Online Examination Management System

A comprehensive full-stack web application for managing online examinations built with PHP, MySQL, and Bootstrap 5.

📋 Table of Contents

• Features

• Technology Stack

• System Requirements

• Installation Guide

  • Method 1: Docker Setup

  • Method 2: XAMPP/WAMP Setup

• Usage

• Project Structure

• Database Schema

• API Routes

• Demo Credentials

• SQL Concepts Demonstrated

• Security Features

• Troubleshooting

• Contributing

• License

✨ Features

🔐 Authentication & Authorization

• Role-based access control (Admin, Instructor, Student)

• Secure password hashing using bcrypt

• Session management with PHP sessions

• CSRF protection for all forms

👨‍💼 Admin Features

• User Management: Create, update, and manage users (Admins, Instructors, Students)

• System Monitoring: View all exams, questions, categories, and question banks

• Reports & Analytics: Comprehensive reporting with views for student performance and exam statistics

• Category Management: Organize exams and questions into categories

• Audit Logs: Track all major system actions

👨‍🏫 Instructor Features

• Exam Creation: Create exams with customizable settings:

  • Duration

  • Passing marks

  • Time windows (start/end time)

  • Randomize questions

  • Maximum attempts allowed

• Question Bank: Create and manage multiple-choice and true/false questions

• Exam Builder: Assign questions to exams with custom marks per question

• Result Analysis: View student results, exam leaderboards, and statistics

• Performance Tracking: Monitor pass rates and exam difficulty

👨‍🎓 Student Features

• Exam Participation: Take exams during specified time windows

• Real-time Timer: Countdown timer with auto-submit on timeout

• Result Viewing: Detailed results with correct/incorrect answers and explanations

• Performance Tracking: View all past attempts, scores, and exam history

• Multiple Attempts: Controlled by exam settings (max attempts limit)

🗄️ Database Features

• Triggers:

  • Validate exam dates and marks before insert/update

  • Auto-calculate results when exam is submitted

• Views:

  • Student performance summary

  • Exam statistics

  • Question usage analytics

• Stored Procedures:

  • Create exam with validation

  • Calculate result with grading logic

• Complex Queries: 12+ examples demonstrating joins, subqueries, aggregations

🛠️ Technology Stack

Backend

• PHP 7.4/8.x (94.3%) - Server-side scripting

• MySQL 8.0 - Relational database

• MySQLi - Database driver

Frontend

• Bootstrap 5 - Responsive UI framework

• Bootstrap Icons - Icon library

• CSS 3 (3.1%) - Custom styling

• JavaScript (2.5%) - Interactive features (timer, form validation)

Deployment

• Docker & Docker Compose (0.1%) - Containerization

• Apache - Web server

📦 System Requirements

For Manual Setup:

• PHP: 7.4 or higher

• MySQL: 8.0 or higher

• Apache: 2.4 or higher (via XAMPP/WAMP)

• Web Browser: Modern browser with JavaScript enabled

For Docker Setup:

• Docker: 20.10 or higher

• Docker Compose: 1.29 or higher

🚀 Installation Guide

Method 1: Docker Setup (Recommended)

Docker setup ensures consistency across different environments and simplifies installation.

Step 1: Install Docker

On Ubuntu:

• • # Install Docker

  • curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh

  • sudo sh get-docker.sh

  • 
    

  • # Install Docker Compose

  • sudo apt install docker-compose -y

  • 
    

  • # Add your user to docker group

  • sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

newgrp docker

On macOS/Windows:

• Download and install Docker Desktop

Step 2: Clone Repository

• • git clone https://github.com/hr628/Online-Examination-Management-System.git

cd Online-Examination-Management-System

Step 3: Start with Docker Compose

• • # Build and start all services

  • docker-compose up -d

  • 
    

  • # View logs

  • docker-compose logs -f web

  • 
    

  • # Stop all services

  • docker-compose down

  • 
    

  • # Stop and remove volumes (deletes database data)

docker-compose down -v

The application will be available at: http://localhost:8080 phpMyAdmin will be available at: http://localhost:8081

Docker Commands Reference

• • # View running containers

  • docker-compose ps

  • 
    

  • # Restart services

  • docker-compose restart

  • 
    

  • # Rebuild containers

  • docker-compose up -d --build

  • 
    

  • # Access MySQL container

  • docker exec -it oems_db mysql -u root -p

  • 
    

  • # Access PHP container shell

  • docker exec -it oems_web bash

  • 
    

  • # View application logs

  • docker-compose logs -f web

  • 
    

  • # View database logs

docker-compose logs -f db

Method 2: XAMPP/WAMP Setup

Step 1: Install XAMPP/WAMP

On Windows:

1. Download XAMPP from apachefriends.org

2. Install XAMPP to C:\xampp

3. Start XAMPP Control Panel

On Ubuntu/Debian:

• • # Download XAMPP Linux installer

  • wget https://www.apachefriends.org/xampp-files/8.0.28/xampp-linux-x64-8.0.28-0-installer.run

  • 
    

  • # Make it executable

  • chmod +x xampp-linux-x64-8.0.28-0-installer.run

  • 
    

  • # Run installer

sudo ./xampp-linux-x64-8.0.28-0-installer.run

On macOS:

• Download XAMPP for macOS from apachefriends.org

Step 2: Clone Repository

• • # Clone the repository

  • git clone https://github.com/hr628/Online-Examination-Management-System.git

  • 
    

  • # Move to xampp htdocs folder

  • # Windows:

  • move Online-Examination-Management-System C:\xampp\htdocs\

  • 
    

  • # Linux/Mac:

sudo mv Online-Examination-Management-System /opt/lampp/htdocs/

Step 3: Start Services

1. Open XAMPP Control Panel

2. Start Apache

3. Start MySQL

Step 4: Import Database

1. Open phpMyAdmin at http://localhost/phpmyadmin

2. Click Import tab

3. Import SQL files in the following order:

   • sql/01_schema.sql - Creates database and tables

   • sql/02_triggers.sql - Creates triggers

   • sql/03_procedures.sql - Creates stored procedures

   • sql/04_views.sql - Creates views

   • sql/05_sample_data.sql - Inserts demo data (optional)

   • sql/06_complex_queries.sql - Example queries (optional, for reference)

Step 5: Configure Database Connection

The application reads database credentials from environment variables. For XAMPP/WAMP, the default values work:

• DB_HOST: localhost

• DB_USER: root

• DB_PASSWORD: `` (empty by default)

• DB_NAME: oems_db

• DB_PORT: 3306

If you need to change these, edit config/database.php:

• • define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

  • define('DB_USER', 'root');

  • define('DB_PASS', ''); // your MySQL password

  • define('DB_NAME', 'oems_db');

define('DB_PORT', 3306);

Step 6: Access the Application

• Application: http://localhost/Online-Examination-Management-System

• phpMyAdmin: http://localhost/phpmyadmin

📖 Usage

Note: All passwords in 05_sample_data.sql are hashed using PHP's password_hash() function with bcrypt.

Admin Workflow

1. Login as admin at http://localhost:8080/index.php

2. Navigate to Users to create or manage instructors and students

3. Navigate to Exams to view all exams in the system

4. Navigate to Questions to manage the question bank

5. Navigate to Categories to organize subjects

6. Navigate to Reports to view analytics

Instructor Workflow

1. Login as instructor

2. Navigate to Dashboard to see overview

3. Go to Questions → Create Question to add questions to your question bank

4. Go to Exams → Create Exam to create a new exam:

   • Fill in exam details (title, description, category, marks, duration, time window)

   • Assign questions from your question bank

   • Set exam status to Active when ready

5. Go to Exams → My Exams to manage your exams

6. Go to Student Results to view and analyze student performance

Student Workflow

1. Login as student

2. Navigate to Dashboard to see your stats and available exams

3. Go to Available Exams to see active exams

4. Click Start Exam to begin (respects time windows and max attempts)

5. Complete the exam within the time limit

6. View your results with detailed breakdown of correct/incorrect answers

7. Go to Exam History to see all your past attempts

📁 Project Structure

• • Online-Examination-Management-System/

  • ├── admin/                          # Admin module

  • │   ├── dashboard.php              # Admin dashboard with stats

  • │   ├── manage_categories.php     # Category and question bank management

  • │   ├── manage_exams.php          # Exam oversight

  • │   ├── manage_questions.php      # Question bank management

  • │   ├── manage_users.php          # User management (CRUD)

  • │   └── reports.php               # Reports and analytics

  • │

  • ├── instructor/                     # Instructor module

  • │   ├── dashboard.php              # Instructor dashboard

  • │   ├── create_exam.php            # Exam creation form

  • │   ├── create_question.php        # Question creation form

  • │   ├── student_results.php        # View student results

  • │   ├── view_exams.php             # List instructor's exams

  • │   └── view_questions.php         # List instructor's questions

  • │

  • ├── student/                        # Student module

  • │   ├── dashboard.php              # Student dashboard

  • │   ├── available_exams.php        # List available exams

  • │   ├── take_exam.php              # Exam interface with timer

  • │   ├── submit_exam.php            # Exam submission handler

  • │   ├── view_results.php           # View exam results

  • │   └── exam_history.php           # View exam history

  • │

  • ├── config/

  • │   └── database.php               # Database connection and configuration

  • │

  • ├── includes/                       # Shared components

  • │   ├── header.php                 # HTML head section

  • │   ├── navbar.php                 # Role-based navigation bar

  • │   ├── footer.php                 # Footer section

  • │   └── functions.php              # Helper functions (auth, CSRF, etc.)

  • │

  • ├── sql/                            # SQL scripts

  • │   ├── 01_schema.sql              # Database schema (10+ tables)

  • │   ├── 02_triggers.sql            # Triggers (3 triggers)

  • │   ├── 03_procedures.sql          # Stored procedures (2 procedures)

  • │   ├── 04_views.sql               # Views (4 views)

  • │   ├── 05_sample_data.sql         # Sample/seed data

  • │   └── 06_complex_queries.sql     # Complex SQL examples

  • │

  • ├── assets/                         # Static files

  • │   ├── css/

  • │   │   └── style.css              # Custom styles

  • │   └── js/

  • │       └── main.js                # Custom JavaScript

  • │

  • ├── Dockerfile                      # Docker configuration for PHP-Apache

  • ├── docker-compose.yml             # Docker Compose orchestration

  • ├── .dockerignore                  # Docker ignore rules

  • ├── index.php                      # Login page

  • ├── register.php                   # User registration

  • ├── logout.php                     # Logout handler

  • └── README.md                      # This file

🗃️ Database Schema

Tables (10+ tables)

1. users - System users (admin, instructor, student)

2. categories - Subject categories

3. question_banks - Groups of questions per category

4. questions - Individual questions with options

5. exams - Exam details and settings

6. exam_questions - Links questions to exams

7. student_exams - Student exam attempts

8. student_answers - Student answers per question

9. results - Calculated results (marks, percentage, grade)

10. audit_log - System activity log

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

• • users (1) ----< (many) exams

  • users (1) ----< (many) questions

  • categories (1) ----< (many) question_banks

  • question_banks (1) ----< (many) questions

  • exams (1) ----< (many) exam_questions

  • questions (1) ----< (many) exam_questions

  • exams (1) ----< (many) student_exams

  • student_exams (1) ----< (many) student_answers

  • student_exams (1) ---- (1) results

Database Triggers

1. before_exam_insert - Validates exam dates and duration before insert

2. before_exam_update - Validates exam dates and duration before update

3. after_student_exam_complete - Auto-calculates and inserts results when exam is completed

Database Views

1. view_student_performance - Aggregated statistics per student across all exams

2. view_exam_statistics - Aggregated statistics per exam (average score, pass rate)

3. view_question_usage - Question usage analytics across exams

4. view_instructor_exams - Instructor exams with attempt counts

Stored Procedures

1. sp_create_exam - Creates a new exam with validation and audit logging

2. sp_calculate_result - Recalculates result for a given student exam attempt

🛣️ API Routes

Authentication Routes

• GET/POST /index.php - User login

• GET /logout.php - User logout

• GET/POST /register.php - User registration

Admin Routes

• GET /admin/dashboard.php - Admin dashboard with system stats

• GET /admin/manage_users.php - View and manage all users

• POST /admin/manage_users.php - Create/update/toggle user

• GET /admin/manage_exams.php - View all exams

• POST /admin/manage_exams.php - Change exam status or delete

• GET /admin/manage_questions.php - View all questions

• POST /admin/manage_questions.php - Toggle/delete question

• GET /admin/manage_categories.php - View categories and question banks

• POST /admin/manage_categories.php - Create/update/delete category or bank

• GET /admin/reports.php - View reports and analytics

Instructor Routes

• GET /instructor/dashboard.php - Instructor dashboard

• GET /instructor/view_exams.php - List instructor's exams

• POST /instructor/view_exams.php - Change exam status or delete

• GET /instructor/create_exam.php - Exam creation form

• POST /instructor/create_exam.php - Create exam and assign questions

• GET /instructor/view_questions.php - List instructor's questions

• POST /instructor/view_questions.php - Toggle/delete question

• GET /instructor/create_question.php - Question creation form

• POST /instructor/create_question.php - Create question

• GET /instructor/student_results.php - View student results

Student Routes

• GET /student/dashboard.php - Student dashboard

• GET /student/available_exams.php - List available exams

• GET /student/take_exam.php - Start or resume exam

• POST /student/submit_exam.php - Submit exam

• GET /student/view_results.php - View exam result

• GET /student/exam_history.php - View all exam attempts

Note: Change all passwords after first login in production environments.

📊 SQL Concepts Demonstrated

1. Normalization

• Database design follows 3NF (Third Normal Form)

• Separate tables for users, exams, questions, answers

• Junction tables for many-to-many relationships

2. Joins

• INNER JOIN: Retrieve student names with exam results

• LEFT JOIN: List all exams with attempt counts (0 for no attempts)

• RIGHT JOIN: List all questions with assigned exams (NULL if unassigned)

3. Subqueries

• Non-correlated: Find students who scored above average

• Correlated: Find instructors with most exams

4. Aggregate Functions

• COUNT(), SUM(), AVG(), MIN(), MAX()

• Used with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses

5. Triggers

• Business logic enforcement

• Automatic result calculation

• Data validation

6. Views

• Pre-built reports for dashboards

• Performance optimization

• Data abstraction

7. Stored Procedures

• Reusable business logic

• Transaction management

• Error handling

8. Complex Queries

• Window functions (ROW_NUMBER(), RANK())

• Common Table Expressions (CTEs)

• CASE statements

• Date/time functions

🔒 Security Features

1. Password Hashing: Uses PHP's password_hash() with bcrypt algorithm

2. CSRF Protection: All forms include CSRF tokens to prevent cross-site request forgery

3. SQL Injection Prevention: Prepared statements with parameterized queries

4. XSS Protection: Input sanitization using htmlspecialchars() and strip_tags()

5. Session Security: Secure session management with regeneration

6. Role-based Access Control: Middleware checks user permissions

7. Input Validation: Server-side validation for all form inputs

8. Error Handling: Proper error logging without exposing sensitive information

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue: Cannot connect to MySQL database

• • # Check if MySQL is running (XAMPP)

  • # Open XAMPP Control Panel and ensure MySQL is running

  • 
    

  • # Check MySQL connection

  • mysql -u root -p

  • 
    

  • # Verify database exists

SHOW DATABASES LIKE 'oems_db';

Issue: Port 8080 already in use (Docker)

• • # Find process using port 8080

  • lsof -i :8080  # macOS/Linux

  • netstat -ano | findstr :8080  # Windows

  • 
    

  • # Edit docker-compose.yml to use different port

  • ports:

  - "8081:80"  # Change 8080 to 8081

Issue: Permission denied (Linux/Docker)

• • # Fix file permissions

  • sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /path/to/project

sudo chmod -R 755 /path/to/project

Issue: Database tables not created

• • # Manually run schema

  • mysql -u root -p oems_db < sql/01_schema.sql

  • mysql -u root -p oems_db < sql/02_triggers.sql

  • mysql -u root -p oems_db < sql/03_procedures.sql

  • mysql -u root -p oems_db < sql/04_views.sql

mysql -u root -p oems_db < sql/05_sample_data.sql

Issue: PHP errors showing

• • // For production, disable error display in php.ini:

  • display_errors = Off

  • log_errors = On

error_log = /path/to/error.log

Issue: Session not persisting

• • # Check session save path has write permissions

  • sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/php/sessions  # Linux

# Or check session.save_path in php.ini

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository

2. Create a feature branch

3. git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature

4. Commit your changes

5. git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature'

6. Push to the branch

7. git push origin feature/AmazingFeature

8. Open a Pull Request

Coding Standards

• Follow PSR-12 coding style for PHP

• Comment complex logic

• Write descriptive commit messages

• Test your changes before submitting

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

📧 Contact

For questions or support, please open an issue on GitHub.

Built with ❤️ using PHP, MySQL, and Bootstrap 5