Submission question - Just registered

[Elchin Asgarli]

I have just registered for the assignment part of the certificate, and I cannot find some of information which I think should be there.

First of all I got URLyBird as a project, but I cannot see the version number. I have also used database reader tool kindly provided in this forum, hoping that version info will be in the db file, but it was not there.

Then I can't find information about name of the jar file necessary to be submitted, and the subject and contents of email. Does this mean they can be arbitrary? I only found that they ask you to include Prometric ID in submission, but to include it where?

P.S. I had a strange name for the interface, DB It's not really conforming naming conventions...

[Elchin Asgarli]

And I also did not see anything in the instructions saying that I have to have specified headers in every file, but I did see such in some of the codes posted here, for example this one. Did Oracle change policies?

[David Byron]

Elchin Asgarli wrote:First of all I got URLyBird as a project, but I cannot see the version number.

In my assignment, it was written in a large font right at the top of the instructions.html file.

Then I can't find information about name of the jar file necessary to be submitted.

I believe Roel's ant script creates 'submission.jar', but that an info or FAQ page somewhere (perhaps in a thread here) suggested using one's name and the prometric id as a name for the jar.

My guess is that it doesn't matter, provided you submit the jar as an attachment to the correct email address, but clarification of this point would be nice.

the subject and contents of email. Does this mean they can be arbitrary? I only found that they ask you to include Prometric ID in submission, but to include it where?

I included my name, prometric id, etc. in the body of the email message as well as in the header of every single source file.

And I also did not see anything in the instructions saying that I have to have specified headers in every file, but I did see such in some of the codes posted here, for example this one. Did Oracle change policies?

This is perhaps just a matter of coding conventions. A header for every file is good form.

[Elchin Asgarli]

Thanks for answers!

David Byron wrote:
In my assignment, it was written in a large font right at the top of the instructions.html file.

I had nothing like instructions.html
When did you register for the exam? Was it Sun times or did you register recently through ibt.prometric.com/oracle? What I had was just a page with instructions where it said everything about the project and also the DB interface, which was to my surprise coded without having any regards go Sun coding conventions. The page also contained a dropbox.com link where to download the database file from.

[Robert Benson]

Hi Elchin,
The same happened with me. I downloaded from sun in April. I got the urlybird, but no version number.

If you look in the scjdfaqs you will see a number of example lock signatures for the urlybird and you might be able to determine which version yours is.

With regard to the jar, there is more info regarding jar name in the faqs. But this is the old sun format, not sure if there is an updated oracle format yet. My instructions told me to make two jar files (a jar within a jar) so take note of how many jar files your instructions ask for. It's also worth a while taking a looking at the tools for building and testing jars, also in the faq's I think. These will reduce errors considerably.

Robert.

[David Byron]

Elchin Asgarli wrote:I had nothing like instructions.html
When did you register for the exam? Was it Sun times or did you register recently through ibt.prometric.com/oracle?

That's interesting. I had Bodgitt and Scarper through Sun, so maybe this is a difference between the B&S and URLyBird assignments or maybe it's a difference between Sun's instructions and Oracle's.

[Elchin Asgarli]

David Byron wrote:That's interesting. I had Bodgitt and Scarper through Sun, so maybe this is a difference between the B&S and URLyBird assignments or maybe it's a difference between Sun's instructions and Oracle's.

I believe its because I registered through Oracle, they 'simplified' the procedure now.

[Elchin Asgarli]

Robert Benson wrote:
If you look in the scjdfaqs you will see a number of example lock signatures for the urlybird and you might be able to determine which version yours is.

I have the signature of version 1.1.1. Do they still offer that version or I have something different than versions there?

Robert Benson wrote:
With regard to the jar, there is more info regarding jar name in the faqs. But this is the old sun format, not sure if there is an updated oracle format yet. My instructions told me to make two jar files (a jar within a jar) so take note of how many jar files your instructions ask for. It's also worth a while taking a looking at the tools for building and testing jars, also in the faq's I think. These will reduce errors considerably.

I will probably make my own ant and junit scrips based on what has been posted in these forums before. And I will surely post it here if I pass

[Robert Benson]

I have the signature of version 1.1.1. Do they still offer that version or I have something different than versions there?

I have the same version. I'm only with the forum since April so I dont know what other versions are out there or the relevance of version numbers from the developers point of view. I assume that they are used for administration with the markers.

I wrote my own Ant and junit scripts as well. I studied the example Ant script for a few days (bit of a learning curve as well as Ant is new to me) and reassembled my own version so that I understood it.

[Roel De Nijs]

In the pre-Oracle days you downloaded a JAR from a given website. This file contains the instructions.html and the database file. The instructions.html contained the version number of the assignment:Sun Certified Developer for the Java 2 Platform: Application Submission (Version 1.3.1)

If you don't have an instructions.html, how did you get the instructions for developing the assignment?

All my source files contain my prometric id and my sun id. I named my submission jar as stated in the ScjdFaq. In the pre-Oracle days you had to upload your assignment on the same website as you downloaded. Now you have to submit through email, so I guess naming is less important, because you can (have to) add your prometric id (and sun id) in the mail body.

[Elchin Asgarli]

Roel De Nijs wrote:
If you don't have an instructions.html, how did you get the instructions for developing the assignment?

I had a web page containing instructions and a link for downloading the database file. This was active for 2 hours only, thus instructions said before that I have to print this assignment. And this was in ibt.prometric.com, so it looked liked I have 2-hours internet-based examination, but without any score at the end.

[Roel De Nijs]

If the instructions are still the same, you'll have to provide an "instructions.html" to your submission jar

[Elchin Asgarli]

Roel De Nijs wrote:If the instructions are still the same, you'll have to provide an "instructions.html" to your submission jar

Here is what is written in my instructions, the part where is says what I need to include in my submission jar:

A directory called docs, containing the following items at the top level:
- These instructions.

So nothing about instructions.html, its just "these instructions". Should I submit in a text file and name it instructions.txt?

[Roel De Nijs]

"These instructions" were in the pre-Oracle days a html file called "instructions.html"

[Elchin Asgarli]

Roel De Nijs wrote:"These instructions" were in the pre-Oracle days a html file called "instructions.html"

And currently it is a page withing an internet-based examination from Prometric. My gut feeling is that since they receive submission my email(!), Oracle is not as strict about the format of submission as Sun probably used to be. It seems to me that they manually check what is inside the submission, not as they describe it in the instructions : "First, software checks that overall structure and nomenclature conform to specification"

[Roel De Nijs]

I don't think this has something to do with it. Oracle can simply forward your email to an accessor (together with your essay exam). He/She saves your submission jar and runs some automated test against it to check the contents of your jar. If I had to submit my assignment now, I wouldn't take any risk and strictly follow the instructions about the structure of the submission jar.

[Elchin Asgarli]

Roel De Nijs wrote:I don't think this has something to do with it. Oracle can simply forward your email to an accessor (together with your essay exam). He/She saves your submission jar and runs some automated test against it to check the contents of your jar. If I had to submit my assignment now, I wouldn't take any risk and strictly follow the instructions about the structure of the submission jar.

I will surely follow the "must" parts of instruction, dont want to end up wasting 300$ getting an automatic failure But there are a lot of parts where they left choice upon you. So shall I contact them asking for clarifications or just do what I think is correct?

[Roel De Nijs]

Elchin Asgarli wrote:So shall I contact them asking for clarifications or just do what I think is correct?

You could try to contact them, but getting an answer will be very unlikely Just do what you think is correct and justify you decisions in choices.txt and you'll be fine (if you don't violate any "must" requirement, and your code does not contain bugs everywhere )

[Elchin Asgarli]

Roel De Nijs wrote:You could try to contact them, but getting an answer will be very unlikely

This is exactly why I am not very keen in contacting them

[Piotr Nowicki]

Digging up the thread :-)

I've also noticed that in the submission file you should add "these instructions". However, when I first time saw the instructions (online - no file sent) I didn't do file->save as HTML, but rather print it to the file.
So right now I have something like instructions.pdf which I don't quite know if will be an acceptable form...

The point is, these instructions were available only for 2 hours online, and right now I don't have any access to them :-/

[Robert Benson]

There was a problem with my download as well. However, I saved the instructions as instructions.pdf and passed.
I documented this in my choices.txt.

[Piotr Nowicki]

Phew, thanks Robert, that takes a load off my mind! :-)