I have to write a smart contract to create a degree certificate of a student in the University. To generate the certificate, I have to clear all the dues in my University's library, Sport's department, Hostel and Department.So, I have to access the database of a students to verify the student's details and his dues and if everything is fine, I have to sign the verified details with the respective department's private key.Likewise ,it has to happen in every department. After all department's verification is done, I have to write a smart contract to generate a degree certificate and place it in public blockchain so that anyone can verify. My doubt is whether this assignment is possible or not using smart contracts. Please help me. Any help would be appreciated.Sorry if I have asked something ridiculous. Thank you
1 Answer
Most of the things you describe have to be performed outside the blockchain. The blockchain has no access to external systems (such as databases).
So your process could go something like this:
1) Process all the required things outside the blockchain
2) Use a previously deployed smart contract to issue a degree to a student with some form of identification (social security number?). The degree can't be anything big, just a few strings and numbers - you can't upload a PDF for example.
3) The degree stays in the smart contract where everyone can see it.
Your biggest problems will be:
1) How to identify the student in the blockchain. Using a SSN might sound like a good idea but you can't use that as everyone would see it there.
2) What information you can input to the smart contract as a "degree". Ethereum is very bad for storing lots of data - you might want to use something like IPFS to store the actual data.
3) Other problems not related to the blockchain: how can you use the private key of the departments, what would you sign and where, how would have access to settle all the accounts etc etc
