Assignment 1 Guide
Investigation
Phase - Input Form Design
Introduction
Inputs needed by your program
Task
D: Draw a draft input form
Carry out the Task
Objectives
This
guide will help you to: -
· Complete part of assignment 1
- task d - Input Form Design
You
should have a copy of following two assignment documents.
Assignment
Scenario
Assignment
1: Investigating the problem
In order to complete Assignment 1 Task
d, you need to draw draft input and output forms. This
involves drawing a picture of how you think the user interface will look.
These notes help you design an input form for your program
Your Seed Program: We
know that the inputs will be things like the number of standard lawn or hay
meadow shapes. What other inputs are needed? You will need to design an
input form so that a user of your program can input the necessary
information into your program.
When you design the output form you
will have to consider what will the outputs be?
So to specify the user interface you will need to have an idea of both the inputs and
outputs of your seed program.
~~ Inputs ~~
The inputs of your program will be things your program needs
to carry out the calculations and produce the answers (outputs)-
-
amount of seeds in grams
-
number of bags of seed
Before getting to the answers, your program will need to
know
-
If there are any lawns and which shape lawn - rectangle
or circle
-
If there are any fields and which shape field - L shape
or circular with a pond
-
how many lawns
-
how many fields
-
the dimensions of any lawns
-
the dimensions of any fields
-
the number of grams of lawn seed needed to cover one
square meter
-
the number of grams of hay meadow seed needed to cover
one square meter
-
the number of grams in a bag of lawn seed
-
the number of grams in a bag of hay meadow seed
Then it can calculate the lawn areas and field areas and
figure out the amount of seeds and
number of bags required for each area.
How can the program know things like "If there are any
lawns and which shape lawn - rectangle or circle" and other things
in the list above. The user needs to tell the program those things.
This is where you need to design your user interface so that it is possible
for the user to tell the program these things. Altogether, the user will
need to give the program information on...
-
If there are any lawns and which shape lawn - rectangle
or circle
-
If there are any fields and which shape field - L shape
or circular with a pond
-
how many lawns
-
how many fields
-
the dimensions of any lawns
-
the dimensions of any fields
~~Activity~~
|
Activity A
|
What about the rest of the items in the original list.
Why doesn't the user need to tell the program the other things such as ...
-
the number of grams of lawn seed needed to cover one
square meter
-
the number of grams of hay meadow seed needed to cover
one square meter
-
the number of grams in a bag of lawn seed
-
the number of grams in a bag of hay meadow seed
Do you think the
number of grams of seed needed to cover
one square meter will change every time
a user runs your program?
Do you think a user
would prefer it if your program could
store values that rarely change, so that
value does not have to be typed in.
Perhaps your program
could store the values such as number
of grams of seed needed to cover one
square meter and the number of
grams in a bag for each seed type.
Then the user wouldn't have to keep
typing these values in every time they
use your program.
What if the values
change say a year after you finish the
program. Say the manufacturer
starts producing lawn seeds in bigger
bags. How could you ensure your
program is flexible enough to cope with
this?
|
Now that you have a list of inputs to your program -
items 1 to 6 above - you need to draw an input form that will allow the user
to enter the information specified in the list.
Task D:
Draw a Draft Input Form
So, how do you
draw an input form? The inputs of your program will be
things your program needs to carry out the calculations.
For each item in
the list the user must...
-
tell the program if there are any lawns and which shape lawn - rectangle
or circle
-
tell the program if there are any fields and which shape field - L shape
or circular with a pond
-
specify how many lawns
-
specify how many fields
-
specify the dimensions of any lawns
-
specify the dimensions of any fields
...the program
will need something that allows a user to input that
information. It is now time to design an input
form that allows a user to input the appropriate
information.
~~ Sketching an Input Form ~~
Lets investigate which input controls
could be used for each number above.
Input controls are...
|
Icon |
Control Name |
What it looks like on the form |
What it is for |
|
 |
TextBox |
 |
Meant for user input. The user can type
information into a text box |
 |
CheckBox |
 |
Used for selecting or deselecting some
feature of the program. |
 |
ComboBox |
 |
Displays a list of items in a drop-down list
and the user selects one. |
 |
ListBox |
 |
Displays a list of items and the user can
select one. |
 |
OptionButton |
 |
Option buttons are usually grouped together
and the user chooses one. |
|
How could we accomplish the first
two parts of the list above...
-
tell the program if there are any lawns and which shape lawn - rectangle
or circle
-
tell the program if there are any fields and which shape field - L shape
or circular with a pond
Looking at the list of input controls
above, I am going to try using checkboxes on the form.
~~Activity~~
|
Activity B |
Here is one way a user could
specify which lawn and field shapes
they want.
- Play with the form above till
you are happy with using checkboxes
-
Using paper and pencil, draw a
quick sketch
of your input form. You can
use checkboxes like above but you
could make it even better by
including a picture box next to each
check, showing the shape of the lawn
or field.
|
How could we accomplish the next two
parts of the list above...
-
specify how many lawns
-
specify how many fields
There are a few possibilities here.
I could use text boxes to allow the user to type in the
number of lawns and/or fields. Another way would
be to use a drop-down list filled with numbers.
~~Activity~~
|
Activity C |
Here is one way a user could
specify the number of lawn
and field shapes they want, using
textboxes.
Try playing
with the form above.
Notice that if a user leaves a
textbox empty, my program
assumes this means the same as
0. However, have you also
noticed that you can enter silly
characters into the textboxes
instead of numbers. Try
entering something like '4abc'
into one of the textboxes.
My program accepts that.
To check a user has entered a
valid number I would have to
write extra code. This is
one of the disadvantages of
textboxes, you have to write
extra validation code to make
sure the user does not enter
something silly.
|
Lets try a different approach, using
drop-down lists to get the number of each shape.
~~Activity~~
|
Activity D |
Here is one way a user could
specify the number of lawn
and field shapes they want, using
combo boxes (drop-down lists).
-
Try playing
with the form above.
Notice that in this case, the
possible numbers of each shape
are listed inside the combo
boxes. Therefore, unlike
using textboxes, I do not have
to add extra code to check if a
user has entered something
silly. I do have to make sure I
put enough numbers in the list
though. What if a user
wanted to specify 6 rectangular
lawn shapes? My numbers
stop at 5.
-
Using paper and
pencil, draw a quick new sketch of
your input form using textboxes or
combo boxes to allow the user to
specify the number of each shape.
|
Now for the last two items in the list.
How could we allow the user to input the following...
-
specify the dimensions of any lawns
-
specify the dimensions of any fields
I think the only real way to accomplish
this is to provide textboxes for the user to type in the
dimensions of a shape.
~~Activity~~
|
Activity E |
Here is one way a user could
specify the dimensions of a
rectangular lawn
shape using text boxes.
-
Try playing
with the form above.
I have only considered the
rectangular lawn shape. You
have to consider how to deal with
the other shapes. Notice how this
time I have added code to make sure
the user enters a valid number in
each textbox.
-
Using paper and
pencil, draw a quick new sketch of
your input form using textboxes to allow the user to
input shape dimensions.
-
There is one problem
with this design. What if a user has
two rectangular lawns and they have
different lengths and widths.
My program is not flexible enough to
allow this. Do you think it is wise
to allow a user to be able to select
more than one of the same shape?
Perhaps you should restrict your
design so the user can only choose
one of each shape. However, if
you can think of a good design which
allows the user to select more than
one of the same shape and allow
different dimensions that would be
good.
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After carrying out all the activities you should have various
ideas on how you can design your input form. Using a word processor, draw a
sketch of your input form. You will need to draw all the controls you
think will be needed. Don't forget to include labels. Labels
tell the user what they have to do.
Write your name at the top of your document header.
The structure of your document should be as follows:-
Assignment 1: Investigating the Problem:
Task
d: Draft Input Form
Your draft input form drawing
should go here.
Underneath you should include
annotation, explaining what your form does and how it will work.
Have you finished all the tasks and handed them in?
If so - well done.
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