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3.3 Development and Testing

This section discusses the software, hardware, and tools used during the

development of Arlin’s Farmville. This part also presents the results of the testing

process conducted for the application.

3.3.1 Development

Arlin's Farmville was developed using Windows 10 Home on an Acer

laptop with the following specifications: an Intel i5-10300H CPU, a 256GB SSD, a

GTX 1650Ti, and 8GB of random-access memory. During the development of the

system, the researchers used the following software for web development: (1)

Bootstrap version 5.2.2, a free open-source CSS framework designed for

responsive front-end web development as the front-end HTML/CSS framework

which has been used by the system; (2) Datatables, a plug-in for the jQuery

Javascript that adds flexible tables which has been use for the inventory and

chicken and egg production tables; (3) SB Admin, a free, open-source, MIT-

licensed Bootstrap admin template that uses the default Bootstrap 5 styles along

with various plugins to create a powerful framework for creating admin panels,

web apps, or dashboards that has been used for the Admin Module and

Dashboard of the system; (4) Chart.js, is a free JavaScript library for making

charts, it was specifically use for the charts generated for the chicken production,

egg production and inventory. (5) Moment JS, is a JavaScript library which helps

is parsing, validating, manipulating and displaying date/time in JavaScript in a

very easy way and provides an easy and efficient way of filtering the data based
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on date ranges. (6) TCPDF is a free Open-Source PHP class for generating PDF

documents, TCPDF is used in generating pdf in reports module. This allows the

user to quickly and easily select the specific date range they would like to view

the data in. The researchers selected these frameworks for the development of

the web. (7) PHP 7, the primary programming language used to develop the

system, was chosen due to its reputation as one of the easiest scripting

languages for programmers to use, the researchers have used it as their back-

end language. (8) XAMPP version 3.2.2.0, a cross-platform compatible web

server package containing PHP, MySQL, and APACHE 2.4 was also used. (9)

MySQL version 10.4.11 was used for the development of the database for the

system. (10) Visual Studio Code (VSCode) version 1.60, a code editor made by

Microsoft, served as the IDE.

Users can access Arlin's Farmville through a web browser with an active

internet connection. The system is compatible with various platforms and

devices, as long as the browser is supported, regardless of the operating system.

3.3.2 Testing

A testing process will be carried out in order to evaluate the system's

capabilities and identify areas for improvement. This will involve real users of the

system, including the manager, administrator, and the employee, interacting with

it to see how it performs. The purpose of this testing is to assess the

functionalities of the system.

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The user acceptance test is conducted by having the manager,

administrator, and employee interact with the system and test each functionality.

The researchers provide test cases, which outline each functionality and its

expected results, to aid in the testing. After each test case, the tester provides

their remarks. A remark of "OK" indicates that the functionality met the expected

result during testing, while a remark of "NOT OK" means that the expected result

was not achieved. The test is concluded with the tester signing their name at the

end of the guide questions.

The testing phase was a crucial step in the development of the system, as

it allowed us to validate its functionality and identify any issues. During the testing

phase, the testers were able to identify areas of improvement that could enhance

the user experience and the overall performance of the system. One of the areas

that the testers highlighted was the need to improve the user interface. This

included suggestions to redesign some of the elements of the interface to make it

more intuitive, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing. They recommended

adding more descriptive labels and tooltips to help guide the user's interaction

with the system.

Another area of improvement that the testers identified was the need to

add more intuitive features to the system. They suggested the inclusion of

additional functionalities that would enable the user to perform tasks more

efficiently and effectively. For instance, they recommended incorporating a

search bar that would allow the user to quickly locate specific information within
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the system. They also suggested adding more options for customizing the

system to better suit individual user preferences.

Finally, the testers recommended improving the system's overall

performance. This included suggestions to optimize the system's speed and

responsiveness, reduce lag time, and ensure that it operates efficiently even

when dealing with large amounts of data. They also suggested conducting further

testing to identify and fix any potential bugs or issues that could affect the

system's performance. These insights and suggestions from the testers are

crucial for the development team to consider in improving the system's

functionality and usability. This was confirmed by the testers, who provided

excellent feedback on the system's performance. After the testing was

completed, the researchers and testers had a discussion about potential

improvements for the system in the future. These recommendations will be

considered and discussed in Chapter 4.