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UniFile: An Online File Storage System

T.K. Rou, Khalid Suliman Al-Tahat and Z.B. Hassan

Email: [email protected],

ABSTRACT web communities. There are many free online storage

services in a variety of formats. Oldest of all are the free
As computers become an increasing part of our lives at Web page servers, such as Xoom, Tripod and Geocities,
work, at collage, at home, and even while traveling, the which allow the hosting of organization or individual
growth of Internet has brought about revolution to our web pages for business objective or personal interest.
daily lives with sophisticated online applications that The online photo gallery facilitates the uploading of
provide us with tremendous ease of communication. pictures from digital cameras or previously scanned
Internet offers a number of services ranging from mail image to their own sites. And recently, the general online
server, list server to web-based workgroup tool. With the storage options that accept the storage of any type of file
increasing need to transfer and store digital data, web- format, has gradually reached out to most web
based file storage options has become popularize among communities [3].
web communities. A variety format of storage While most people are familiar with the usage of
opportunities is available over the net, from free web floppies to transfer and store data, nevertheless such
page servers to online photo galleries and online personal traditional way of transferring data by means of floppy
storage space. These storage options generally allow the disks has posed a lot of disadvantages, such as limited
storage and retrieval of data online. While most of these storage capacity, vulnerability to virus attack and
sites continue to focus on offering free web site and unreliable and inconvenient retrieval of files. As one way
homepages, we have developed an online virtual space to solve these problems, we have developed an online
file storage system. This system is particularly file storage system called UniFile, customizing
customized to university and college communities. The particularly to university and college communities.
file storage system helps people from different domains UniFile is a system that can assist people from
(e.g. students and lecturers) to manage, access, share and different domains, for example students and lecturers, to
backup their files online, easily, efficiently and reliably. manage, access, share and backup their files online,
This report describes some of the features implemented efficiently and reliably. Both students and lecturers can
in the system as a solution to juggling floppies, storage leverage the use of the Internet to save their files in the
limitation and unreliable copies of data. remote server and to use the system to access their files
Keywords: Internet Applications, Online File Storage without any hassles or limitations from absolutely
System, E-educatoin anywhere.
The technologies used in developing UniFile are
1. INTRODUCTION Microsoft Active Server Pages and Microsoft SQL
Server 7.0 as the tools to develop UniFile. The server
The Internet is exploding like wildfire, with the Web side requirements for UniFile are Windows NT4 or 2000
doubling in size every few months, making it the fastest running IIS, Microsoft Data Access Component
growing service on the global Internet. Internet is (MDAC) 2.5 + and SQL Server. Whereas for the client
defined as a worldwide interconnection of tens of side requirements, Internet Explorer 5.0 + is required
thousands of computer networks linking tens of millions with javascript and cookies enabled.
of computers, peripherals such as printers and large hard
disk assemblies, as well as communications equipment, In the next section, we will describe the features of
including wiring, satellites, routers, repeaters and the online system, highlighting its usefulness and
switches [1]. The Internet was originally developed to flexibility. An overview of the application will be
provide easy communication and transfer of information presented and the design and implementation process of
among academic and government agencies. Over time, UniFile development will be touched briefly. In the third
the Internet has expanded into a universal information section, we would like to relate the lessons learnt and
utility that provides a myriad of sophisticated and experience gained throughout the research and
powerful services. [2]. development process. Eventually, we will give a
As online files become more sophisticated, web- conclusion to this paper in the last section.
based file storage options has become popularize among
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2. UNIFILE – ONLINE FILE STORAGE

SYSTEM FOR UNIVERSITIES AND
COLLEGES

This section is divided into three portions: (i)

System Analysis (ii) Design (iii) Implementation.

2.1 System Analysis

UniFile features are basically divided into four
main aspects. Out of the four, two aspects that play the
most significant role are: (i) File Storage and
Management (ii) File Sharing. The remaining two
aspects are: (i) Personal Management (ii) Online Student
Activities. We will begin by introducing the File Storage
and Management features. Fig. 2. The Student Domain Main Page
Students or lecturers who wish to utilize the
online file storage service must acquire an account in the All the files and folders in the user virtual storage
system. Thus, by selecting the domain he or she is in space are displayed in a listing style that includes the
(figure 1), the user is required to go through a simple name of the file, the size of the file in KB, the type of the
registration process to create a new account. For lecturer, file and the date when the file is last modified. Sorting is
verification code is required to distinguish between a allowed for each header of the list (name, size, type and
lecturer and a student. date). For better readability, two colored highlighting is
used.
A row of instantly recognizable graphical tool
buttons (see Figure 2) spans across the top part of the
screen. These tools perform simple yet powerful
functions, by assisting user in managing and organizing
their remote online files with few simple mouse clicks.
They are 16 functions altogether, namely: New Folder,
New File, Upload, Download, Zip Download, Cut, Copy,
Paste, CopyTo, MoveTo, Properties, Rename, Preview,
Edit, Delete and Zip (figure 3).

For registration,
users are
required to select
their domains, Fig. 3. UniFile File Managing Tool Buttons
Student or
Lecturer.
Fig.1. The Login and Registration Page
To upload single file each time to one’s remote
User is required to login into UniFile each time they folder would have been a tedious task. By enabling the
wish to use UniFile by entering their username, user to multiple upload five files at once will save the
password and specifying the domain they are in. By user’s trouble from waiting for one transfer to finish
default, upon registration, a student will be given a before initiating another (see figure 4). To enable faster
storage space of 5MB and a lecturer with 10 MB. A transfer, zip download feature is supported so that file
folder named Inbox is automatically created for each downloaded is compressed. It works similarly like the
user, which serves the purpose of receiving files sent by standard download, but the file is compressed into ZIP
other UniFile members. This is rather similar to the file before downloading.
function of the inbox in an email service. The interface
of UniFile is easy-to-use and graphical, with some
similarity with the Windows Explorer or the MacOS
interface. In the left pane of the screen, shows a drive
space meter and a tree view displays of all folders in the
user’s storage space. In the right pane, the detailed listing
of files and folders will be displayed, as shown in figure
2.

Fig. 4. File Upload Form

Comprehensive
information about each and every user’s file, such as the
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type, size or creation date and time of the file, can be floppies to their respective lecturers, instead they can
viewed by clicking the Properties tool in the toolbar. To send the file to the lecturer’s inbox from within their
know how much space the user has used and how much UniFile remote folder or from local drive. This special
it is remaining, a Drive Space Meter is designed at the function is called E-send (figure 5), a function to
left hand corner of the screen (see figure 2) to serve the facilitate the user in sending remote or local files to other
purpose of monitoring the utilization of the space in each UniFile users’ inboxes. A whole listing of all the folders
user virtual drive. On top of that, the system supports the and files in the user’s remote folder is displayed in the
viewing and editing of files with certain extensions. Files left pane of the screen for user selection. Addressing the
that can be viewed from within the web browser include intended recipient is done through entering the
those with the extensions of gif, jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, jpe, recipient’s username. Before hitting the E-send button,
htm, html, doc, ppt, xls, txt and swf. Whereas file user can choose whether to leave a message to the
extensions that are accepted for editing include htm, recipient in the message column.
html, asp, asa, txt, inc, css, aspx, js, vbs, shtm, shtml, Some students would have prefer to share their files
xml, xsl and log. within a group or small circle of peers. Thus, a folder
A student and lecturer domain in UniFile have slight sharing function is allocated to allow user to share any
distintion in terms of two aspects, the interface and the folder in their personal storage space with any friends
space allocated. In general, the page for Lecturer has they wish to add into their sharing lists.
similar functionality and features as with the student’s Constantlystudents need to be reminded of certain
except that lecturer has one privilege over student: important events, such as the date of submission for
Lecturer owns larger storage space as compared to assignments and projects, quizzes, tests or date of final
student’s. Aside that, the interface of Lecturer page is examinations. Thus, in UniFile we create an easy-to-use
relative simple and uses technology color. Whereas, the personal calendar which can act as an online organiser to
student page’s interface is brighter and livelier in colors. UniFile users. The calendar is divided into two types,
Many people have the general conception that an namely basic calendar and advance calendar. The
online file storage system is basically used for the calendar will allow the students to view upcoming events
storage and retrieval of personal files. Nevertheless, ranked by importance or date or color coded in calendar
nowadays, web communities are about sharing format. By frequently checking and maintaining an
information. Thus, in UniFile application, we have accurate calendar, user will be constantly reminded of
incorporated several file sharing features, which we their deadlines or appointments, thus minimizing the
named it as websharing. chance of missing any events.
Every UniFile user can webshare their files in their Besides storing, and sharing files, we include some
personal folder. Webshared files are files to be shared by online activities to complement the usage of UniFile
all UniFile members. All webshared files posted will be members. These activities, though not directly related to
displayed in a page for view by all users. Online File Storage System, however are indeed useful
Pagination and sorting function are included for for web communities. In a student community, students
easier viewing . Brief description for each file is like to post up message or questions for discussions and
provided and UniFile member are free to download any look forward to receive answers and feedbacks from
files they want. User can also view the properties of any others. So by hosting a message board, UniFile members
file, or view the contents for certain files. A search can assign his or her own boards for discussions or post
function is located at the top corner of the page to up any upcoming news or society announcements.
facilitate the user in search for any webshare file. To send a quick mail to other UniFile members can
be done through a simple mail function created using
JMail. HTML format of email message is supported and
user can choose to attach a local file to his message.
Finally, for security concern, a log off button is
provided for the user to close their connection to the
UniFile server when he or she has finished with his
current session. This prevents another user from
accessing his or her account, if the user is working on a
shared computer. A security feature is further added to
automatically log off UniFile when the user remains idle
for a period of 30 minutes.

2.1 System Design

Fig. 5. Esend Page – transfering files to other UniFile In this section, we will describe the system
With UniFile, students no longer need architecture and design of UniFile.
members
to submit their assignments by
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maintenance of a file or folder and it includes a number

of methods for working with files and folders, such as
HTTP Request CreateFolder, CreateTextFile, DeleteFile etc.
TCP / TCP / The uploading function for UniFile is developed
IP
HTTP
IP using pure ASP instead of using any upload components
Response that is currently available in the market. It has one
advantage over any upload components, as it will work
Client Browser Web Server
on any web server that supports ASP since no
Fig. 6. Connecting to UniFile web server
components are required to be installed.

The World Wide Web is based on the Hypertext

Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This protocol defines how a
client browser will request a document from a web 3.0 CONCLUSION
server once it has connected via sockets [4]. Figure 6
shows the protocol layers used in an HTTP request. The Online File Storage System (UniFile) is
Before a user (client) can access the UniFile initiated by the problems faced by students in university
website, he must first have the connection to the Internet and colleges while utilizing the computer laboratory and
to fire up his web browser. A client browser connects to transferring the files back home using floppy disks. We
a web server using TCP/IP on port 80. When the client sought to overcome the problem by having an online file
enters the UniFile’s URL, the user’s browser then makes storage system which allows them to store and retrieve
a connection to the domain name service (DNS) and if their file. Besides orienting to the student’s requirements,
the address is entered correctly, the client’s browser will UniFile is suitable for usage of lecturers, as well as any
then request a socket connection to the HTTP “host”. other web communities.
Once the socket connection is successfully
established, the client’s browser communicates with the The development of UniFile will continue to expand
web server using HTTP. When the web server receives from time to time, with more functionality to add-on as
the page request, for example default.htm from the client the needs of the web communities continue to grow and
browser, it returns a HTTP response. differ. The security aspect of the system has yet to be
For UniFile, we have chosen ASP and SQL Server strengthened and taken care of. It is always a concern for
as our development technology. ASP is one of the students whether their files stored in the remote server
powerful site-server technologies and is a solution to are secured and whether the security of their virtual drive
providing a framework for building dynamic HTML is not being breached by unauthentic hackers. On top of
pages that enable UniFile application to be interactive. that, new and enhanced file-sharing features will be
SQL Server is chosen as the database solution for included from time to time to further facilitate the
UniFile instead of Microsoft Access due to its high UniFile users in their file sharing activites.
performance and capability in supporting high volume
transaction processing as well as its full integrity with
Microsoft’s Internet Information Server. Last but not least, it is hoped that the new system
will fully benefit all users in terms of remote access, file
2.2 System Implementation sharing and online backup, and thus bringing satisfaction
The implementation of UniFile commences with and productive results to all web communities.
setting up the development environment for UniFile. A
server to hold the files is allocated and the IIS server is 4.0 REFERENCES
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