The Net Price Calculator (NPC) helps the prospective [college] student estimate how much it will cost to attend a college / university, based on the scholarships and other financial awards available from that specific institution. The financial awards -- which depend on the prospective student's previous academic performance, where they live, what their academic interests are, etc. -- often change on an annual basis. So, the NPC also has an 'Admin console' for the Administrators to update those variables when necessary.
I used the Codeignitor-3 PHP framework to build the application. Codeignitor has built-in methods (helpers) to do things using PHP, or you can just code the PHP yourself. I tended to do the latter, rather than try and learn the Codeignitor-specific syntax -- but, on occasion I did utilize the Codeignitor method to accomplish some things, especially for forms related to the Admin console. I found the folder structure of Codeignitor -- which is tailored to Model-View-Controller (MVC) application development -- the most helpful aspect of the framework.
- Admin login, with password field encrypted in the database.
- Admin console.
- Uses Javascript to show / hide certain elements of the multi-page form the prospective student fills out while using the web application.
- Provides a Material Design Lite (MDL) progress bar for the multi-page form. There are various ways of rendering an MDL progress bar on a multi-page form -- the NPC does it purely through CSS tricks.
- Utilizes the Google Graph API.
- Saves the Google Graphs -- sent from Google in Base64 -- as a jpg
- Has an email feature (similar to 'Contact Us', but in reverse) where the user can provide us contact information that our Admissions counselors can use to further assist the prospective student.
- Having the Google Graph in a jpg (on the server), allows the NPC to send image-centered emails to the prospective student should they request additional communications from our Admissions counselors.