PREFACE

There are many Online Examination Systems that deal with objective type of questions and allow various users of the system to set the question paper, to solve the question paper and to examine the answer sheet. In addition to these basic functionalities, these systems provide features such as autoevaluation of answer sheets, tracing the student's progress. Most of the university level question papers involve descriptive type of questions rather than objective questions. And very few of these available systems focused on most important factor- support to descriptive type of questions along with many other factors such as remembering the status of every answer and question-wise evaluation of the paper. Our proposed system will address these key factors. Proposed system mainly emphasizes on providing a reliable framework for all the types of users rather than capturing all the features of available systems. But due to time constraints and complexity of auto-evaluation in subjective answers, some of the functionalities such as auto-evaluation of answer sheets, tracing the student's progress are not provided. In all, three types of users will be interacting with the system (i.e. Faculties, Students and Examiners). These users will get the guidance from this report through the various phases and flow of the system, ranging from authorization of users to setting or creating a question paper. In this report, Chapter 1 briefly describes about organization and proposed system. Chapter 2 outlines a description of the different implementations of Online Examination Systems in use. Analysis and design of our Framework for Subjective Evaluation is discussed in chapter 3. Implementation and testing are discussed in chapter 4 and chapter 5 respectively. Chapter 6 appendices includes sub topics like system manuals,

user manuals an test results. And last chapter outlines all the references made during the project work and documentation. Though this report has been prepared with utmost care, I apologize for any errors that may remain; readers are requested to intimate them to the author.

-Meghan Kambli

Table of Contents
1. 2. ABSTRACT.................................................................................................. 5 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 6 2.1. About C-DAC, Mumbai ......................................................................... 6 2.1.1. Major Activities .................................................................................. 6 2.1.2. Research and Development Areas.................................................... 6 2.1.3. Open Source Software Resource Centre .......................................... 7 2.1.4. Ongoing Research and Development Projects ................................. 8 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5. 3. Need for the system............................................................................ 10 Existing systems ................................................................................. 11 Problem statement.............................................................................. 11 Proposed system ................................................................................ 12

2.5.1. Scope of the system........................................................................ 13 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 14 3.1. Associated work.................................................................................. 14 3.1.1. Knowgence Online Examination System (OnEx) ............................ 15 3.1.2. A web-based online examination system ........................................ 16 4. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN .......................................................................... 19 4.1. 4.2. Platform Used ..................................................................................... 19 Use Case and Activity Diagrams ........................................................ 21

4.2.1. Set the topic map ............................................................................ 23 4.2.2. Update question paper pattern........................................................ 25 4.2.3. Update question set ........................................................................ 26 4.2.4. Update question paper .................................................................... 27 4.2.5. Assign examination to students....................................................... 28 4.2.6. Answer question paper.................................................................... 29 4.2.7. Examine answer sheets .................................................................. 30 4.3. 4.4. ER diagram......................................................................................... 31 Class diagram ..................................................................................... 33

4.5. 5. 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5. 5.6. 5.7. 5.8. 5.9. 5.10. 6. 6.1. 6.2. 7. 8.

List of tables and data structures ........................................................ 35 Main page ........................................................................................... 48 Set the topic map ............................................................................... 49 Create question paper pattern ............................................................ 50 Manage question bank........................................................................ 52 Create question paper ....................................................................... 53 Assign examination to student ........................................................... 54 Edit Account information ..................................................................... 55 Select an examination......................................................................... 56 Answer question paper ....................................................................... 57 Examine question paper.................................................................. 59 Test plan ............................................................................................. 61 Screen shots....................................................................................... 62

Implementation .......................................................................................... 48

Testing ....................................................................................................... 61

Conclusions & Evaluation and further work................................................ 77 Appendices ................................................................................................ 79 8.1. 8.2. 8.3. System manual ................................................................................... 79 User Manual ....................................................................................... 80 Test results ......................................................................................... 83

9.

References................................................................................................. 94

1. ABSTRACT
Traditional examination approaches as well as many of the existing examination systems have not addressed some of the requirements such as subjective evaluation. System under development is an attempt to fulfill all the basic requirements of examination systems along with subjective evaluation. Online Examination System is an effective solution for mass education evaluation. A system being developed is based on a Browser/Server framework, which carries out the examination, setting up question papers and manually checking for objective as well as descriptive questions. An examiner can evaluate an answer paper from any remote machine. In fact, all users can perform their activities from remote machines. Thus, proposed system allows remote evaluation of any unevaluated examination. Though there exist many systems, which allow conducting online examination, very few of them deal with descriptive type of questions. Thus, in order to deal with descriptive type of question and also to provide basic functionalities provided by existing systems such as setting a question paper pattern, creating a question paper, managing question bank, answering the question paper and evaluating answer papers, Online Examination System is developed. Our system shows a better coherence as far as flow of information is concerned. Currently, the system does not support auto-evaluation of answer sheets and encryption of files. Even authentication technique used in this system is the simplest.

2. INTRODUCTION
2.1. About C-DAC, Mumbai
The project work reported here was carried out at the Kharghar campus of C-DAC, Mumbai, as a part of its activities in Open Source Software. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Mumbai (formerly known as National Centre for Software Technology) is a scientific society of the Department of Information Technology, involved in Research and Development in the area of Software Technology.

2.1.1. Major Activities

Carrying out research and development in the area of software technology and computer science. Conducting educational programs and training activities. Playing national and international roles in its areas of interest to hasten the acquisition of knowledge and to contribute its own findings. Co-operation with other R&D agencies and other academic institutions in the field of R&D in software technology. Provide high technology support to the Indian industry and business in the computer field through R&D, education and training, design and implementation of software, and through consultancy on computer systems and networks.

2.1.2. Research and Development Areas

Computer Networks and Internet Engineering Data and Knowledge Engineering Educational Technology

Graphics and Computer Aided Design Knowledge Based Computer Systems Open Source Software Software Engineering

2.1.3. Open Source Software Resource Centre

OSSRC (Open Source Software Resource Centre) was established in 2004 as a joint initiative involving IBM Corporation, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B) and the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC). OSSRC's goals are to develop, adopt and disseminate solutions, education and content that use open standards in support of India's economic development plans. The OSSRC is expected to be a nerve centre for Open Source Software (OSS) activities in the country. Objectives

Foster significant OSS development and promotion of Open Standards in India Develop high-quality training programs around OSS technology Development and adoption of OSS based authoring tools, mark-up languages, teacher training and content repository. The project discussed here in this report was supported by OSSRC, as a

part of its effort in creating software to be made available to the open source community.

2.1.4. Ongoing Research and Development Projects

Various research and development projects are being done at the CDAC, Mumbai, most relevant projects are discussed below 2.1.4.1. Vyasa

Vyasa is a question authoring system using generative techniques. The system allows a teacher to create generative questions. This approach enhances the power of on-line and question-banking systems, to ensure reliable and secure tests. Generative questions provide a good alternative to traditional `canned' questions. Generative techniques allow the system to create different instances of questions with the same underlying concept and structure. The structure remains constant, while numeric values and words used are changed from question to question. This avoids repeating a question to a student and avoids `exposing' the questions. Vyasa has an authoring system to create such generative questions by providing a high level specification of the question. 2.1.4.2. Veda Online Testing System

Veda is an on-line testing and question banking system. The system allows a teacher to create tests in any domain. These tests can be administered on-line to a large number of students. The system enables frequent and effective evaluation of students, and also provides feedback about the test through statistical analysis of questions. The major strengths of Veda are its strong security aspects, and support for statistical analysis of questions. Veda does not require any client software other than a Web browser and hence makes it easy to use any existing network in a campus to administer tests.

Veda has a high degree of security built into it to prevent unauthorized users from tampering with questions in the system. All questions are encrypted so that no one can find out what the questions are.

2.2. Need for the system

It is seen that traditional examination approach includes various activities such as 1. Designing a question paper pattern, 2. Setting the question paper as per syllabus and given paper pattern, 3. Conduct of an examination 4. Evaluation of answers by an examiner But it was found that setting question paper and it's pattern manually, checking all answers without any bias and correcting hundreds of answer sheets is a difficult and time-consuming process. Time-constraints on paper checking make this process even more tedious. Furthermore, many of the existing online examination systems fulfilled the needs for conducting online examination and evaluation of objective type of questions. But some of the requirements such as handling descriptive type of questions and allowing users to support questions or answers by images were not addressed by many available systems. Thus, our proposed framework for subjective evaluation is an attempt to fulfill most of these requirements and provide some additional benefits such as 1. Users can manage descriptive type of questions. 2. Users may temporarily maintain the status of questions they are dealing with. Maintaining status allows users to know which questions are still pending and which are examined or answered. 3. Marking is more consistent. 4. Remote evaluation - An examiner may evaluate the answer paper from remote machine and assign marks accordingly.

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2.3. Existing systems

Many of the available online examination systems support online testing, evaluation of objective type of questions and tracing the student's progress. In addition to this, some of the basic features such as setting the question paper, solving the paper and examining the answer sheet are provided. Some of the existing online examination systems are:

OnEx (Knowgence Online Examination System) A web-based online examination system

These systems are discussed later in section 2.1 Related work OnEx and web-based online examination system allow creating and managing examinations. Both systems also allow candidates to appear for examination from anywhere in the world. Systems perform auto-evaluation of objective type of questions, which has correct predetermined answers.

2.4. Problem statement A framework for Subjective Evaluation

Create a software environment, which allows: 1. A faculty to create a university type of examination paper (multiple parts, sub-questions, optionals, alternatives, etc). 2. A student to answer the paper online (type in the answers including pictures, if any). 3. An examiner to evaluate the answers (manually read and assign marks).

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2.5. Proposed system

Many types of users will interact with the proposed examination system. Depending on the way they interact with the system, users can be categorized as following: 1. Faculty 2. Student 3. Examiner

Faculties will be allowed to: Set the subject-topic relationship. Create / edit examination paper patterns. Create new questions along with its attributes. Create new question paper. Map students to specific question paper. Students will be allowed to: Select a question paper ID (unique) from the list of shown paper IDs allows system to know which questions to load along with its pattern (decided by paper ID). Answer the selected question paper. Examiners will be allowed to: Evaluate answer sheets

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In addition to above features, all users will be allowed to:

Register in the system. Login to the system. Edit / view account details. Logout of the system.

2.5.1. Scope of the system

System provides only simple authentication, using user name and password. Storage of information such as user account information, question paper details, and answer sheet details are stored in simple format. There is no encryption of file. Auto-evaluation of answer sheets is not provided. The system will be completely web-based. And designed with user convenience as a major driving factor.

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3. BACKGROUND
3.1. Associated work
Online education: There are many terms for online education. Some of them are: virtual education, Internet-based education, Web-based education, and education via computer-mediated communication (CMC). The following definition of online education is based on Desmond Keegan's (1988) definition of distance education. Hence, online education is characterized by:

The separation of teachers and learners, which distinguishes it from faceto-face education. The influence of an educational organization, which distinguishes it from self-study and private tutoring. The use of a computer network to present or distribute some educational content. The provision of two-way communication via a computer network so that students may benefit from communication with each other, teachers, and staff. E-learning is defined as interactive learning in which the learning content

is available online and provides automatic feedback to the student's learning activities. Online communication with real people may or may not be included, but the focus of e-learning is usually more on the learning content than on communication between learners and tutors. E-learning could be viewed as an online descendant of computer-based training (CBT) and computer-aided instruction (CAI). The term e-learning is not very precise, and it should be pointed out that learning is just one element of education. So, the term online education should cover a much broader range of services than the term e-learning. One may also

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claim that e-learning companies often focus on course content, while online education institutions cover the whole range of educational services. There are many Online Examination Systems, which deal with objective type of questions and allow various users of the system to set the question paper, solve the question paper and examine the answer sheet. In this section, two online examination systems are discussed along with their functionalities and some of the important aspects.

3.1.1. Knowgence Online Examination System (OnEx)

OnEx[1] is an Online Examination System, that allows administrator to create and manage examinations. An activity managing examinations involves assigning examination to candidates. It also allows candidates to appear for examination from anywhere in the world. An activity E-mail generation is triggered after various activities such as candidate login, examination completion and evaluation of every answer sheet. Auto-evaluation of objective type of questions reduces the time taken for evaluation and improves the accuracy, since there is no human involvement. The system allows examiners to evaluate answer sheets. A system can handle following types of question: 1. Single type 2. Multiple choice 3. True and False 4. Text Entry Features of OnEx:

Online monitoring of exams showing percentage completed. Automatic checking against predefined answers (if there are no descriptive questions, this correction can be 100%). Last 10 minutes alert (during examination)

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Examiners can evaluate answer sheets manually.

Types of reports, presented by the system are: 1. Exam wise 2. All students 3. Passed students 4. Failed students

3.1.2. A web-based online examination system

A web-based online examination system [2] is an Online Examination System, which allows its users to create and manage examinations. It also allows students to appear for examination from anywhere in the world. System does auto-evaluation of objective type of questions, which has correct predetermined answers. The system allows examiners to evaluate answer sheets. The system deals with various question types, such as objective questions, operating questions, design questions, information retrieval, group testing, etc. Few more reference related details about this system are specified in section 8 Bibliography. System architecture This web-based examination system is a distributed collaborative system, which is based on DCOM technology. It has four major components:

The examination preparation system The examination system The examination monitor system and The auto-evaluation system.

The preparation system is used to manage question storage, assign test ID and schedule the test. The question database is composed of the

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questions, a set of possible answers, the question types and other metadata, which are indexed by several factors, such as topics, keywords, complexity and difficulty, etc. The database is open to teachers, allowing them to add questions and answers by template. The examination System is a web-based testing interface for students, which include the following key features: client side control, time control, security control and auto-installation. Two types of examination interfaces are provided by the examination system: One is the simulation; the other is the actual environment. Simulation interface gives a small demonstration of what an actual environment does. Whereas actual environment performs real-time activities, which are supposed to be performed by a system. Benefiting from DCOM technology, the system can install and update itself conveniently, better than the Client-Server framework. System guarantees the security by cryptography, realtime monitoring system and data transmission encryption. The cryptography is used to validate student identification before testing. The real-time monitoring system requires students not to leave the computer during the test by face tracking technology. The data transmission encryption system transmits the examination question and result in secret form through the network to the server. The examination monitor system is also the manager of the examination system, by which system can monitor the test processing, carry out test ID statistic and collect the answers, etc. The auto-evaluation system is designed by the fuzzy matching algorithm and the macro programming technology, which will evaluate answers according to predetermined correct answers.

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Advantages 1. A practical interface. The actual environment of an examination system will give the student more flexibility because of the practical nature of computer skills. 2. A range of question types, such as objective questions, operating questions, design questions, information retrieval, group testing, etc. Disadvantages 1. All questions can not be viewed at the same time, thus does not allow student to navigate through question paper very easily. 2. Answers can not be flagged so as to remember the status of an answer. Both these systems are not open source. Thus, systems are not available for further modification. Both systems are completely developed and are also being used by various organization and institute. As compared to system being developed, the scope of both these system is wide. But considering important aspects of our system such as managing examinations, solving assigned examination & evaluating examination, some issues are need to be considered. It is really highlighting that though these systems are provided with userfriendly interface, complete view of question paper is not provided.

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4. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

4.1. Platform Used
Platform used for the proposed system can be categorized into 2 parts depending on which stage of life cycle it exists. It can be classified as: During development stage At runtime environment

During development stage: Hardware used: Pentium 4 Processor. 20 GB Hard Disk Drive. 256 MB RAM. Software used: JSP, XML, XSLT, PostgreSQL, Jakarta tomcat 5.0.28 Runtime environment: (At server end) Hardware used: Pentium 4 Processor. 200 GB Hard Disk Drive. 512 MB RAM. Software used: Debian linux, J2SE Development Kit 5.0 Update 4. J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 4. Apache Tomcat Server 5.0.28. PostgreSQL Mozilla Firefox

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(At client end) Hardware: Software: A PC with Internet/Intranet connectivity. Cookies enabled web browser with JSP support.

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4.2. Use Case and Activity Diagrams

The following is a Use Case Diagram of our proposed system. Figure 3.1: Use Case

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The Use Case involves three actors as mentioned in chapter 1. System has a total of 7 use cases. 1. Set the topic map: Here the system allows different topics to be categorized under particular subject. 2. Update question paper pattern: This use case is used to create a new question paper pattern or modify an existing one. 3. Update question set: This use case is used to create a list of new questions or modify an existing one. 4. Update question paper: This use case is used to create a question paper, based on question pattern and question set. 5. Assign examination to students: This use case is used to assign eligible students to a given question paper. 6. Answer question paper: This use case allows students to solve online a question paper. 7. Examine answer sheet: This use case allows examiners to manually check an answer sheet and assign marks accordingly.

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The activities performed by the use cases are as follows:

4.2.1. Set the topic map

Figure 3.3: Activity Diagram for Setting the Topic Map The following activities are carried out to set the topic map: 1. The system accepts a subject from the faculty for which the topic map has to be made. 2. The system accepts the updated or completely new list of topics, so that all topics in the list come under selected subject.

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3. If a table with subject name exists, the list of topics in the table will be modified. Otherwise, a new table is created and all the corresponding topics will be added to that table.1

Each topic will be stored as a different record under the same table.

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4.2.2. Update question paper pattern

Figure 3.5: Activity Diagram for Updating Question Paper Pattern The following activities are carried out to update question paper pattern: 1. The system accepts any element of the paper pattern tree. 2. The system assigns proper position to selected element (depth level or sequential position) as provided by faculty along with various other attribute values. 3. The modified paper pattern tree having elements with changed position and attribute values is stored back in XML file with filename as question paper pattern ID.

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4.2.3. Update question set

Figure 3.6: Activity Diagram for Updating Question Set The following activities are carried out to update question set: 1. The system accepts question text and various other attributes such as marks, difficulty level, topic etc. 2. These questions along with their specified attributes and attribute values are stored in XML file, named as subject under which the question comes.

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4.2.4. Update question paper

Figure 3.7: Activity Diagram for Updating Question Paper The following activities are carried out to update question paper: 1. Any of the available question paper patterns is loaded 2. A set of questions matching the criteria specified by faculty is loaded 3. Any question from the set of questions, is inserted into the proper slot of question paper pattern that matches some of the basic criteria of slot such as marks and difficulty level. 4. A question paper as a combination of question paper pattern and selected questions matching that pattern is stored in XML file.

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4.2.5. Assign examination to students

Figure 3.2: Activity diagram for assigning examination to students The following activities are carried out to update the knowledge base 1. The system accepts question paper ID; every question paper ID is a unique combination of question paper pattern and question set. 2. The system accepts list of student IDs, those are allowed to solve selected question paper. Question paper ID and student ID pairs along with initial status pending are stored into Database.

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4.2.6. Answer question paper

Figure 3.8: Activity Diagram for Answering Question Paper The following activities are carried out to answer question paper: 1. Question paper ID of any of the pending question papers for the student is selected. 2. Examination instructions for that selected question paper are displayed. At the same time, an answer sheet with filename same as that of question paper is created.

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3. An answer sheet is updated by student with attribute values such as status and answer. 4. An updated answer sheet is saved back in an XML file.

4.2.7. Examine answer sheets

Figure 3.9: Activity Diagram for Examining Answer Sheet The following activities are carried out to examine answer sheet: 1. Student ID & question paper ID is selected by faculty, which is the unique combination and thus identifies the only available answer sheet. 2. System accepts marks and comments from the examiner, for every question.

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3. Modified answer sheet with newly updated attribute values, is stored back in same XML file.

4.3. ER diagram
In all, there are 9 entities in our system. Following diagram shows various relationships, which exist among these entities.

Figure 3.10: ER diagram for proposed system

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Activities shown in the ER diagram are discussed below: Creating question paper pattern involves an existence of relation creates between entities faculty and paper pattern. Creating question set involves an existence of relation creates between entities faculty and Question set; and also an existence of relation has between entities question set and question. Creating question paper involves an existence of relation creates between entities faculty and Question paper; and also an existence of relation has among entities question paper, question and paper pattern. Solving question paper involves an existence of relation solves among entities question paper, answer sheet and student. Evaluation of an answer sheet involves an existence of relation creates between examiner and answer sheet; and also an existence of relation has between answer sheet and answer.

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4.4. Class diagram

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The class diagram for our system has 7 classes: Faculty Class: This class is an actor class and is mainly used to create question set, question paper pattern and question paper with the help of previously created question set and question paper pattern. It is also used to store information about faculties. Question set Class: This class is used to store all the questions that come under a particular subject and topic along with a few more attributes such as difficulty level and marks. Question paper pattern Class: This class is used to store a pattern of a question paper, which can be appropriately combined with any question set to create a question paper. Every question paper pattern is stored along with some or all of the attributes such as paper pattern ID, question paper title, minimum marks, maximum marks and examination duration. Question paper Class: This class is used to store all the questions that come under a particular subject and that matches a specific paper pattern. Every question paper is created with the help of a question paper pattern class and question set class. Student Class: This is an actor class. A question paper is created with the help of paper pattern and question bank; and a student solves this question paper. And all the information about students is stored in this class. Answer paper Class: This class is used to store all the answers that students have answered. Examiner Class: This is an actor class and evaluates a question paper solved by a student and assigns marks accordingly.

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4.5. List of tables and data structures

The Database is extremely important for system, as system requires storing the information about users, question paper patterns, question set and question paper. Database comprises the following tables:
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Student Account Table Faculty Account Table Subject Table2 Question paper status Table Examiner Account Table

For every subject in database, there exists a table.

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The description of tables and their fields is as follows:

Student Account Table

This table stores the account information about student. It is used while creating or modifying information about students to the database. The fields of this table are as follows: Field Name StuId StuUserName StuPassword StuFirstName StuLastName StuAdd StuEmailId StuPhoneNo StuCellNo StuFaxNo Field Type Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Field Constraints Not null Description Uniquely identifies each student Login name for student Password for student login. Student's first name Student's last name Student's address Students e-mail ID. Student's phone no. Student's cell no. Student's fax no.

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Faculty Account Table

This table stores the account information about Faculty. It is used while creating or modifying information about faculties in the database. The fields of this table are as follows: Field Name FacId FacUserName FacPassword FacFirstName FacLastName FacAdd FacEmailId FacPhoneNo FacCellNo FacFaxNo Field Type Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Numeric Numeric Numeric Field Constraints Not null Description Uniquely identifies each faculty Login name for faculty Password for faculty login. Faculty's first name Faculty's last name Faculty's address Faculty's e-mail ID Faculty's phone no. Faculty's cell no. Faculty's fax no.

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Subject Table
This table stores all topics that come under same subject. And table name is same as subject. Thus, for every subject new table is created, and topics covered in that subject are stored in it. The fields of this table are as follows: Field Name topic_name Field Type varchar Field Constraints Unique Description Identifies topic

Question Paper Status Table

This table stores Faculty ID, Student ID, Question paper ID and status. Faculty ID is ID of the person who owns question paper pointed by corresponding Question paper ID. Student with corresponding student ID is allowed to solve the question paper and status indicates whether student completed solving the question paper or not. The fields of this table are as follows: Field Name FacultyID StudentID QuePaperID Field Type varchar varchar varchar Composite primary key Composite primary key Field Constraints Description Identifies Faculty Identifies Student Identifies question paper Shows the status of stupending varchar question paper. (Pending/ completed)

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Examiner Account Table

This table stores the account information about examiner. It is used while creating or modifying information about examiners in the database. The fields of this table are as follows: Field Name ExUd ExUserName ExPassword ExFirstName ExLastName ExAdd ExEmailId ExPhoneNo ExCellNo ExFaxNo Field Type Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Field Constraints Not null Description Uniquely identifies each examiner Login name for examiner Password for examiner login. Examiner's first name Examiner's last name Examiner's address Examiner's E-mail ID Examiner's phone no. Examiner's cell no. Examiner's fax no.

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In addition to these tables, database has some xml trees. 1. Question paper pattern tree 2. Question paper tree 3. Question set tree 4. Answer sheet tree DTDs of these are explained below

Question paper pattern DTD

<! ELEMENT question_paper (question)> <! ELEMENT question (question | subquestion)> <! ATTLIST question_paper title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper minmks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper maxmks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper time #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question minmks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question maxmks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion questiontype #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion marks #REQUIRED> question_paper can have one or more compulsory sections (question) under it. Sections are treated as questions. question can have one or more questions (question) or sub questions (sub question) under it. subquestion is the bottom- most element in hierarchy.

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Question paper pattern tree is hierarchy that represents the pattern in which the question paper will be stored and displayed.

Question paper DTD

<! ELEMENT question_paper(question)> <! ELEMENT question_paper instructions> <! ELEMENT question (question | subquestion)> <! ELEMENT subquestion( (choice1, choice2, choice3, choice4) | (option1 | option2 | option3 | option4) )> <! ELEMENT instructions (#PCDATA)> <! ELEMENT option1 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option2 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option3 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option4 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice1 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice2 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice3 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice4 (#CDATA)> <! ATTLIST question_paper title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper subject #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper minmks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper maxmks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question_paper time #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question subject #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question minmks CDATA> <! ATTLIST question maxmks CDATA>

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<! ATTLIST subquestion title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion questiontype #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion imgsrc1 CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion imgsrc2 CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion marks CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option1 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option2 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option3 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option4 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice1 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice2 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice3 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice4 text CDATA #REQUIRED> question_paper is the root element of XML document, which can have one or more compulsory sections (question) under it. question can have one or more questions (question) or sub questions (sub question) under it and can exist at any level other than root level and bottommost level. subquestion can have child elements(choices/options) only if question type is MultiChoice or SingleChoice. option elements are possible options provided under singlechoice questions. choice elements are possible choices provided under multichoice questions Question paper tree follows any of the question paper patterns available, and has questions from question set for a particular subject.

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Question set database structure

<! ELEMENT question_set(question)> <! ELEMENT question ((choice1, choice2, choice3, choice4) | (option1 | option2 | option3 | option4))> <! ELEMENT option1 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option2 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option3 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option4 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice1 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice2 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice3 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice4 (#CDATA)> <! ATTLIST question QuestionText CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question SubjectSelected #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question TopicSelected CDATA#REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question QuestionType #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question MarksAlloted #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question imgsrc1 CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question imgsrc2 CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question DifficultyLevel CDATA normal> <! ATTLIST option1 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option2 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option3 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option4 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice1 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice2 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice3 text CDATA #REQUIRED>

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<! ATTLIST choice4 text CDATA #REQUIRED> question can have child elements(choices/options) only if question type is MultiChoice or SingleChoice. option elements are possible options provided under singlechoice questions. choice elements are possible choices provided under multichoice questions question set tree can store many questions under it, every question stored in a particular question set comes under same subject.

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Answer sheet database structure

<! ELEMENT answer_sheet(question)> <! ELEMENT question (question | subquestion)> <! ELEMENT subquestion( (choice1, choice2, choice3, choice4) | (option1 | option2 | option3 | option4) )> <! ELEMENT option1 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option2 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option3 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT option4 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice1 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice2 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice3 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT choice4 (#CDATA)> <! ELEMENT question_paper instructions> <! ELEMENT instructions (#PCDATA)> <! ATTLIST question title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question subject CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question minmks CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question maxmks CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST question time CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion title CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion type #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion imgsrcQ1 CDATA> <! ATTLIST subquestion imgsrcQ2 CDATA> <! ATTLIST subquestion imgsrc1 CDATA> <! ATTLIST subquestion imgsrc2 CDATA>

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<! ATTLIST subquestion marks #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion status #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion ans CDATA> <! ATTLIST subquestion marksassigned #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion chkstatus #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST subquestion comment CDATA> <! ATTLIST option1 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option2 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option3 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option4 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice1 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice2 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice3 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST choice4 text CDATA #REQUIRED> <! ATTLIST option1 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST option2 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST option3 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST option4 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST choice1 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST choice2 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST choice3 checked #IMPLIED> <! ATTLIST choice4 checked #IMPLIED> answer_sheet can have one or more compulsory sections (question) under it. question can have one or more questions (question) or sub questions (subquestion) under it.

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subquestion can have child elements(choices/options) only if question type is MultiChoice or SingleChoice. option elements are possible options provided under singlechoice questions. choice elements are possible choices provided under multichoice questions Answer sheet tree stores an answer sheet attempted by a student with attributes. This answer sheet can be further modified by an examiner to assign marks to every attempted answer.

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5. Implementation
5.1. Main page

Left part of the page gives the brief description of over all activities, which can be performed using this framework. Right part of the main page allows 1. To select the type of the user 2. Any authorized user to login using previously assigned user name and password or 3. To register the new user Uppermost space is reserved for banner/symbol of site. Bottommost is reserved for displaying information about current database status and its users.

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5.2. Set the topic map

This page allows faculty 1. To select a subject to which topics are to be mapped. 2. To delete an existing topic present under selected subject. 3. To add new topic to the existing list of topics under selected subject. 4. To commit any changes that are made while mapping topics and displays existing list of topics under selected subject.

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5.3. Create question paper pattern

Frame allocated for question paper displays question paper in tree format and allows to select a question at any level which ranges from bottom-most level (i.e. sub question) to top-most level (i.e. question) and set various attributes for that question. Frame on the right side 1. Displays different unique paper pattern IDs (in case faculty wants to select previously existing pattern and modify it). 2. Allows faculty to create a question paper pattern with some unique question paper ID. 3. Displays maximum time available for the question selected (in minutes).

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4. Displays maximum marks allotted to the question, examiner can not exceed this limit. (Only when selected element is question, else attribute is hidden). 5. Displays minimum marks allotted to the question, student must attempt for these many marks to solve the paper completely (only when selected element is question, else this attribute is hidden). 6. Displays marks carried by a sub question (only when selected element is sub question, else this attribute is hidden). 7. Allows faculty to save an existing question paper pattern with modifications, if any. Bottommost frame allow faculty to change the paper pattern 1. By moving up the question in paper pattern tree (moving under same parent question). 2. By moving down the question in paper pattern tree (moving under same parent question). 3. By moving the question to the left side in paper pattern tree (up 1 level in hierarchy). 4. By moving the question to the right side in paper pattern tree (down 1 level in hierarchy). 5. By inserting a new question in a paper pattern under selected question (insertion of question is not possible under sub question). 6. By inserting a new sub question in a paper pattern under selected question (insertion of sub question is not possible under sub question). 7. By removing a selected question from a paper pattern and also its sub questions, if present.

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5.4. Manage question bank

Above page allows faculty

To select the subject to which question belongs. To select the topic to which question belongs (must be valid under subject selected). To select question type (i.e. Descriptive, multichoice or single choice) To assign marks for that question. To enter question to be displayed. To select an image as a part of question, that may be helpful to state the problem more specifically. To set a difficulty level of a question (which ranges from very easy to very difficult). To set number of choices that are to be provided for multiple-choice or single-choice questions. (This part of the page is visible only if question type is single-choice or multi-choice).

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5.5. Create question paper

Frame allocated for paper pattern allows faculty to look for existing question paper pattern using either pattern ID Frame for question criteria allows faculty to look for questions that will fit into the question paper pattern. Search is made with the help of various available criteria. Top right frame allows faculty to select any level in question paper pattern tree and put any of the questions that have met the criteria at that level. Questions matching criteria are listed below the question paper pattern. In bottom right frame, questions are listed those match the criteria specified in its adjacent frame. From this part of the page, faculty can select any question from questions listed and put it onto the question paper tree and thus, following the same procedure to create complete question paper.

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5.6. Assign examination to student

Above page 1. Allows faculty to select subject for assigning examination to students. 2. Displays a list of available question paper IDs, every question paper ID indicates a unique combination of questions from particular subject's question bank and question paper pattern. 3. Allows faculty to select a student ID from available list of student IDs matching the criteria. 4. Allows faculty to select all students' IDs from available list of student IDs matching the criteria. 5. Allows faculty to remove the selected student ID from list of selected student IDs. 6. Allows faculty to load all student IDs available in database. 7. Allows faculty to SAVE all the changes made in the session after last SAVE and displays a list of selected student IDs for examination.

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5.7. Edit Account information

This screen will allow faculty to edit his/her account details.

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5.8. Select an examination

This screen will allow student to select an examination he is authorized to appear for.

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5.9. Answer question paper

Uppermost part of the page displays examination details. Left hand side frame displays question paper in tree format that is to be solved, allowing students to select question at bottom most level of the tree to answer the same. Right hand side frame 1. Displays a complete question that is to be answered along with images, if any. 2. Allows student to select an image that may be helpful to answer the question. 3. Allows student to answer the question displayed above it (but in descriptive format). 4. Allows student to mark any question depending on status of its answer. Marking will be helpful for student while solving question paper to get

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an idea which questions are to be answered, which are partially answered or yet to be answered.

Bottommost part of the page displays various details regarding the examination.

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5.10. Examine question paper

Uppermost part of the page allows examiner 1. To select an answer sheet by selecting various criteria such as student no., subject & question paper ID and check the same and also 2. To navigate through various answer sheets, keeping the subject, question paper ID and question as it is (for relative checking) Left hand side frame displays solved question paper in tree format, allowing examiners to select question at bottom most level, to check the same. Right hand side frame 1. Displays a complete question that is answered below along with images and other details, if present. 2. Allows examiners to mark any question depending on status of its answer. Marking will be helpful for examiners while checking answer sheet to get an idea which answers are to be checked, which are

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partially checked or yet to be checked. Status of an answer will be reflected on question paper (on left side) using color code. 3. Allows examiner to enter any comments about the answer for its corresponding question and student no. 4. Allows examiner to assign marks to an answer on that particular page, only if status is marked as checked.

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6. Testing
6.1. Test plan
This test plan overviews testing of Online Examination System to increase its stability. Many types of testing can be performed on the system being developed. But considering the fact that system being developed is a web application; Following tests seem to be most appropriate ones

Focus Test
The goal of the focus test is to ensure product stability prior to integration and stress tests. This test is carried out for every specified feature of the system. Only features that involve data flow from one module to another are left untouched. All modules are independently tested with mock data.

Integration Test
Integration tests attempt to create user scenarios that view the system as a whole. Basically the focus is on testing the functionality of whole system after integrating individual modules rather than testing the functionality of individual modules separately.

Stress Test
Stress tests verify the robustness of the product during high system usage. In addition to the integration tests, which were designed to stress the system. The plan is to test the system by allowing number of users to interact with the system. A test plan is also to test the stress on the system with many users of same type (for e.g. many students are appearing for same examination).

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6.2. Screen shots

Setting the topic map: -

Under the set topic map section of faculties, faculties are allowed to modify the mapping between subject and topics that come under the subject. Thus, whenever a faculty selects a subject for which a mapping has to be modified and clicks on an option called add topic, a prompt window appears to make sure that a click on option add topic is intentional. With the help of this prompt window a faculty can say whether a click on an option was accidental and he doesn't want to perform Add topic activity, just by clicking cancel. Clicking on cancel will take a faculty back to the topic map page

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Same prompt window will confirm the Add topic activity, by allowing the faculty to click Ok. And Addition of topic will modify the database and also the apparent topic map- a mapping between subject and topics that come under the subject.

Following the positive sequence (i.e. clicking on Ok on the prompt window), faculty makes sure he wants to modify the topic list for selected subject, by adding new topic. Clicking Ok of the prompt window displays a new input box, which allows entering the name of the topic, which is to be added to the mapping of selected subject. Clicking Ok of the input box completes the Add topic activity.

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Completion of an activity Add topic is notified by displaying the message, which shows that topic for selected subject is added successfully. Duplication of topic name is not allowed under the same subject. And even if, faculty attempts to do so, faculty will be notified by displaying the message, which shows that topic already exists in database.

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Modifying the mapping between subject and topics that come under the subject has to be supported by deletion of any existing topic. Thus, whenever a faculty selects a subject for which a mapping has to be modified and clicks on an option called Delete topic, a prompt window appears to make sure that a click on option Delete topic is intentional. With the help of this prompt window a faculty can say whether a click on an option was accidental and he doesn't want to perform Delete topic activity, just by clicking cancel. Clicking on cancel will take a faculty back to the topic map page Same prompt window will confirm the Delete topic activity, by allowing the faculty to click Ok. And deletion of topic will modify the database and also the apparent topic map- a mapping between subject and topics that come under the subject.

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Modifying paper pattern: -

Modifying paper pattern involves various activities like moving a selected question, inserting question, inserting sub question and removing a selected question. These activities have some rules. It is not possible that every activity can be performed on any of the questions. Thus, a faculty is notified by displaying a message, after an attempt is made to modify the paper pattern. Some of these attempts, which do not lead to successful modification, are as follows:

If an attempt is made to move up the question in sequence and question is a first child of its parent element.

If an attempt is made to move down the question in sequence and question is a last child of its parent element.

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If an attempt is made to move up the question in hierarchy (one level up) and question is a immediate child of its root element of XML document.

If an attempt is made to move down the question in hierarchy (one level down) and question is first child of its parent element.

If an attempt is made to move down the question in hierarchy (one level down). And the question to be moved is not the first child of its parent element and is the bottom most element of a question paper pattern.

If an attempt is made to insert the question under sub question. If an attempt is made to insert the sub question under sub question. If an attempt is made to remove the root element of XML document.

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Saving paper pattern: -

Question paper pattern needs to be saved after desired modifications are made to it. Either existing question paper patterns can be saved along with changes made or existing paper pattern can be modified and saved with different name. Save as option is used to save the existing question paper pattern with different name. A faculty is provided with an input box, where he is supposed to assign the name for new question paper pattern. While choosing the name for question paper pattern, a faculty should be aware of existing question paper pattern names. A duplication of paper pattern names is not allowed. Even if a faculty enters a name, which is already assigned, to one of the existing question paper patterns, a faculty is notified by displaying the messageprovided paper pattern name already exists in database, please select a different name.

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Managing question bank: -

An activity managing question bank involves adding new questions to the question bank. A faculty can add a new question to the question bank. Every question is supported by various attributes like topic, question text, marks, question type, image source (if any), and difficulty level. Every time the faculty adds a question to a question bank, a question bank of that particular subject gets modified with this newly added question. A message Question added successfully is displayed after every successful addition of a question.

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Every time the faculty adds a question to a question bank, he should make sure that a question with same question text does not exist in question bank. Even if the faculty attempts to add a question to a question bank, which already exists in question bank a faculty is notified by displaying the message Question already exists in database

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Saving question paper: -

An activity Saving question paper involves loading a particular question paper pattern, loading the list of questions matching the specified criteria and putting the selected question from that list to the proper slot of question paper pattern. Above procedure is followed for every question to create a complete question paper.

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Assigning examination: -

An activity assign examination includes selecting the question paper from the list of available paper patterns, selecting the list of students who will be assigned an examination and assigning an examination to those selected list of students. Students who are already assigned an examination will not be assigned an examination again.

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Editing account information: -

An activity Edit account information allows faculty to modify his existing account details. In addition to modification of his existing details, faculty can also change his password. Some details such as address, E-mail ID and phone no. are compulsory. Whereas changing password is kept optional. In order to change password, faculty will have to provide the correct old password along with new password. In case if faculty enters the wrong old password, a message Invalid password will notify the user. In case of password change, new password and password for confirmation must have the same value. If faculty provides two different values for new password and password for confirmation, a message will notify the user

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suggesting that user has mistaken while entering new password and password for confirmation.

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Answering a question paper: -

An activity Answering a question paper involves selecting a question from the question paper, and solving the same. Solving every question may involve writing a descriptive answer, selecting a right choice or choices and including any images if required. To save any changes made to an answer, student must save an answer sheet or else check the option Auto save, which automatically saves changes made to an answer, on every selection of question. Examination and answer sheet details are shown for an examination. Examination details also display a progress bar, which graphically displays a progress of an examination.

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Examining answer paper: -

An activity Examining an answer sheet involves selecting every question, going through a solution of a question (which is provided by student) and assigning marks for that answer manually. Changes in answer sheet need to be made manually, by clicking the option save or else examiner can check an option called Auto save, which automatically saves changes made to an answer sheet, on every selection of question.

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7. Conclusions & Evaluation and further work

Basically, the system being developed is focusing on basic functionalities that are expected by any of the possible user of the system. Possible areas of development are: Encryption for database To load an xml tree faster (Big xml trees may force the system to work slow, since refresh of these files are required on every minor activities performed on these trees) Higher level of authentication rather than providing one with user name and password Synchronization is an important factor; the time factor is wholly dependent on client side. Better ideas can be used to add improvements. User interface- user interface sometimes seems to be little confusing. Interfaces with clearer picture can be added. Temporary information about users is stored using cookies. Thus, if user disables cookies on client side, the system will not perform with desired level of efficiency. Examiners manually evaluate questions answered by students. Automation for evaluation can be added at least with single and multi choice questions. In a developed system, only one question can refer to an image and no other question can refer to that question. The feature is not supported by the system because of possible ambiguity of different images sharing common filename.

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This feature can be addressed by displaying an image at the time of selection and allowing faculty to select an image, only if he wants to do so. Question papers can be assigned by any faculty to any of the available students. There is no specific rule like a faculty who created the question paper can only assign the question paper to students. This feature can be added so that a faculty can grant permission to any of the other faculties to make use of question paper he created. Using this feature, a faculty can assign an examination to students, only if the faculty is either the creator of question paper or he got the permission to use an examination to be assigned.

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8. Appendices
8.1. System manual
Project is stored in jakarta-tomcat-5.0.28/webapps/ROOT/ Directory Environment variables ::OnlineExamination

/home/meghan/jakarta-tomcat5.0.28/common/lib/servletapi.jar:/home/meghan/jakarta-tomcat5.0.28/common/lib/postgresql.jar:/home/meghan/jakart CLASSPATH a-tomcat5.0.28/webapps/ROOT:/home/meghan/jakarta-tomcat5.0.28/webapps/ROOT/WEBINF/classes:/home/meghan/jakarta-tomcat5.0.28/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/lib/jdbc7.0-1.1.jars PATH JAVA_HOME CATALINA_HOME /usr/local/j2sdk1.4.2_08/bin /usr/local/j2sdk1.4.2_08 /home/meghan/jakarta-tomcat-5.0.28

Values are assigned to these environment variables in file called .bash_profile. Environment variables can be set by executing .bash_profile file (in case of DEBIAN linux). To test or to run an application a web-server need to be started. To start the server To shut down the server Both files (i.e. ::startup.sh Execute the file called startup.sh Execute the file called shutdown.sh and shutdown.sh) are found in

/home/meghan/jakarta-tomcat-5.0.28/bin.

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8.2. User Manual

Main page allows the user to enter the framework and gives a brief idea about the number of users using this framework. While logging-in, user will have to be cautious about the highlighted type of user. If a user is not registered, user can register in framework by following the link sign up here (Here also, user will have to be cautious about the highlighted type of user). In registration process, user is supposed to enter his personal information such as name, address, and contact number etc. A confirmation message is shown, once a user is successfully registered in framework. Only registered users can take benefits of facilities provided by the framework. After the faculty login in the framework with valid user name and password, he can see the list of activities, which he can perform. Mapping the topic involves, the list of existing subjects in the database and the list of topics that comes under a particular subject. If any subject does not exist in the database, a faculty can add a subject with the help of this interface. Even if any particular topic is not listed for the topic map of selected subject, faculty can add that topic to the topic map and also can delete any topic if faculty finds that the topic is not being used any more. Paper pattern section allows faculty to modify an existing paper pattern and also to create new patterns based on existing paper patterns. Paper pattern is the basic template for question paper. Question set section allows faculty to modify a question set for every subject. Every question will be supported by various criteria such as marks, question text, question type etc. Question paper section helps faculty to load any of the previously created paper patterns and also to display the list of questions matching specified criteria such as marks, topic, difficulty level etc. And finally with the help of loaded paper pattern and list of questions

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matching specified criteria, faculty creates a question paper, which can have a set of examination instructions. Assign examination section allows faculty to assign any of the available question papers to any of the students. Students are selected based on their IDs. Faculty needs to specify the list of students from list of available students, which can appear for a selected examination. A list of available students will not have any of the students, who are previously assigned this examination. And also displays the list of students, which are assigned examinations. Account information section allows faculty to change his personal information such as contact no., address etc. A faculty can also change his existing password. Sign-out link takes the faculty out of the framework. And clears all the temporary information about faculty stored on client machine. After the student logs-in the framework with valid user name and password, he can see the list of examinations, which he can appear for. Selecting any of the examination and submitting the same, will show a list of instructions that has to be followed by a candidate during an examination. Now, clicking on start exam will start an examination and will display the page where question paper, answer sheet, answer details and examination details are shown. Question paper section (left frame) shows a question paper in tree format, for every selected question a space is provided for answering the same. A format of answer sheet changes according to the type of question selected. An answer sheet provides the space to answer that question. A student can save an answer paper by clicking button Save. To enable an Auto save option, student needs to check Auto save option. Enabling this option helps a student does not need to save changes in an answer sheet, manually. Every time, a student selects any question, corresponding changes for previously selected question are saved in an answer sheet. Clicking an option

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Finished indicates that student has completed answering the paper and now wants to log-out of the system. Answer sheet details section (lower frame) shows various details regarding an answer sheet being modified. The content of this section of the web page changes with the change in answer sheet. Examination details section (upper frame) shows various details regarding an examination, for which a student is appearing. e.g. shows the progress of an examination with respect to time, examination start time, examination duration etc. After an examiner logs-in the framework with valid user name and password, he can see the list of activities, which an examiner can perform. Examine papers section allows examiner to select an answer sheet to be examined. And then examiner can manually check each answer and assign marks accordingly (also can add any comment, if required). Examiners are facilitated with options Save and Auto save. Change for every question needs to be saved manually with the help of option Save. Auto save option is provided to avoid this manually saving of an answer sheet. Clicking an option Finished checking indicates that examiner has finished the checking of a selected examination and now wants to log-out of the framework. View account information section displays personal information of loggedin examiner. Edit account information section allows examiner to edit any previously saved personal information. An examiner can also change his existing password.

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8.3. Test results

Web page: Main login screen Sr. no Actual Results Same as Expected results Usernames Click on Login button by entering any 2 random username and password An error page with text Invalid user name or password should be displayed Same as Expected results and passwords stored in database is referred

Description

Expected Results An error message

Remarks

Click on Login button 1 without entering username or password

Please fill adequate information should be displayed

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Web page: Faculties >> Set topic map. Sr. no Actual Results Same as Expected results

Description Click on Add topic button by entering the topic which already exists in topic list of selected subject Click on delete topic

Expected Results An error message Topic already exists under selected subject should be displayed An error message No topic selected for deletion should be displayed An error message Subject already exists in database should be displayed

Remarks

Same as Expected results

button without selecting any topic. Select an item Add new... from subject list and enter the previously existing subject name.

Same as Expected results

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Web page: Faculties >> paper pattern Sr. no Description Select Create new... option from List of 1 patterns and choose one of the previously existing pattern names. Expected Results An error message Provided pattern name already exists in database, please select a different name should be displayed An error message Click on Save and 2 choose one of the previously existing pattern names. Provided pattern name already exists in database, please select a different name should be displayed An error message Click on Save as and choose one of the 3 previously existing pattern names. Select first child element of any 6 question and click on Move up Select last child 7 element of any question and click on Move down Provided pattern name already exists in database, please select a different name should be displayed An error message Question can not be moved up should be displayed An error message Question can not be moved down should be displayed Same as Expected results Same as Expected results Same as Expected results Same as Expected results Same as Expected results Actual Results Remarks

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Select an immediate 8 child of root element of document and click on Move left Select first child 9 element of any question and click on Move right Select any sub question (other than 10 first of its parent) of any question and click on Move right Select a sub question 11 and click on Insert question

An error message Question can not be moved to root level should be displayed An error message Question can not be moved further should be displayed An error message Question can not be moved under sub question should be displayed An error message Question can not be inserted under another sub question should be displayed An error message Sub

Same as Expected results Same as Expected results

Same as Expected results

Same as Expected results

Select a sub question 12 and click on Insert sub question

question can not be inserted under another sub question should be displayed An error message Root level question can not be deleted should be displayed

Same as Expected results

Select a root element 13 of document and click on remove

Same as Expected results

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Web page: -Faculties >> Manage question bank Sr. no Actual Results Same as Expected results

Description Click on Add to database button without entering marks allotted for the question. Click on Add to database button

Expected Results An error message Please enter marks carried by a question displayed

Remarks

An error message "Please enter question text displayed

Same as Expected results

without entering text that describes the question. Click on Add to database button without entering no. of choices for multiple or single choice question. Select a subject,

An error message Please enter the no. of choices to be provided for question displayed An error message No topic exists under subject displayed An error message This question already exists in question bank displayed. (Subject should also be the same for the question) Same as Expected results Same as Expected results Same as Expected results

which dont have any topics under it. Enter a question text, which is already assigned to one of

the existing questions and click on Add to database button

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Web page: - Faculties >> Question paper Sr no Actual Results Same as Expected results

Description Click on Display List

Expected Results An error message No topic selected should be displayed

Remarks

button without selecting a topic Click on Add to slot button without selecting a slot in question paper pattern. Click on Add to slot button without selecting a question from the list of questions. Select a question (not the bottom most question of paper) in the paper pattern,

An error message You didn't select the slot for a question should be displayed An error message You didn't select the question should be displayed

Same as Expected results

Same as Expected results

An error message Question can be inserted only in a sub question slot should be displayed Same as Expected results

select a question from the list of questions and click on Add to slot.

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Web page: - Faculties >> Registration Sr no Actual Results Same as Expected results Existence of Same as Expected results @ and . is checked for validity of Email ID.

Description Click on Register

Expected Results An error message Please fill all mandatory fields should be displayed An error message Invalid E-mail ID should be displayed

Remarks

me button without entering compulsory details marked by * Click on Register me button without

entering a valid Email ID Click on Register me button without

An error message Number must be numeric should be displayed

entering a numeric value for phone no, mobile no and fax no.

Same as Expected results

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Web page: - Students >> Registration Sr no Actual Results Same as Expected results Existence of Same as Expected results @ and . is checked for validity of Email ID.

Description Click on Register me button without

Expected Results An error message Please fill all mandatory fields should be displayed An error message Invalid E-mail ID should be displayed

Remarks

entering compulsory details marked by * Click on Register me button without

entering a valid Email ID Click on Register me button without

An error message Number must be numeric should be displayed

entering a numeric value for phone no, mobile no and fax no.

Same as Expected results

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Web page: - Examiners >> Registration Sr no Actual Results Same as Expected results Existence of An error message Invalid E-mail ID should be displayed Same as Expected results @ and . is checked for validity of Email ID. An error message Number must be numeric should be displayed

Description Click on Register me button without entering compulsory details marked by * Click on Register me button without

Expected Results An error message Please fill all mandatory fields should be displayed

Remarks

entering a valid Email ID Click on Register me button without entering a numeric value for phone no, mobile no and fax no.

Same as Expected results

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Web page: - Faculties >> Edit Account Information Sr no Actual Results Same as Expected results

Description Click on Save changes button without entering

Expected Results An error message Please fill mandatory fields should be displayed An error message You entered the wrong password, please try again should be displayed An error message New password and password for confirmation must be same should be displayed

Remarks

compulsory details marked by * Enter wrong password

Same as Expected results

and click on Save changes.

Enter different values for new password and 3 password for confirmation and click on Save changes'

Same as Expected results

Existence of Click on Save changes 4 button without entering a valid E-mail ID Click on Save changes button without entering 5 a numeric value for phone no, mobile no and fax no. An error message Invalid E-mail ID should be displayed Same as Expected results @ and . is checked for validity of Email ID. An error message Number must be numeric should be displayed Same as Expected results

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Web page: - Examiners >> Edit Account Information Sr no Actual Results Same as Expected results

Description Click on Save changes button without

Expected Results An error message Please fill mandatory fields should be displayed An error message You entered the wrong password, please try again should be displayed An error message New password and password for confirmation must be same should be displayed

Remarks

entering compulsory details marked by * Enter wrong password

Same as Expected results

and click on Save changes.

Enter different values for new password and 3 password for confirmation and click on Save changes'

Same as Expected results

Existence of Click on Save changes 4 button without entering a valid E-mail ID Click on Save changes button without entering 5 a numeric value for phone no, mobile no and fax no. An error message Invalid E-mail ID should be displayed Same as Expected results @ and . is checked for validity of Email ID. An error message Number must be numeric should be displayed Same as Expected results

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9. References
JAVA 2 SDK versions 1.5 Help Documents were used during coding phase. [Hans Bergsten, August 2002] Java Server PagesTM, 2nd Edition, O Reilly. [Marty Hall, December 2001] More Servlets and JavaServerPages, First Edition, Prentice Hall PTR. [Patrick Naughton and Herbert Schild, 1999] JAVA 2 The Complete Reference, Osborne/McGraw-Hill. Web-sites used during coding phase www.w3schools.org www.javascriptcity.com java.sun.com www.topxml.com www.postgresql.org http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-5.0-doc/index.html (Apache Tomcat version 5.0.29 Online Documentation). [1] OnEx (Knowgence Online Examination System): demo available at http://www.knowgence.com [2] A NOVEL WEB-BASED ONLINE EXAMINATION SYSTEM, http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2003/papers/1300.pdf

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