International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

AutoCertiGen: Revolutionizing the Automation of

Electronic Batch Certificate Generation
using Apache Libraries
Tina Sachdeva1*, Akansha Jain1, Khushi Srivastava1 and Meenakshi Bharadwaj1

ABSTRACT

T he production of digital documents such as certificates for various individuals has been an
arduous problem for every organization, particularly educational institutions with thousands of
students enrolled and wherein it is required to issue certificates to hundreds of them on a regular
basis. This task, particularly, crops up during cultural and technical festivals but is also required for
council position holders, project appreciators, society members to name a few. We live in a modern
era of technology where individually entering candidate information and then certifying the
documents is not a realistic choice. This served as the motivation for us to take this up as a project
and hence, we automated this crucial and time taking process, by proposing and building an offline
Android application named 'AutoCertiGen' that has the potential to generate thousands of
certificates in a matter of minutes, complete with signatures if needed. The only thing the user needs
to do is enter the number of certificates to be produced, upload the input details in the form of an
Excel file, select the certificate from a list of predefined templates in the application, and add the
signatories' relevant data. This is significant because previously no platform in the form of an
Android application has been dedicated towards automating this task. The application has been
built using Android Studio which is the official Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for
Google's Android Operating System, built on JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA software and designed
specifically for Android development. Java is used for the backend development of the application
while XML is used to design its layout and its Graphic User Interface (GUI). We used Apache POI
and Apache PDFBox Java libraries, modified to be Android-compatible, for all development
purposes. Moreover, the application is lightweight and does not require internet connectivity for
operation. It addresses the problem at hand with just a few taps on a touchscreen.
Keywords: Certificate, electronic, automate, Android, signature, Excel, template, Apache

1. Introduction human-computer interactions, high-

Information Technology has been remarkably performance computing, compiler optimization,
scaling new heights in the past few decades, from etc. It is beyond doubt that it forms an
the invention of the first computer in the early indispensable part of our lives now. This
1800s to the beginning of artificial intelligence in development may also be observed in the fact
the 1950s, and now various breakthroughs in that digital document management now controls

1 Department of Computer Science, Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women, University of Delhi
* Corresponding Author * [email protected]

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Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022 International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR)

the majority, if not all, enterprises in the business electronic devices used by the global population.
sector and institutes in both public and private In India itself, the number of smartphone users
sectors. Recent global events have provided has been projected to be 748 million in 2020,
additional momentum to this. The COVID-19 and this figure is expected to rise to 1,341 million
pandemic, which began in early 2020, also during the next ten years (Sun, 2021). Android is
marked the beginning of an era in which developed by Google, and it is based on the
digitalization of every possible piece of Linux kernel (Singh, 2014). Since Android is
information was not merely a convenience, but a open-source, developers can use it to build
necessity. Even if it weren't a mandate, the applications that can then be sold on the Android
benefits of digital documentation make it a good market. As a result, its applications are affordable
decision. Upgrading to digital documentation for developers to create and for customers to
allows all of the company's records to be readily utilize as well. It is the dominating mobile
s e a rc h a b l e , s a v i n g t i m e a n d m o n e y, operating system today, accounting for more
strengthening employee and customer than 80% of the market (Magas and
collaboration, and ensuring the protection of Zadorozhnyi, 2018). As a result, our application
sensitive information. could be accessed by as many people as
However, the task of digital document possible.Being an offline application provides
production is quite burdensome. Despite all of the convenience of being able to utilize it
the advancements in technology and digital anytime, anywhere i.e., even in the absence of
services available to the public, the lack of a internet connectivity.
facility to mediate and simplify the mass issuance During the formation of this application, many
of certifications has not been effectively unexpected complications arose, for which
addressed. It can take several hours to fill out the inventive solutions were devised to attain desired
fields in each file individually for hundreds of results. Out of many approaches that were
copies. And when considering educational considered, some could be implemented in Java
institutions like schools, colleges, there is an but not in Android programming. Other solutions
ever-increasing need for the production of required APIs and libraries that were not open
thousands of documents like academic, cultural, source. The final method employed Apache POI
or sports certificates and appreciation. and Apache PDFBox Java libraries that were
This work aims to make electronic development modified to be Android-compatible. These
of certificates for a hefty number of students in libraries are used to create PDF files and insert
one go and this has been possible with an the data from the input Excel sheet file. So, with
automatic certificate generation system. This this application, thousands of certificates that
automated system places the corresponding previously had to be filled out manually and
details of a given student neatly on each validated individually may now be created in a
certificate, alongside authorization in the form of matter of minutes and only with a few clicks.
an electronic signature. To make the process 2. Related Work
simpler and convenient, the system has been There has been a lot of recent work into
developed in the form of an offline Android automated certificate generation systems. Many
application called 'AutoCertiGen'. The certificate authors toiled away for hours trying to come up
templates are pre-defined in the application and with a solution that proved to be useful to a wide
the data is uploaded by the user in the form of an range of users. Srushti A. Shimpiet al. worked on
Excel sheet file. a certificate generation system that is flexible in
The development of this system in the form of an terms of generating student mark sheets. Their
Android application was considered because system concentrated primarily on database
Android smartphones are the most popular technology and a credit-based grading system

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International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

(CBGS) (Shimpi et al.,2014). They used PHP as changed and become an indispensable part of
their server-side scripting language for the our life, starting with simple ordinary handsets
implementation of their website. Similar work that were only used for making phone calls to a
was done by Bharti Chikankar et al. in which they phone being used as a camera, music player,
propose an application called Automated Batch tablet PC, television, and a web browser, among
Certificate Generation and Verification System other things (Magas and Zadorozhnyi, 2018).
ABCGVS, which is based on client-server Mobile phones have practically placed the world
technology. Their method focused mostly on at our fingertips and due to this reason, we
database technologies for retrieving student data collectively decided to implement the certificate
and a credit-based grading system (CBGS). They generation process in the form of an offline
also created a website with the bootstrap four Android application. With just a few clicks, the
CSS frameworks and their associated application will be able to generate numerous
components like the mobile responsive certificates at the same time. It will be widely
navigation bar, modals, cards, and carousels used because it will save time when entering
(Chikankar and Jaiswal, 2020). Taking into participant information into the certificate
consideration the problems encountered by generation system. It will use the data from an
many institutes in maintaining students' data Excel sheet to automate the process. This
manually, V. Thusyanthy et al. developed a application may be used anywhere because it is
system named College of Technology built on Android, and users do not need to be
Management System (COTMS). Their main connected to the internet to use it. We've also
objective was to formulate a computer software incorporated functionality that allows one to add
application dedicated to Jaffna College of signatures very easily.
Technology only. They developed COTMS using 3. Methodology and Implementation
C#.Net programming language and also In this section are discussed the system
designed a relational database management flowchart, use cases, and application's
system to construct a secure database with implementation, wherein we deeply discuss the
specific access privileges (Thusyanthy et working along with all interface screenshots and
al.,2016). To enhance the existing automated challenges faced while achieving the basic
batch certificate generation system, Ahmed functionality of our application.
Dalhatu Yusuf et al. designed a web application
1. Technology used
that allows an end-user to define certificate
template and template format without requiring The application has been built using Android
XML knowledge by clicking a few buttons and Studio which is the official Integrated
typing from the system GUI, verifying the Development Environment (IDE) for
certificate, and generating one or more Google's Android Operating System, built on
certificates simultaneously in an instantaneous JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA software and
manner (Yusuf et al., 2017). designed specifically for Android
development. Java is used for the backend
These papers were all attempting to solve the development of the application. According
same problem, but each of them developed a to Table 5 of the publication (Pereira et al.,
web-based application to implement their 2017), JAVA is listed among the top five
proposed system using different technologies languages for various combinations of
that work well on a laptop or a desktop. objectives such as 'Time & Memory', 'Energy
With the advancement of mobile phone & Time', 'Energy & Memory', and 'Energy &
technology, the world is shrinking. As the Time & Memory'. This demonstrates that the
number of customers grows, so does the amount solutions need less energy and time to
of facilities available. Mobile phones have implement with Java. We have used XML to

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Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022 International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR)

design the layout and Graphical User Table 1: Specifications of device used
Interface (GUI) of the application. for testing and debugging

Two API libraries, namely Apache POI

and Apache PDFBox, were the main
pillars for the working of this
application. Apache POI is an open- development and conversion of PDF
source library developed and distributed documents. The Android-compatible
by Apache Software Foundation that version for this library was taken from
allows programmers to create, modify, the GitHub repository 'PdfBox-Android'
and display Microsoft Office files using of Tom Roush (Roush, 2021) to create
Java programming. Our application uses copies of the certificate templates and
the Android-compatible version of this then add the details in the certificate.
library available at the GitHub Table 1 provides the specs. of the device
repository 'poi-android' of Alex used for testing and debugging purposes.
Saveau(Saveau, 2018) to extract data 2. System Flowchart
from the Excel sheet provided by the The working of the application is clearly
user. Apache PDFBox is a free and open- shown in the system flowchart (see
source Java library that facilitates the Figure 1).

Figure 1. 'AutoCertiGen' application - System Flowchart

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International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

As the application starts, an activity appears Table 2: Use Cases

asking the user to 'enter the number of
certificates to be produced'. The 'number of
certificates' input field must be mandatorily
filled; else the application won't proceed.
Also in the same activity, there is a button to
‘Browse’ the data file (basically an Excel
sheet file) that can be in the format .xlsx only.
The user is required to browse the data file to
proceed to the next activity. When selected,

Figure 2: Use Case Diagram: ‘AutoCertiGen’ Application

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Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022 International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR)

3 a) 3 b) 3 c)
Figure 3: Activity interface to enter the number of certificates and browse data files

4. a) 4. b) 4. c)
Figure 4: Activities to browse Excel files and to select a template

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International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

5. a) 5. b) 5. c)
Figure 5. Activity interface for adding

6. a) 6. b) 6. c)
Figure 6:Activity interface for certificate generation

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Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022 International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR)

7. a) 7. b) 7. c)
Figure 7: Navigating to the folder where the generated certificates are saved

8. a) 8. b)
Figure 8:Invalid input handling

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International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

9. a) 9. b) 9. c)
Figure 9: Generating signed certificates.

Figure 10: Signed certificategenerated by 'AutoCertiGen’

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Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022 International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR)

After entering the number of certificates, the displays the path to the folder where the
user is required to upload the Excel file using generated certificates are saved. In Fig. 6. c),
the 'Browse' button to proceed. Fig. 4. a) the location to the directory of can be seen
shows the file browsing from the internal clearly, user can also jump to this by clicking
storage after the button is clicked. As soon as on the ‘Go To Certificates’ button, now the
the file is uploaded, the application opens the user can either terminate the application or
next activity shown in Fig. 4. b) i.e., the start generating another batch of certificates
‘Select a Template’ Activity. After selecting by clicking on to the ‘Go To Start’ button and
the template from the available ones, the repeat all the steps through start activity to the
application proceeds to the next activity current activity as shown in Fig. 6. i.e.,
where the user is asked to input some ‘Generate Certificates’ Activity.
additional details related to the certificate. e. Navigating to the certificates folder
Fig. 4. c) shows the activity interface that has
additional details with some input fields, it In Fig. 7. a), the app chooser opens up after
includes the mandatory fields like signatory pressing the ‘Go To Certificates’ button in the
name, and designation and includes an activity as shown in Fig. 7. c). Since the
optional field to upload signature images for default Files folder was not effective to
both the signatories. It is mandatory to enter navigate the user from the application to the
valid details for both the signatories to folder location, we used another file manager
proceed. After filling in all the correct details, application (here, ES File Explorer
the application proceeds to the certificate application [2]) to open the location, and it
generation task by clicking the 'Generate' navigates the user to the required directory
button. location as shown in Fig. 7. b). After opening
any of the generated certificates, we can see
c. Adding signatory details the certificate shown in Fig. 7. c).
In Fig. 5. a) and 5. b), the activity shows the f. Application response on invalid inputs
message to fill details for mandatory fields if There are two cases when the invalid input
left empty. In Fig. 5. c), all mandatory fields might be given by the user:
are filled, and the user can proceed to
generate certificates by pressing the 1. User has entered an invalid count of
'Generate' button. Here, the user has an certificates to be generated:
optional field to upload signature images for As shown in Fig. 8. a), the user has entered
the signatories that lets the user upload the count more than the number of entries
signatures and produce signed certificates. If available in the Excel file. In this case, it
the signatures are not uploaded, then displays a message saying, “The number of
unsigned certificates will be generated which entries in the Excel file is less than the number
can be signed after getting printed. This of certificates to be generated” and the user is
application generates certificates in Portable suggested to upload another Excel file.
Document Format i.e., PDFs. 2. User has selected the Excel sheet
incompatible with the placeholders of the
d. Certificates generated & file location
chosen template:
displayed
As shown in Fig. 8. b), when the user browses
In Fig. 6. a), it is shown that the system is an Excel data file with the columns that are
getting ready for the certificate generation incompatible with that of the placeholders of
process. In Fig. 6. b), the user gets updated by the chosen template from the ‘Select a
the certificate generation live count Template’ Activity, it displays a message
appearing on the screen. After this, the screen saying, “Columns of Excel sheet don't match

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International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

Table 3: Test results for unsigned certificates

Table 4: Test results for signed certificates

the Template placeholders.” and the user is 4. Result

suggested to upload another Excel file.
‘AutoCertiGen’ is an extremely efficient
g. Signed certificates generated using application that is capable of generating an
‘AutoCertiGen’ average of 668 signature-less certificates per
minute and 493 certificates with signatures. In
For generating signed certificates, the user
addition to being time-efficient, the application
only has to upload the image by clicking on
focuses equally on the quality aspect of the
the ‘Select’ button in the ‘Additional Details’
certificates generated. Moreover, the generated
Activity. After uploading the signature images,
certificates are of high image precision and
the button text updates to ‘Selected’ for the
occupy even less than 1 MB.
user’s acknowledgment. The application then
proceeds to the certificate generation after a In order to prove the above claim, we recorded
click on the ‘Generate’ button and further the time taken by the application in producing
navigates to the activity shown in Fig. 9. b). these certificates. Table 3 shows this data for
After successful certificate generation, the user unsigned certificates while Table 4 for signed
gets the signed certificates as shown in Fig. 9. ones. The first column is ‘the number of
c). In Fig. 10, the signed certificate with certificates to be generated’ and corresponding to
signatures that are generated by the that the ‘time taken for completion’ is noted for
application ‘AutoCertiGen’ can be seen. our two templates in the second column.

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Table 5: Comparison with other tools

From the above results, we can conclude that the requesting the user to upload the correct file. In
application takes on average 89.796 seconds to another case where the number of certificates to
produce 1000 certificates without signatures and be generated is more than the number of entries
121.871 seconds to produce the same quantity in the Excel file then the application again
with signatures. prompts with a message. In both cases, the
To ensure the efficiency of our application on application does not compromise with respect to
different parameters, a comparative study with the final results.
other similar tools developed was carried out. 5. Conclusion
The application is also robust in the sense that it We developed an automated offline Android
handles situations with erroneous inputs in a application using Java to facilitate the process of
user-friendly manner by reporting appropriate creating e-certificates. The application is
messages. Like, if the user selects an structured to accept user input in the form of an
incompatible data file as input, the application Excel sheet file, followed by entering the number
does not proceed and instead displays a message of certificates to be produced, and then asking the

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International Journal of Innovation and Multidisciplinary Research (IJIAMR) Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2022

user to choose a predefined certificate template. 4. Pereira, R., Couto, M., Ribeiro, F., Rua, R.,
Finally, the user is prompted to provide the Cunha, J., Fernandes, J. P., & Saraiva, J. (2017).
signatories' details, with the option of attaching Energy Efficiency across Programming
their electronic signatures. The customized Languages: How Do Energy, Time, and
Android-compatible versions of two Java Memory Relate? Proceedings of the 10th ACM
libraries, Apache POI and Apache PDFBox, were SIGPLAN International Conference on
used to create the PDF files and add the content Software Language Engineering, 256–267.
extracted from the input Excel file. The 5. Roush, T. (2021, September). PDFBox Android.
application has been programmed to notify the GitHub.
user if any incorrect input is provided from the
6. Saveau, A. (2018, April 10). POI Android.
user's end. We were able to deliver our focal GitHub.
objective of automating this entire operation and
thus produce a huge number of certificates within 7. SEO Team. (2020, August 13). Mobile
minutes with just a few clicks. Application vs. Mobile Website: A UX
Comparison – Better Option? Saffron Tech.
6. Future Scope
8. Shimpi, S. A., Mandare, S., Trivedi, A.,
This application has immense potential for
&Sonawane, T. (2014). Certificate generation
expansion in the future. We aim to add an
system. International Journal on Recent and
extremely important and useful functionality Innovation Trends in Computing and
wherein a user can upload her own templates Communication, 2(2), 380-383.
while still keeping the process automated. This
will make the application easily customizable 9. Singh, R. (2014). An overview of the Android
and hence, adapt to a variety of events and operating system and its security. Int. Journal of
activities for which certificates are required. Engineering Research and Applications, 4(2),
Another important aspect for extending this 519-521.
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institutions to verify the awarded certificates to in India 2010-2040. Statista.
candidates by just entering basic minimal
11. Summerfield, J. (2015). Mobile website vs.
information. This external certificate validation mobile app: Which is best for your
system feature will be a tool for popularizing the organization. Human Service Solutions.
application by connecting more and more
institutes to it. One more crucial direction in 12. Tania, H. (2019, September 1). Pros and Cons of
which we wish to work is the possibility of Mobile Websites and Mobile Apps. Ruby
uploading files to the user's cloud storage which Garage.
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