Community Portal for Stock Investors

Client Requirements Client required a site that will provide real time information, news, statistics and expert opinions on the current happenings in the stock market. The site should be able to track picks and pointers by professional analysts as well as financial experts so that users can compare their investments, assess the reliance and benchmark their investments against those of the experts.

The site should also contain features that allow users to share investment ideas and exchange market research too. It should also enable users to participate in market polls and rate others for their picks.

Along with the numerous features for business, the site should also enhance a user’s online trading experience with features such as blogs, discussion forums, reports on market research etc.

Challenges The team faced the following challenges:      

3rd party API and RSS feeds needed to be incorporated for managing up-to-date information, news, statistics and related data on the backend.

Real time updates on website required the development of a robust and highly dependable framework.

The site should be able to handle millions of users without slowing down.

Enhancing the networking experience of users by incorporating web usability principles.

Maintaining load balance even while the numerous features simultaneously execute.

RSS Feeds and 3rd Party API’s integration required safe and secure transfer of data.

Technologies Used PHP (Server-side Language)

A suitable managed code development environment for handling the extensive project.

Red hat Linux

Sturdy and stable operating system with high level functionalities for online development.

MySQL Engine

Versatile, low-maintenance database management system.

Cross-platform compatible database component of the LAMP platform.

Integrated tool best suited for modular architecture and iterative development of software.

Microsoft Visio

Zend Studio

Versatile web development tool with exhaustive support for CSS, JavaScript, and various server-side scripting frameworks.

Subversion (SVN)

Ideal application providing stratified storage and back up of code files.

Symfony Framework

Symfony is a full-stack framework, a library of cohesive classes written in PHP

Manpower

Project Leader

1

Developers

2

Designers

2

Quality Assurance Testers

1

Planning To equip the site with the numerous functionalities and features, a four tier development approach was adopted:    

Database Layer – Consists of MySQL database, tables and stored procedures Data Access Layer – consists of the Data Access DLL that accesses data from the database.

Business Layer – contains the business logic procedures for the various modules like Offices, Properties, Maps etc.

User Interface Layer – this forms the user facing Graphical User interface.

Development Highlights PHP 5 and MySQL 5 was used for the development of this site to accommodate the social networking nature of the website. Advertisers, Publishers, Banner Management and Payment facilities modules were developed using PHP so that they can be directly executed using the UI. An interface translating the object logic to relational logic was used to communicate with the relational databases in an object oriented manner. This enabled effective access to the database. The intermediary abstraction layer ensured ease of access of data from database.

Triggers, stored procedures and custom MySQL functions used for complex calculation of data from multiple tables. Conditional syntax was used to ensure smooth functioning of the website.

The UI layer was isolated from business logic and images, apps and data was called from their respective servers. Web usability guidelines were strictly followed and AJAX, CSS3 and HTML5 controls were used to make the site’s navigation more intuitive and user friendly. The site was developed and fully functional within a span of 6 months.