README (2).md

🎓 PPTC Student Management System (SMS)

Pentium Point Technical College — Student Management System Built with PHP + MySQL | Admin Panel | Fee Management | Email Automation | Chatbot

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📋 Table of Contents

1. About the Project
2. Features
3. Tech Stack
4. Project Structure
5. Requirements
6. Installation & Setup
7. Database Setup
8. Changing the Admin Password
9. Email (SMTP) Configuration
10. Default Login Credentials
11. Running on Localhost
12. Running on Live Hosting (InfinityFree / cPanel)
13. Common Issues & Fixes
14. Screenshots
15. License

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About the Project

This is a web-based Student Management System for Pentium Point Technical College (PPTC), Rewa, M.P. It allows college admins to manage students, track fee payments, send automated emails, generate reports, and more — all from a secure admin panel.

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Features

Feature	Description
🔐 Secure Admin Login	Password hashed with password_hash(), CSRF protection, session timeout (2 hrs)
👨‍🎓 Student CRUD	Add, View, Update, Delete student records with photo upload
💰 Fee Management	Record fee payments, track due amounts, generate receipts
📊 Reports & Insights	Student reports, fee reports, print-ready pages
📧 Email Automation	Automated emails via Gmail SMTP (PHPMailer)
⚠️ Fee Warnings	Auto-alerts for students with fee dues above threshold
🤖 Chatbot	Built-in chatbot powered by Claude AI API
📝 Activity Log	Tracks every admin action (login, insert, update, delete)
🔍 Search & Filter	AJAX-based live search and course/status filters
🖨️ Print Reports	Printable student and fee reports
📱 Responsive UI	Works on desktop and mobile

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Tech Stack

• Backend: PHP 7.4+
• Database: MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB
• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (AJAX)
• Email: PHPMailer + Gmail SMTP
• Server: Apache (XAMPP / WAMP / LAMP / cPanel)

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Project Structure

4_pptc-sms-fixed/
│
├── config/
│   ├── db.php                  ← 🔧 DATABASE CONNECTION (edit this!)
│   ├── auth_check.php          ← Session/auth guard
│   ├── email_helper.php        ← 🔧 SMTP EMAIL CONFIG (edit this!)
│   ├── activity_helper.php     ← Activity log functions
│   ├── courses_helper.php      ← Course list helpers
│   ├── csrf_helper.php         ← CSRF token helpers
│   ├── photo_helper.php        ← Photo upload helpers
│   └── phpmailer/              ← PHPMailer library files
│
├── assets/
│   ├── css/style.css           ← Main stylesheet
│   ├── js/script.js            ← Frontend JS
│   └── img/                    ← College logos & images
│
├── includes/
│   ├── header.php              ← Navbar/header include
│   └── footer.php              ← Footer include
│
├── index.php                   ← Dashboard (home)
├── login.php                   ← 🔧 ADMIN LOGIN + PASSWORD HASH
├── logout.php                  ← Logout
├── insert.php                  ← Add new student (form)
├── process_insert.php          ← Add student (backend)
├── update.php                  ← Edit student (form)
├── process_update.php          ← Edit student (backend)
├── delete.php                  ← Delete student (form)
├── process_delete.php          ← Delete student (backend)
├── view.php                    ← View single student
├── view_all.php                ← View all students
├── fees.php                    ← Fee management
├── process_fee.php             ← Process fee payment
├── fee_report.php              ← Fee report
├── student_report.php          ← Student report
├── print_report.php            ← Print-ready report
├── receipt.php                 ← Payment receipt
├── insights.php                ← Analytics/insights
├── warnings.php                ← Fee warning alerts
├── activity.php                ← Activity log viewer
├── chatbot.php                 ← Chatbot UI
├── chatbot_api.php             ← Chatbot API handler
├── payment_success.php         ← Payment success page
│
├── ajax_activity.php           ← AJAX: activity log
├── ajax_filter.php             ← AJAX: filter students
├── ajax_name_search.php        ← AJAX: name search
├── ajax_search.php             ← AJAX: general search
│
├── database.sql                ← ✅ MAIN DB SETUP FILE (run this!)
├── migrate_v3.sql              ← Migration from v3
└── migrate_v4.sql              ← Migration from v4

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Requirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• ✅ PHP 7.4 or higher
• ✅ MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB
• ✅ Apache web server (XAMPP / WAMP / LAMP)
• ✅ A Gmail account (for email features — optional)

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Installation & Setup

Step 1 — Download & Place Files

1. Download/extract the project zip.
2. Copy the 4_pptc-sms-fixed folder into your server root:
   • XAMPP (Windows): C:/xampp/htdocs/pptc-sms/
   • WAMP (Windows): C:/wamp64/www/pptc-sms/
   • Linux/Mac (LAMP): /var/www/html/pptc-sms/

Step 2 — Set Up the Database

See Database Setup below.

Step 3 — Configure Database Connection

Open config/db.php and update your credentials:

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_USER', 'root');        // ← Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASS', '');            // ← Your MySQL password (empty for default XAMPP)
define('DB_NAME', 'student_db');  // ← Leave this as-is (or change if you renamed the DB)

Step 4 — Start the Server

• Open XAMPP Control Panel → Start Apache and MySQL
• Visit: http://localhost/pptc-sms/

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Database Setup

You only need to run one file to set up the entire database.

Option A — Using phpMyAdmin (Easiest)

1. Open your browser → go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin
2. Click "New" in the left sidebar to create a database
   • Name it: student_db
   • Collation: utf8mb4_unicode_ci
   • Click Create
3. Select student_db from the left sidebar
4. Click the "Import" tab at the top
5. Click "Choose File" → select database.sql from the project folder
6. Scroll down → click "Import" (Go)
7. ✅ Done! All tables and sample data are now created.

Option B — Using MySQL Command Line

mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE student_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
USE student_db;
SOURCE /path/to/4_pptc-sms-fixed/database.sql;

What Gets Created

Table	Description
students	All student records
courses	30 courses (BCA, BBA, LLB, MBA, D.Pharma, etc.)
fees	Fee summary per student
fee_payments	Individual payment transactions

Sample data (8 students + fee records) is included automatically.

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Changing the Admin Password

The admin password is NOT stored in the database — it is hardcoded in login.php as a bcrypt hash for security.

Step 1 — Generate a New Hash

Run this one-liner in any PHP file (e.g., create a temp file gen_hash.php):

<?php
echo password_hash('your_new_password_here', PASSWORD_DEFAULT);
?>

Visit http://localhost/pptc-sms/gen_hash.php in your browser. Copy the hash that appears (it will look like $2y$10$xxxxx...).

Delete gen_hash.php immediately after! Never leave it on a live server.

Step 2 — Paste the Hash into login.php

Open login.php and find these lines near the top:

define('ADMIN_USERNAME', 'admin');
define('ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH', '$2y$10$sKz17YQOeotTj3tDvZrqOee57QS5q0i5JSItFPv1U1pWwlKNcFzXW'); // pptc@2024
define('ADMIN_EMAIL',    'pptcrewa@rediffmail.com');

Replace the hash string with your new one:

define('ADMIN_USERNAME', 'admin');
define('ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH', '$2y$10$YOUR_NEW_HASH_HERE');
define('ADMIN_EMAIL',    'your_email@example.com');  // optional: update email too

Step 3 — Save & Test

Save login.php, then log in with your new password. ✅

⚠️ Never store plain-text passwords. Always use password_hash() and password_verify() like this project already does.

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Email (SMTP) Configuration

The system sends automated emails using Gmail SMTP via PHPMailer.

Open config/email_helper.php and update these lines:

define('SMTP_HOST',     'smtp.gmail.com');
define('SMTP_PORT',     587);
define('SMTP_SECURE',   'tls');
define('SMTP_USERNAME', 'your_gmail@gmail.com');   // ← Your Gmail address
define('SMTP_PASSWORD', 'xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx');    // ← Your Gmail App Password (NOT your Gmail login password)

define('EMAIL_FROM',      'your_gmail@gmail.com');
define('EMAIL_FROM_NAME', 'Your College Name');
define('EMAIL_REPLY_TO',  'your_gmail@gmail.com');

How to Get a Gmail App Password

1. Go to your Google Account → Security
2. Enable 2-Step Verification (required)
3. Go to Security → App Passwords
4. Select App: Mail | Device: Other (Custom name) → type "PPTC SMS"
5. Click Generate → copy the 16-character password
6. Paste it into SMTP_PASSWORD above (with or without spaces, both work)

⚠️ Your regular Gmail password will NOT work. You must use an App Password.

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Default Login Credentials

Field	Value
URL	http://localhost/pptc-sms/login.php
Username	admin
Password	pptc@2024

🔴 Change the default password immediately before deploying to any live/shared server. See Changing the Admin Password.

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Running on Localhost

1. Start XAMPP → Apache + MySQL
2. Place project in: C:/xampp/htdocs/pptc-sms/
3. Import database.sql via phpMyAdmin
4. Open: http://localhost/pptc-sms/
5. Login with: admin / pptc@2024

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Running on Live Hosting

InfinityFree / cPanel / Any Shared Host

1. Upload files via File Manager or FTP to public_html/pptc-sms/
2. Create Database in cPanel → MySQL Databases
   • Create a new database (e.g., epiz_xxx_student_db)
   • Create a new user + password
   • Assign user to database with All Privileges
3. Import database.sql via phpMyAdmin in cPanel
4. Update config/db.php:

   define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');         // usually stays localhost
   define('DB_USER', 'epiz_xxx_myuser');   // ← your cPanel DB username
   define('DB_PASS', 'your_db_password');  // ← your cPanel DB password
   define('DB_NAME', 'epiz_xxx_student_db'); // ← your cPanel DB name

5. Visit https://yourdomain.com/pptc-sms/ ✅

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Common Issues & Fixes

Problem	Fix
"Database connection failed"	Check config/db.php — wrong username/password/DB name
Blank page after login	Check PHP error log; likely a missing session_start() or wrong file path
"Invalid username or password"	You may have changed the password in login.php incorrectly. Re-generate the hash.
Emails not sending	Gmail App Password is wrong or 2FA not enabled on Gmail
Photo upload not working	Ensure assets/uploads/students/ folder exists and has write permissions (chmod 755)
CSRF error on form submit	Clear browser cookies/session and try again
White screen on live host	Add ini_set('display_errors', 1); temporarily to index.php to see the error
Migration needed from old version	Run migrate_v3.sql or migrate_v4.sql — do NOT run database.sql again (it drops tables!)

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Security Notes

• ✅ Passwords stored as bcrypt hashes (password_hash)
• ✅ CSRF tokens on all forms
• ✅ Session timeout after 2 hours of inactivity
• ✅ Session ID regenerated on login (prevents session fixation)
• ✅ mysqli_real_escape_string / prepared statements used
• ⚠️ Change default admin credentials before going live
• ⚠️ Remove any test files (like gen_hash.php) from the server
• ⚠️ Do not expose config/ folder — add .htaccess if needed

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License

This project was built for Pentium Point Technical College, Rewa (M.P.). For internal/educational use only.