UHCL: CSCI 6838 Research Project and Seminar

UHCL: CSCI 6838 – Research Project and Seminar

Final Report

for

UHCL-ID50

Prepared by:

The Image Database Research Group

Elizabeth Slaughter, Team Leader

Mohammed Abdul Baqi

Sunil Thomas Mangam

Ravi Surapaneni

Narendranath Tagore Gogineni

Richard Thorp

July 25, 2007

UHCL-ID50

Final Report

Version 3.0

UHCL-ID50 / Version: 3.0
Final Report / Date: 7/25/2007

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 4

2. Responsibilities and Special Features 4

2.1 Elizabeth Slaughter 4

2.2 Mohammed Abdul Baqi 4

2.3 Sunil Thomas Mangam 4

2.4 Ravi Surapaneni 5

2.5 Narendranath Tagore Gogineni 5

2.6 Richard Thorp 5

3. Page Layout Design 6

4. Development and Deployment Steps 7

4.1 Software 7

4.2 Pages Overview 7

4.3 Images Overview 8

5. User Guide 9

6. Database Design 16

6.1 Access Database Design 16

6.2 Database Categories 17

6.3 UML Diagram 17

6.4 Main Table 18

6.5 Code for Dynamic SQL Searches and Data Bind Code to Gridview 19

7. Image Database Research Group Diary 20

Final Report

1.  Introduction

The Image Database Research Group is a team of graduate students enrolled in CSCI 6838 who are committed to success. After discussions on the various technologies currently available, we decided to implement a website that would assist researchers and scientists working on computer vision, helping them locate useful, online databases of images relevant to the field. We carefully studied the various attributes and features of the images contained in some of the online databases such as those listed at the Carnegie Mellon University site: Test Images for Computer Vision.

The title ID-50 stands for Image Database-50 and derives from the number of databases provided to users. Each database contained herein contains numerous images, some with special attributes and extensions. Users are able to search for those databases of particular interest.

Our store uses .aspx pages that communicate with an Access database. The sections contained in this report are designed to give an overview of our project. They are as follows:

·  Responsibilities and special features of each member

·  The page layout design

·  Development and deployment steps for the website

·  A user guide for the website

·  The database design

·  The group diary

2.  Responsibilities and Special Features

2.1  Elizabeth Slaughter

As team leader, I was responsible for facilitating the discussions each class, the web page layout design, and the compilation of this report. I created the buttons used in the sidebar using the utility provided at http://www.tomaweb.com/buttons.asp. I created the counter using the utility provided at http://www.bitwiselogic.com/freetools/freehitcounter.aspx. I wrote the code for the Reset button on the search.aspx page after discovering that a regular reset button would not perform the desired functionality. I created all of the .aspx and .ascx pages and was responsible for the layout and color schemes used on each page of the website.

2.2  Mohammed Abdul Baqi

I was responsible for the initial database design. I, along with Ravi and Richard, initially decided upon having three tables in our Access database, namely Main, Category and Format. We connected the tables using foreign keys. I populated the dropdown menus on the search.aspx page. I also wrote the code for the GridView where it displays a “No Data Found” message when the SQL query did not return any result.

2.3  Sunil Thomas Mangam

I gave input regarding the webpage layout design. I played a major role in deciding the important attributes to be extracted from each of the databases assigned to us and then I extracted information from each of the databases assigned to me. I conceived the idea to add Image Manipulation software links to the website, did research on what software programs are available, and submitted them to the group, along with descriptions and URL links. During the final stages of the project, I found additional databases to add to the Main table by browsing the Internet, analysed, and extracted the information corresponding with the attributes in the table. I also wrote the Project Statement for the About Us page.

2.4  Ravi Surapaneni

I was responsible for developing the initial database design with Richard and Baqi, i.e., creating tables and assigning foreign keys. I also collected definitions to be displayed on the Glossary page which included various terms used throughout the website. I also collected information based on the fields decided by the entire team for each of the databases assigned to me initially. I wrote the code which bound data from the database to the dropdown lists in the search.aspx page and some of the stored procedures for the Access database.

2.5  Narendranath Tagore Gogineni

I was responsible for setting up the Yahoo group which helped us communicate throughout our project. I accumulated information for the database from the twelve databases assigned to me initially, as well as three additional databases I discovered through online searches. I worked on the GridView control for the search.aspx, glossary.aspx, and swLinks.aspx pages. I worked on the HyperLink field which linked the URLs to the Database Names in both the search.aspx and swLinks pages. I also worked on the Template field of the GridView control and fixed the FTP links. I worked on Paging and Sorting for the result table in search.aspx. I also gathered definitions for some of the terms in the Glossary.

2.6  Richard Thorp

I created the initial team SCE website with Group Diary and Database design. I created the initial Access database from Excel sheets and created ASP.NET SQL queries to dynamically query the database from client parameter requests. I wrote the scripts and code for the search.aspx page which returned the initial results table and enabled the user to select the search parameters according to the fields in the Main table which returned a results table tapered to these parameters.

3.  Page Layout Design

The pages are constructed using ASP.NET master, ascx tags, and aspx pages. The master page, MasterPage1.master, contains tag registrations and the master table which in turn contains divisions for the header, sidebar, content, and footer. The header, sidebar, and footer are .ascx tags.

header.ascx produces:

and contains the UHCL logo which is a link to the UHCL Home Page and the project title.

sidebar.ascx produces:

and contains links to the Default Home page, the Database Search page, the Software Links page, the Glossary page, the About Us page and an email link.

footer.ascx produces:

and contains links to the Default Home page, the Database Search page, the Software Links page, the Glossary page, the About Us page and an email link; the name of our research group and class; and a visitor counter.

Contained within the content section are all of the .aspx pages: default, search, swLinks, glossary, and aboutUs. The database, ID50.mdb, is accessed by the search, swLinks, and glossary pages.

4.  Development and Deployment Steps

4.1  Software

·  ASP.NET

·  Visual Basic .NET

·  Microsoft Access 2003

·  Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003

4.2  Pages Overview

UHCL-ID50 Pages Overview /
Page Name/Path / Link / Links To /
default
pages/default.aspx
contains: Header, SideBar, Footer / Search Databases
Image Manipulation Software
Test Images for Computer Vision
Carnegie Mellon University / search.aspx
swLinks.aspx
www.cs.cmu.edu/~cil/v-images.html
www.cs.cmu.edu/
search
pages/search.aspx
contains: Header, SideBar, Footer / Database Names / URL of database
swLinks
pages/swLinks.aspx
contains: Header, SideBar, Footer / Software Names / URL of software product
glossary
pages/glossary.aspx
contains: Header, SideBar, Footer / N/A / N/A
aboutUs
pages/aboutUs.aspx
contains: Header, Sidebar, Footer / Dr. Terry Feagin
Test Images for Computer Vision
Carnegie Mellon University / Dr. Feagin’s Home Page
www.cs.cmu.edu/~cil/v-images.html
www.cs.cmu.edu/
MasterPage1.master
pages/MasterPage1.master
contains: tag registrations for header, sidebar, and footer
divisions for header, sidebar, content, and footer / N/A / N/A
style
pages/styles/style.css
contains: styles for ID50 pages / N/A / N/A
header
pages/header.ascx / UHCL icon / www.uhcl.edu
sidebar
pages/sidebar.ascx / Home (button)
DB Search (button)
SW Links (button)
Glossary (button)
About Us (button)
Contact Us (button) / default.aspx
search.aspx
swLinks.aspx
glossary.aspx
aboutUs.aspx
mailto:
footer
pages/footer.ascx / Home
DB Search
SW Links
Glossary
About Us
Contact Us / default.aspx
search.aspx
swLinks.aspx
glossary.aspx
aboutUs.aspx
mailto:
ID50.mdb
pages/db/ID50.mdb / N/A / N/A
Web.Config
pages/Web.Config
Configured to allow detailed error messages for debugging purposes. Not included in final version. / N/A / N/A

4.3  Images Overview

UHCL-ID50 Pages Overview /
Image Name/Path / Used In / Links To /
banner.gif / header.ascx / N/A
btn_aboutUs.gif / sidebar.ascx / aboutUs.aspx
btn_contactUs.gif / sidebar.ascx / mailto:
btn_DBsearch.gif / sidebar.ascx / search.aspx
btn_glossary.gif / sidebar.ascx / glossary.aspx
btn_home.gif / sidebar.ascx / default.aspx
btn_SWlinks.gif / sidebar.ascx / swLinks.aspx
oval.gif / header.ascx / N/A
UHCLicon2.gif / header.ascx / www.uhcl.edu

5.  User Guide

The user enters the site through the default page at http://dcm.uh.cl.edu/c683807sugp1.

This page contains the introductory information, as well as links to all of the other pages and the Test Images for Computer Vision website at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Database Search page initially displays all of the databases in the ID50 database: 10 lines per page. Within the display table, the user may page through all of the databases and sort them by Database Name, Category, or Format. A description and further comments are given for each entry as well.

Options are offered to the user for narrowing their search including Category, Format, Resolution, Color, Texture, Multiple Views, Occlusion, Background Clutter, Illumination, or Stereo.

Once the search has been narrowed, the user need only select other options, click the reset button, or click the link to the DB Search in the sidebar or the footer in order to modify the information shown in the display table.

The Software Links page allows the user to go the home pages of various software programs that are available for image manipulation.

The Glossary page contains definitions of the many vision image terms used in this website.

In the About Us page, we include information about the Image Database Research Group, our mentor, our class description and our project statement. Also included is a link to the Test Images for Computer Vision website at Carnegie Mellon University.

6.  Database Design

6.1  Access Database Design

One main table called Main having unique number primary key and subsidiary fields.

6.2  Database Categories

The Main table in the database has 18 Categories :

3D / Medical
Aerial / Natural Objects
Animals / People
Artificial / Range
Buildings / Rural Scenes
Faces / Satellite
Fingerprints / Sign Language
Hand Writing / Urban Scenes
Manufactured Objects / Vehicles

6.3  UML Diagram

In order to have multiple formats and categories, two tables Category and Format were created by linking the primary key of the Main table to the foreign keys in the Category and Format tables, as seen in the UML diagram below.

6.4  Main Table

Six team members were assigned a unique range of numbers for their 12 entries, i.e., member one: 1 to 99, member 2: 201-299 etc. Each member filled in details on an Excel spreadsheet for their entries. Then, all six Excels were combined into 3 Excel tables of Main, Category, and Format. The Glossary table was added later.

6.5  Code for Dynamic SQL Searches and Data Bind Code to Gridview

We discovered that we needed single quotes around values in where SQL clause to read table fields.

strSQL = "SELECT DISTINCT Main.DatabaseName, Main.Color, Main.Resolution, Main.URL,

Main.Description, Category.CategoryName,Main.numItems " & _

" FROM ((Main INNER JOIN Format ON Main.ID = Format.FKFormat)INNER JOIN Category ON

Main.ID = Category.FKCategory) " & _

" WHERE Main.DatabaseName>'ALL' “

If DropDownContents.SelectedItem.Value > " ALL" Then

strSQL &= " and (CategoryName = '" & DropDownContents.SelectedItem.Value & "' ) “

End If

If chkTexture.Checked Then

strSQL &= " and (Main.Texture= 'Yes' ) "

End If

cmdAds = New OleDbCommand(strSQL, conClasf)

rdrAds = cmdAds.ExecuteReader

GridView2.DataSource = rdrAds

GridView2.DataBind()

conClasf.Close()

7.  Image Database Research Group Diary

Date / Activity Performed
06/04/2007 / Discussed project of image classification will use Excel to create member tables.
Group decides to use Excel and Access database.
06/06/2007 / Discussed project of image classification will use Excel to create member tables.
Members each took one sixth of the 72 entries from the Computer Vision Test Image website at cs.cmu.edu:
Thomas entries 1-12
Naren entries 13-24
Mohammed entries 25-36
Ravi entries 37-48
Richard entries 49-60
Beth entries 61-72
06/11/2007 / Beth created template Excel table.
Members create own tables with information from Computer Vision Test Images.htm.
Mohammed will create Access database named DigImag6838.mdb from Excel tables.
Names for Image categories and image formats were standardized.
06/13-17/2007 / Access database and database queries were created by Richard, Ravi, and Mohammed. Three tables were made: Main, Category, and Format. This allowed for URL sites entries with multiple formats and/or categories. Queries were successfully run to check database design. The use of DISTINCT in SQL query reduced multiple responses from the same site.
Naren, Thomas, and Beth created the prototype first ASP.NET page for the website design.
06/18/2007 / Created dynamic SQL queries.
Created MasterPage1.master for page layout.
Created style.css for handling website style layouts.
Created .ascx web controls for header, sidebar, and footer.
Created .aspx pages: default, ASearch, RSearch, glossary, and aboutUs.
Created buttons for use as links in sidebar.
Renamed DigImag6838.mdb to ID50.mdb.
06/21/2007 / Use of hyphen to enable GUI
dropdown and check boxes to run correctly.
06/25/2007 / Added ASP.NET enhancements.