The current diploma thesis presents the design and development of a web application aiming at the management and the support of hotel units in Greece. The application will be accessible both through conventional as well as through mobile web. The main purpose of this project is on one hand to offer hoteliers the ability to register their hotels with all the necessary details and information (location, address, extra facilities, photos) and on the other to provide tourists with a friendly user application to explore their possibilities for accommodation during their vacations. It is worth noting that the application is making use of the Google Maps external system in order to locate and retrieve the position of each registered hotel on an interactive map. To achieve this task, each hotelier was given the option either to introduce directly the exact coordinates of his hotel, i.e. longitude and latitude, or to locate it on an interactive map whereas the system automatically retrieves the coordinates’ values which will be stored in an external database.
The tasks of the thesis are twofold: the first one involves design concepts of a software application while the second one deals with the exploration of web technology, web programming and design. As far as the software design is concerned, firstly the requirements and the needs of the system are systematically analyzed and recorded, classified as operating and non-operating, thus leading to the construction of the corresponding dataflow diagrams described at a third level depth. In parallel, the required entities of the application are identified and the corresponding entity-relationship diagram that describes the necessary database of the system is formed. The SQL commands to create the appropriate database derive then naturally from the aforementioned diagram.
Web programming is based on a three-tier architecture that consists of three distinct levels: the data layer, including the system database and the database management system, the client layer, typically corresponding to the browser program of the final user, and the server layer, including the web server with all the necessary protocols and language scripting to develop the link between the two other layers. The web application of the thesis can be subsequently divided in three different subsystems. The first one involves the management of hotels and their corresponding offers and is attributed exclusively to users identified as hoteliers. The second one addresses the search of available offers, which match the location, arrival and departure dates entered by the final user, as well as the management of the possible reservations effected by users identified as client tourists. The third subsystem is related to the management of the whole system and is assigned to the system administrator. This classification in independent subsystems is very useful and convenient in the sense that each subsystem can be developed separately thus facilitating the programming procedure of the entire application.
The application was developed by adopting exclusively open source programs that include Apache–PHP and MySQL technologies. This particular choice offers an environment of secure operation, personalized graphical user interfaces (GUI) and, finally, administrative possibilities. The source code was written via the Notepad++ program whereas the database design and realization were done in the MySQL Workbench environment. Web pages were written in HTML 5.0 with PHP server-side scripting and Javascript client-side scripting while the design and styling of the necessary GUI were carried out by using the CSS language.
The users of the developed system, besides the system administrator, are hoteliers and tourists and can perform different operations. In particular, hoteliers can register their hotel units with all their detailed characteristics, i.e. name, prefecture, city, address, description, photos, extra facilities and finally the exact hotel location on an interactive Google map. After the registration, hoteliers are able to enter their offers for a particular period, describing the available room and daily cost, as well as more sophisticated operations like cancellation possibilities and special offer terms. Candidate tourists can search and view the available accommodation options offered by the various hotel units, according to the search criteria entered by the client tourist in the corresponding search form, i.e. prefecture and city of the hotel, arrival and departure date. In addition, whenever hotel geographic coordinates are available, tourists can retrieve automatically the exact hotel location on an interactive Google map. Furthermore, registered client tourists can effectuate room reservation which, of course, affects the availability of the corresponding offer. Finally, tourists that have successfully completed their reservation are given further the possibility to publish their comments and impressions for the hotel that have visited.
The graphical user interface of the application is developed by using both fluid and responsive design. Fluid design adapts the dimensions of the interface automatically to the browser window, along with the appropriate resizing of containing images, while responsiveness takes care about the physical dimensions of the output screen. The combination of these two design techniques renders the application accessible in both conventional and mobile devices.
Finally, the preliminary evaluation of the web application was effected by general public users that completed a simple questionnaire after performing certain tasks, like hotel registration, offer registration, hotel search and room reservation. As evidenced by the corresponding answers, the application is easy to use and to learn, the search procedure is simple enough and the interface is well designed and presented.
Future work based on the presented web application includes the possibility to incorporate e-commerce facilities in order to transform it to a real commercial application and to create a real Android application for mobile devices.
Στα πλαίσια της Πτυχιακής Εργασίας σχεδιάσθηκε και αναπτύχθηκε διαιδικτυακή εφαρμογή με στόχο τη διαχείριση και υποστήριξη ξενοδοχειακών μονάδων. Ειδικότερα, μέσω της εφαρμογής οι επιχειρηματίες τουρισμού μπορούν αρχικά να καταχωρούν τα ξενοδοχεία τους και στη συνέχεια να δημιουργούν προσφορές για τα δωμάτιά τους σε συγκεκριμένη χρονική περίοδο. Οι υποψήφιοι πελάτες τουρίστες έχουν τη δυνατότητα να αναζητήσουν προσφορές θέτοντας ως κριτήρια το νομό και τις ημερομηνίες άφιξης και αναχώρησής τους. Στη συνέχεια, μπορούν να κάνουν κρατήσεις και στο τέλος να δημοσιεύσουν τις εντυπώσεις για το κατάλυμα που έχουν επισκεφθεί. Η εφαρμογή συνεργάζεται με το εξωτερικό σύστημα Google Maps για την καταχώρηση και προβολή των ξενοδοχείων σε διαδραστικό χάρτη.
Ο στόχος της πτυχιακής εργασίας είναι η αναλυτική σχεδίαση και η τελική υλοποίηση εφαρμογής διαδικτυακού περιβάλλοντος συνδυάζοντας τις θεωρητικές και τις πρακτικές γνώσεις που αποκτήθηκαν στη διάρκεια της φοίτησης στο Τμήμα Πληροφορικής του ΕΑΠ.
Η εφαρμογή αναπτύχθηκε χρησιμοποιώντας εργαλεία ανοιχτού κώδικα και συγκεκριμένα την τεχνολογία Apache - PHP –MySQL. Η συγκεκριμένη τεχνολογία επιτρέπει την ανάπτυξη εφαρμογής σε περιβάλλον ασφαλούς λειτουργίας, την παροχή εξατομικευμένων υπηρεσιών και τη διαχείριση των δεδομένων. Υιοθετήθηκε η αρχιτεκτονική τριών επιπέδων που περιλαμβάνει το επίπεδο εξυπηρετητή, το επίπεδο πελάτη και το επίπεδο διαχείρισης της βάσης δεδομένων. Η μεθοδολογία επίλυσης ακολούθησε τα στάδια καταγραφής των απαιτήσεων του συστήματος, τη λεπτομερή σύνταξη των διαγραμμάτων ροής δεδομένων μέχρι το τρίτο επίπεδο και το σχεδιασμό του διαγράμματος οντοτήτων – συσχετίσεων για τη βάση δεδομένων.
Σε επίπεδο τελικού χρήστη, η γραφική διεπιφάνεια της εφαρμογής σχεδιάσθηκε έτσι ώστε να υπάρχει δυνατότητα πρόσβασης τόσο από σταθερές όσο και από κινητές συσκευές. Τέλος, η πιλοτική χρήση της εφαρμογής από ανεξάρτητους χρήστες και τα συμπεράσματα που προέκυψαν από την αντίστοιχη αξιολόγησή της έδωσαν ενθαρρυντικά αποτελέσματα σε ότι αφορά την απλότητα και ευκολία στις διεργασίες της και στην αναζήτηση πληροφοριών καθώς και στο σχεδιασμό και τη μορφοποίηση των ιστοσελίδων.
Hellenic Open University
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Ανάπτυξη εφαρμογής στον Παγκόσμιο Ιστό για την υποστήριξη ξενοδοχειακών μονάδων με δυνατότητα πρόσβασης από σταθερές και κινητές συσκευές - Identifier: 143170
Internal display of the 143170 entity interconnections (Node labels correspond to identifiers)
