a misunderstanding, we missed the meeting with our mentor and project partner, and we needed to make up those meetings
• We didn’t have access to the code

Goals for February

• Get access to code
• Set up our computers with the tools required to work on the project
• Gain a better understanding of the project and set clear requirements for the project

Accomplishments/Updates

• Got the Forgot Password function to work with a fake smtp server (ethereal) which is only able to show that emails are sent, but not actually send them
• Finished creating the online form with all the fields from the Kids-U physical paper form
• Finished adding all form fields on the database website, made the appropriate form fields mandatory, and added validation for those fields
• Started working on integration of online form with database

Issues

• Need Kids-U to create and give us credentials for a no-reply email and smtp server
• Issues with database migration

Goals that were set for November

• Fully implement “forgot password” functionality
  • make it send an email and change the password for any relevant user
    • ✔️(almost complete, just need credentials)

• Figure out how “forgot password” database of users is implemented
  • ✔️(database is updated whenever someone registers as a new user)

• Test edits on database website’s form fields through MySQL Server Explorer
  • ✔️(complete)

• Work on the online version of the application form
  • ✔️(complete)

• Integrate form with Kids-U database
  • ✔️(almost complete)

What may need to be done next semester:

• Adding electronic signature to the form
• Creating more sorting options and filters for the data in the database

Accomplishments/Updates

• Made progress on and fixed issues for “forgot password” feature
  • currently only able to change password for admin@email.com user
• Started working on online form
  • added fields from physical Kid-U registration form
• Worked on adding fields to database to match the paper application form

Issues

• Issues with creating multi-page form
• “Forgot password” feature not recognizing all users and not sending emails
• Locally hosted database taking too long to load

Goals for November

• Fully implement “forgot password” functionality
  • make it send an email and change the password for any relevant user
• Figure out how “forgot password” database of users is implemented
• Test edits on database website’s form fields through MySQL Server Explorer
• Work on the online version of the application form
• Integrate form with Kids-U database

Goals that were set for October

• Understand the code from the Kids-U GitHub repository
  • ✔️(complete)
• Work on “forgot password” functionality
  • ✔️(currently working towards finishing)
• Create online form
  • ✔️(started working on it)
• Work on integrating the form with the database
  • ✔️(currently working towards more progress)

Accomplishments/Updates

• Established weekly meeting with mentor, started looking at learning resources for SQL, C#, and ASP.NET.
• Met with partner, Shawn, and Taz over a Teams call to go over project and code access.
• We got access to the Kids-U Github from Shawn. We downloaded the needed programs to run the code.

Issues

• Got access to the database and website code pretty late
• Have to resolve some individual computer issues related to downloading required software. 3 out of 5 of our team can deploy the code locally on our devices.

October Goals

• Understand the code form the Kids-U github
• Work on forgot password functionality
• Create the online form
• Work on integrating the form with the database

Accomplishments/Updates

• First week of class: Had a team bonding meetup at the boba shop by Northside after our first epcs lab meeting. We got to know each other and had a good time.
• Second week: We met with our partner at the Kids-U location in Richardson. Our team got an in-person understanding of the organization and its goals. During our visited, we understood online form’s needs and significance.

Goals

• Get to know each other
• Figure out project roles
• Meet with partner and mentor
• Look over previous team’s semester and final project plans

Progress:

1. Centered the “Go” and “Clear” buttons on the Kids-U site and moved them to the bottom of the selection box to avoid user errors
2. Changed the “Site Coordinator” dropdown option to “OKM” (On-Site Kids-U Manager) on the staff page of the website
3. Met with Shawn Weisfeld to gain a better understanding of the database’s functions, understood the disparity between the EPICS and Kids-U copies of the repository, and discussed ways to resolve it.

Goals for the Semester:

1. Complete the poster and final report with project details, as well as provide complete information and references for future teams.
2. Present our project to the partner and the judges, as well as discuss the progress we have made this semester at the EPICS exhibition
3. Meet with Mr. Weisfeld to merge the team branch on a public repository with the main branch, fix any migrations and runtime errors, and archive the EPICS repository.

Progress:

1. Met with our mentor, Terrence Jones, and discussed ways to fix the database sorting function that fails to display the students by grade in the correct order
2. Gained a better understanding of the code and the database
3. Found a user manual located on the website under “Help”, which eliminated the need to provide the partner with a handbook on using the database

Goals for April:

1. Center the “Go” and “Clear” buttons on the Kids-U site and move them to the bottom of the selection box to avoid user errors
2. Change the “Site Coordinator” dropdown option to “OKM” (On-Site Kids-U Manager) on the staff page of the website

Goals for Semester:

1. Fix the sorting for “Grade Ascending” and “Grade Descending” to correctly sort the kindergarten students in the list
2. Remove the edit page and replace it with the required fields on the edit page form

If time permits, we intend to create a forgot password function that will allow users to create a new password if they forget their previous one, as well as look into the online form.

Progress:

1. Gained access to student database
2. Gained access to website code via GitHub
3. Fixed the database sorting function (user error)
4. Finished project plan and charter

Goals for the rest of March:

1. Meet with mentor (Terrence Jones) to understand code line by line, which will require a functional understanding of C# and the ASP.NET MVC Framework

Goals for rest of semester (database project requirements):

1. On the staff page, people with the roses listed as “Site Coordinator” need to change to OKM (On-site Kids-U Manager.
2. Limit amount of information shown when getting fluency test reports to only: full name, grade, gender, score on test
3. When pulling testing the spreadsheet should show all students and not just the students who were tested.  This allows Kids-U to know who has been tested and who has not.
4. Give the partner a handbook/guideline on using the database

We have recently realized that understanding the given code may be more difficult than we estimated. As a result, we may have to leave the completion of part 2 of our project, the online form, to a future team.

1. Finished the data entry section of the databasem including student enrollment, outcome measurements, and report cards.
2. Finished the management section of the webpage, with sub-sections including program sites (states the active operating locations), schools, school districts, oragnizations (sponsors for Kids-U), staff directory, and a help page (includes a description for what each sub-section is)
3. Here is a link to the demo video of what we accomplished this semster: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TaOR_fw904li5W7Zgl1osVtx6xmfTEuM/view?usp=sharing

1. Deployed website on EverLeap: can be accesssed using staff.kids-u.org
2. Added option to input new staff members and included security barrier where certain administrators can only vew certain students

3. Added the option to input organizations/sponsors within Kids-U

Added the ability to filter out students by certain attributes such as race/gender/year of attendence/income/etc and incorporated a report card feature where up to 5 grades can be inputted. Also added an outcome measurement page to show the cumulative grades.

Due to the highly unfortunate outcomes of COVID-19, the design lab has been closed for the semester. Because of this, we are no longer able to make progress in fabricating the booth. As such, there will be no delivery to the project partner this semester as previously anticipated. Current goals are to

1. Centralize all files and write instructions to help the fall 2020 team hit the ground running.
2. Create the IKEA-style assembly and usage document for use by Kids-U.
3. Update the CAD model with the new reduced dimensions, for use by the fall 2020 team.

 

Materials from McMaster came in, and it appears as though we’ve ordered all the right parts! This should be a given, but that’s not the case with every project. Assembly is a little tricky, but the folks in the fab lab have been beyond helpful. We have decided to bring in the depth and width of the environment by 6″ (from 2.5′ to 2′) to better fit the school desks that Kids-U now wants to house these on. We have assembled two frames, which still need some added corner-protection for safety. Great progress so far, staying on track with the aggressive schedule.

The CAD model has been through many iterations, which worked on packaging, structural integrity, and ease-of-assembly. You can see the framing rails made of 1″ T-Slot extrusion, and the interior panels made of corrugated plastic board. It includes vacuum cups for increased stability. This model was taken to site visit #3, shown to the project partner, and approved. Since then, we have ordered materials and are preparing for fabrication!

Despite the delays due to the highly unfortunate outcomes of COVID-19, Team Bookshelf is still on track to complete the website’s back-end code. So far, we have completed the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) functionalities for the Students model, and we are almost done implementing the login function for staff and admins. Our current goals for the nearby future are to update the CRUD functionalities for Districts, Schools, and Sites models using the Students model as reference, dynamically allocate lists for the models, and research an effective method to search for aggregate data.

Today we made a site visit to one of the KidsU locations near campus. This was Rachel and Rishi’s first site visit, and the third overall. The posters and decorations gave the team members some elementary school nostalgia, and we thought more about safety of the design with respect to sharp corners. We showed the project partner our current CAD (renders to come soon), and explained the goals we had in mind when designing this model. They were very excited to hear about the compact size, reduced weight, and modularity. They are already planning on bringing in designated desks at each of their locations to house our booths – we were surprised to learn that they wanted multiple! Right now its full steam ahead into ordering parts and building the first scale model.

At the beginning of the semester, we were tossing around the idea of using a polycarb framing with the acoustic foam filling the interior. Instead of the legs, we were looking at clamping the model to the table, since that eliminates the need for telescoping (table-height-agnostic) legs. We wanted the model to fold together and be compact for easier travel, so we were playing with the geometry of the panels and hinges to reduce the space in its folded up form. A render of this initial version is included below.

Currently the project was left off with the front end complete but with nowhere to store student information, or any means of searching/editing it. As of now we are working on migrating the project from .NET MVC to .NET Core because .NET MVC is no longer being updated, and documentation for it was not great. Hopefully with the new framework we are able to develop back-end functionalities for our project partner. The second semester team is ecstatic to pickup what was left unfinished. Learn more about the team here!

Our project is continuing for the third semester under the continued guidance of Connor Kirkpatrick and a new technical mentor, Ross Martin! You can meet the 3 freshmen under the Meet the Team page. We hit the ground running with some new design ideas and started prototyping in CAD. The legs have been removed in favor of vacuum cups, to fit more tables. We have an upcoming site visit this week! Check back to see how it went next week.  

We discussed our progress, such as a fully-functional UI, a working and connected database, our development design and next steps such as adding back-end functionality. Our project partner and the judges were impressed! The Gang… Photo Credits: Diana Baker, CEO of Project Partner ‘Kids-U’ Our poster presentation!

You can access and modify the DB from the MVC framework, and print data from DB onto console, ensuring successful connection and data flow. Our database has been successfully connected to our ASP.NET MVC framework, ensuring proper data flow. Now, all we have to do is start writing the back-end functionality!

The actual SQL Server Database After a lot of obstacles, we dumped MySQL and decided that Microsoft SQL server would be our optimum choice for this project and for the technologies involved. After a successful migration and re-implementation, we are now ready to handle all the data for the web application!

All the pages, coded in HTML and CSS, are connected to each other and are bug-free!

Here is the basic layout for our Database setup! We are using MySQL.

The front-end code The output

Complete Model

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/epics-sample-7bf4c53a695e41ea8187c89128bb13a4

Wall Model

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/wall-epics-part1-38142138cfe74e2c824ca144dd955eb9