Your First Sales! Deliverables

One look at the sales receipt XML convinces you that Francoise knows how to sell flowers. Obviously you're going to have to redesign your company website to emphasize the "color coordination" aspect. Furthermore, she wants an explanation of XML!

On your web page for the INFO 320 course, link to a web page with the following deliverables for the second 1/3 of our course:

1. A link to your redesigned company website:
Don't destroy or write over the web site you created for the first deliverable. Your redesigned web site should be a completely separate, new web site.

Business homepage

Flower picture in the upper left corner
Business name in the upper right
Business contact information tastefully arranged somewhere
Slogan artfully arranged somewhere
A series of links: [Note: the gray background used here is merely an aid in seeing the yellow and white text]

Pretty in Pink

Be Bold with Red

Sunny Yellow

Elegant White

Color-coordinated pages

Create four pages for the colors: pink, red, yellow and white. [The exact categorization of a flower as "red" or "pink" really doesn't matter. In fact, you might have some overlap between categories so that a flower that is listed as "bright pink" or "soft red" might end up on both the red and pink pages.]
The color pages should be appropriately designed (i.e., the pink page mostly pink, the red page mostly red, etc.)
In the upper left corner is a picture of a flower of the appropriate color
The page includes a listing of plant stock organized by type. Thus on the yellow page, there is a list of yellow daffodils, yellow roses, yellow tulips, etc.
Each color page would also contain company name and contact information somewhere

Here is a sketch:

2. A link to the stylesheet of your new business homepage. What percentage of the HTML elements were filled with re-used information?

3. A link to the flower page stylesheet(s). What percentage of the HTML elements were filled with re-used information?

4. Use C# to manipulate XML and to produce HTML:

Use C# to manipulate your XML sources. Use C# to combine XML and XSLT stylesheets to produce HTML pages!
Use XML Spy just to create stylesheets and XML schemas. Don't use XML Spy to produce HTML pages!
Do not handcode any information!
Use C# to transform XML with a stylesheet into HTML

Help! I don't understand the implications of all this!

Implications: XML Spy is an XML editor that one uses to create stylesheets and define XML schemas. C# is a programming language that should be used to manipulate XML (e.g.: XML + XML = More XML) and to produce HTML (e.g.: XML + XSLT = HTML).

Write a "diary" of how you manipulated your data. For example:

The first thing I did was to xla vmnald vla. Here is the C# code
Then I had to akc vlwiv aocibv aorvn. Here is the C# code.
Finally I was able to adk vke vkd volqwier vmnm. Here is the C# code.

5. Feed the sales data into a database

6. Suddenly, you remember Francoise's desire to learn more about XML. You find the paper napkin under an dirty coffee up, and you still have the two documents that Jorge left with you (1) The Microsoft Office Word 2003 XML Object Model Overview and (2) New XML Features of the Microsoft Office Word 2003 Object Model. It's late at night, but you know that she'll want an explanation of XML first thing in the morning. How do the two documents relate to the paper napkin document? Rewrite the paper napkin document with what you consider to be the most important modifications that arise from Jorge's two documents.

7. Explain how the deliverables of this section forced changes in your handling of information.

What is your revised strategy regarding the re-use of information?

How are you dealing with the plant stock information? New designs? Does the fact that you will be receiving new plant stock information by way of product catalogs and bills of lading change your design?
How are you dealing with the personnel information? New designs?
How are you dealing with the sales information? New designs? Does the fact that you will be receiving sales receipts change your design?

If you created more than one XML source, what is your strategy for linking them together?
How does your information design address future, unknown, ad hoc requests for information?
What have you learned about the re-use of information so far?