Frequently asked Questions #

The questions are referring to the Requirements of the lecture’s task.

Q: May external sources be used to create the HTML frontend (especially for the fast and nice creation of the frontend Bootstrap 4, Popper.js and jQuery)?

A: Yes, the use of JS/CSS libraries is permitted. However, the quality of the user interface is not included in the evaluation.

Q: Regarding 9.1: The tickets should be saved together with the complete history in a file in the file system. Does this mean that the user assignment must be recorded and saved? It is unclear to us whether only the ticket itself or a complete “chronicle” is desired.

A: A ticket should be saved together with all comments in one file.

Q: Regarding 6.3: When calling, it should be checked whether the message refers to an already existing ticket. The described API of requirement 6 creates a new ticket.

A: If a message is fed into the system via API, it should be appended to the correct ticket. To do this, the corresponding ticket must be searched and found. Only if no ticket can be found, a new ticket should be created. The identification is usually done by an ID in the subject of the message.

Q: Does 6.3 request that, for example, the subjects and descriptions of all existing tickets be checked for similarity? To what extent should effort be invested in this?

A: See above! A suitable procedure must be implemented. I leave it up to you to think about it.

Q: Regarding 7: E-Mail Dispatch over a REST-API: Should this “email queue” be persisted?

A: No messages should be lost during a restart.

Q: Regarding 7.1: There should be a function which can be used to retrieve all e-mails that are still to be sent. It is unclear to us what is meant by “e-mails to be sent”. Should agents receive e-mails for managed tickets? Should customers receive an e-mail when they receive a new message on a ticket?

A: If an editor adds a comment to a ticket, it should be possible for the creator of this ticket to receive this comment by e-mail.

Q: Must the REST APIs be hedged? Is HTTP Basic Auth sufficient for authentication or does session management including cookies have to be implemented? Do I have to register a user for the ticket system?

A: HTTP Basic Auth is useless because the password would be sent in plain text. Basic Auth only makes sense if it is used in combination with HTTPS. HTTPS Basic Auth for authentication is sufficient.