Software Tools for WISER Mike Thelwall Rosario Valverde-Gonzalez

Software Tools for WISER Mike Thelwall Rosario Valverde-Gonzalez University of Wolverhampton, UK

Contents ¬Windows programming -Visual Basic ¬Server programming – PHP and My. SQL ¬Own tools vs. commercial tools ¬Summary

Windows programming ¬ Creates a program that runs on a PC ¬ Program not available over the Web, unless via a download and installation ¬ Typically easier to program due to the availability of sophisticated design environments ¬ May be a better option if heavy processing is required – due to the relative availability of PCs

Windows Programming ¬Visual Basic developed for Windows by Microsoft from BASIC – Interface designer – Simple coding language – Quick to produce programs ¬Versions of it are now also in Excel, Access, Word, Power. Point and many other software

Origins through BASIC ¬ Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code ¬ A simple programming language ¬ Developed mid 1960’s ¬ Simplicity of BASIC made it a natural choice as a programming language ¬ Most machines have own version of BASIC

What is it good for? ¬Lots of things! ¬But particularly… automating repetitive tasks that are governed by strict rules ¬It is a relatively easy to learn language – Good for those who are not ‘real’ programmers

Designing a Program – Draw it first

Events and Visual Basic ¬Start by drawing the screen ¬Then add program code for Button Clicks Trigger Event Code Executed

Some Wolverhampton VB programs ¬Web crawler that creates a web link database – A simple file listing all page and link URLs ¬Suite of 20+ programs for processing the link files – E. g. analyse topology, count links between sites, apply alternative document models

Sample from database

Sample program output

Sample program output One program produces lists of random links… www. sbu. ac. uk/abh/oldabhsite/abh 18 xuk. htm -> www. univ. tlse 1. fr/EBHA 2000 www. brookes. ac. uk/schools/humanities/resource/e nresour. html -> www. vmi. edu/~english/leland. html biology. bangor. ac. uk/~bss 081/recent_publications. html ->www. bspp. org. uk/icpp 98/2. 2/38. html

Server programming ¬ Creates a program that runs on a web server ¬ Available instantly to all web users ¬ Typically more difficult to program than Windows and requires a more technical programmer ¬ Can link to a database for access to large amounts of data ¬ The best option if instant results and wide availability are needed

PHP ¬Runs on a web server ¬Creates web pages ¬Can connect to databases stored on the web server

Sample PHP code $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM units"); while ($row=mysql_fetch_row($result)){ $id_unit=$row[0]; $name_unit=$row[1]; echo("

Sample PHP program results

Custom programs vs. existing programs ¬ Custom programs – Written by the WISER consortium – Can be tailored to individual needs ¬ Existing programs – Bought or found free on the web – Will be cheaper and possibly more reliable, with more features and easier to transfer between partners

Summary ¬Server and Windows programming languages are best in different circumstances – Server when open access is needed – Windows when complex or needs a lot of processing – Otherwise can choose which to use ¬Commercial or free software is a good choice if it has the functionality that we need