openwebwork-devel — WeBWorK development discussion

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi all,

I've managed to fix the forum posts -- Moodle seems to have a minor  
bug when you transfer a forum off the front page
(course id=1) but I figured out a workaround and have the main forums  
installed in the Using WeBWorK course with
correct dates.  The archived dates are still represent the time when  
Arnie transferred the posts from webhost to
the new server, but there are internal dates that are accurate and  
the order of the posts is once again correct.

Take care,

Mike

On Jun 14, 2007, at 10:01 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:

>
> The date is in the message only for those messages copied from the old
> site, not for any message that was posted to the MAA site since the  
> forums
> moved there.  In any event there are no usable dates on the thread  
> listing
> pages of the forums, e.g.,
>    <http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/view.php?id=22>.
> Another example, a newer post with no date:
>    <http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1497>
>
> Gavin
>
> -- 
> P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you  
> have
> Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone  
> who can
> Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if  
> they
> http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. - 
> Milne
>
> On 2007-06-14 [09:54] Arnold Pizer wrote:
>
>> On 6/14/07, Michael Gage <ga...@ma...> wrote:
>>
>> Mike writes "The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any
>> dates."  Actually if you look at the message itself, the posting date
>> does appear near the top, e.g.
>>
>> user Michael Gage - WeBWorK in the Middle East  blueArrow
>> 1/3/2007; 8:33:31 PM (reads: 126, responses: 0)
>>
>> Arnie
>>
>>> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually  
>>> since
>>> I believe it is a one time data loss caused by the move.  The  
>>> posts in
>>> the archive forum still have the date preserved on the internal  
>>> data.
>>> The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
>>>
>>> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may  
>>> be that
>>> we'll need direct access to the mysql database on the maa machine in
>>> order to transfer the posts over with data. Except for the archived
>>> posts there are only a few hundred entries so it could be done  
>>> somewhat
>>> manually.
>>>
>>> Anyone have any suggestions?
>>>
>>> Take care,
>>>
>>> Mike
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---
> This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
> Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
> control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
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>

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

on 06/15/2007 08:05 AM Michael Gage said the following:

> On Jun 15, 2007, at 12:07 AM, Sam Hathaway wrote:
> 
>> on 06/14/2007 09:19 AM Michael Gage said the following:
>>
>>> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually
>>> since I believe it is a one time
>>> data loss caused by the move.  The posts in the archive forum still
>>> have the date preserved on the internal
>>> data.  The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
>>>
>>> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be
>>> that we'll need direct access to the mysql database
>>> on the maa machine in order to transfer the posts over with data.
>>> Except for the archived posts there are only a few hundred entries so
>>> it could be done somewhat manually.
>>>
>>> Anyone have any suggestions?
> Hi Sam,
> 
>> I'm wondering if it's possible to post each Frontier message as a
>> separate message in Moodle, rather than having an entire discussion  
>> end
>> up as a single Moodle message.
>>
> We could do a little custom programming that would output the  
> frontier database into xml.
> (Frontier has automatic xml creation from it's internal structures so  
> it wouldn't be too hard.)
> Then you'd have to transform it into some kind of xml that moodle  
> could read.

I would be willing to work on this if you think it would be useful.
Could you make an XML dump of the discussion site for me?

>> The one snag I can think of is that each message needs to have a user
>> associated with it, and we probably don't want to deal with the  
>> headache
>> of importing all the old users from the Frontier site.

Now that I think about it, we could define a dummy user ("Legacy
Discussions") and assign all posts to it.

>> As far as the posting dates go, dates seem to be part of the exported
>> XML file format -- the <POST> structure has <CREATED> and <MODIFIED>
>> field, and the <DISCUSSION> structure has a <TIMEMODIFIED> field  
>> (which
>> should probably match the <MODIFIED> parameter of the most recently
>> modified <POST> within it).
>>
>> So I guess I'm unclear on how the post times got lost in the first  
>> place.
> 
> I think it's a bug in the archiving method of moodle -- or perhaps  
> the unarchiving method.  If you look at the
> xml from the backup files you find    timestart=0 and timeend=0 .  If  
> I look in the database the time stamp is definitely 0.
> 
> It's kind of clear what data is missing.
> The question is how to fix it without direct access to the MAA database.

I did an export of the main course (course id 1, named "webwork") and
I'm seeing valid dates in the <CREATED> and <MODIFIED> fields of each
post. For example:

<MOODLE_BACKUP>
 <COURSE>
  <MODULES>
   <MOD>
    <ID>1</ID>
    <MODTYPE>forum</MODTYPE>
    <TYPE>news</TYPE>
    <NAME>Site news</NAME>
    <INTRO>General news and announcements.</INTRO>
    <DISCUSSIONS>
     <DISCUSSION>
      <ID>1</ID>
      <NAME>Experimental WeBWorK Documentation and Discussion Group
Site</NAME>
# <ID> of first <POST>
      <FIRSTPOST>1</FIRSTPOST>
      <USERID>4</USERID>
      <GROUPID>-1</GROUPID>
      <ASSESSED>1</ASSESSED>
# <MODIFIED> of most recently modified <POST>?
      <TIMEMODIFIED>1164156062</TIMEMODIFIED>
# <USERID> of most recently modified <POST>?
      <USERMODIFIED>4</USERMODIFIED>
# No idea what these are...
      <TIMESTART>0</TIMESTART>
      <TIMEEND>0</TIMEEND>
      <POSTS>
       <POST>
        <ID>1</ID>
        <PARENT>0</PARENT>
        <USERID>4</USERID>
# Translates as Tue Nov 21 19:30:59 2006, which is correct
        <CREATED>1164155459</CREATED>
# Translates as Tue Nov 21 19:41:02 2006, which is correct
        <MODIFIED>1164156062</MODIFIED>
        <MAILED>1</MAILED>
        <SUBJECT>Experimental WeBWorK Documentation and Discussion Group
Site</SUBJECT>
        <MESSAGE>...</MESSAGE>
       </POST>
      </POSTS>
     </DISCUSSION>
    </DISCUSSIONS>
   </MOD>
  </MODULES>
 </COURSE>
</MOODLE_BACKUP>

Getting an export of the "main" course was somewhat difficult. I
couldn't find a way to do it through the UI -- I had to go into another
course and click "Backup", then replace the id parameter in the URL with
id=1. How did you do it?

> While we're on the subject I'm having trouble handling "student  
> enrollments" on the MAA moodle as well.  I created the AIM course
> for this upcoming workshop and it seems to have automatically  
> enrolled all the current members of the site -- and when I try to
> unenroll them nothing happens.  ????  I haven't been able to track  
> this one down.  I'll try to duplicate it on my local copy of moodle.

I'm seeing 77 users listed as participants in the aimWW course, and all
of them have a "current role" of "student". However, when I go into the
"Assign roles" screen, it lists all roles having 0 users.

I don't see any place to unenrol users, and there's nothing in the
course settings about automatically enrolling users.
-sam

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

On Jun 15, 2007, at 12:07 AM, Sam Hathaway wrote:

> on 06/14/2007 09:19 AM Michael Gage said the following:
>
>> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually
>> since I believe it is a one time
>> data loss caused by the move.  The posts in the archive forum still
>> have the date preserved on the internal
>> data.  The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
>>
>> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be
>> that we'll need direct access to the mysql database
>> on the maa machine in order to transfer the posts over with data.
>> Except for the archived posts there are only a few hundred entries so
>> it could be done somewhat manually.
>>
>> Anyone have any suggestions?
>
Hi Sam,

> I'm wondering if it's possible to post each Frontier message as a
> separate message in Moodle, rather than having an entire discussion  
> end
> up as a single Moodle message.
>
We could do a little custom programming that would output the  
frontier database into xml.
(Frontier has automatic xml creation from it's internal structures so  
it wouldn't be too hard.)
Then you'd have to transform it into some kind of xml that moodle  
could read.
> The one snag I can think of is that each message needs to have a user
> associated with it, and we probably don't want to deal with the  
> headache
> of importing all the old users from the Frontier site.
>
> As far as the posting dates go, dates seem to be part of the exported
> XML file format -- the <POST> structure has <CREATED> and <MODIFIED>
> field, and the <DISCUSSION> structure has a <TIMEMODIFIED> field  
> (which
> should probably match the <MODIFIED> parameter of the most recently
> modified <POST> within it).
>
> So I guess I'm unclear on how the post times got lost in the first  
> place.

I think it's a bug in the archiving method of moodle -- or perhaps  
the unarchiving method.  If you look at the
xml from the backup files you find    timestart=0 and timeend=0 .  If  
I look in the database the time stamp is definitely 0.

It's kind of clear what data is missing.
The question is how to fix it without direct access to the MAA database.

While we're on the subject I'm having trouble handling "student  
enrollments" on the MAA moodle as well.  I created the AIM course
for this upcoming workshop and it seems to have automatically  
enrolled all the current members of the site -- and when I try to
unenroll them nothing happens.  ????  I haven't been able to track  
this one down.  I'll try to duplicate it on my local copy of moodle.

Take care,
Mike

> -sam
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---
> This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
> Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
> control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
> http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/
> _______________________________________________
> OpenWeBWorK-Devel mailing list
> Ope...@li...
> https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel
>

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

on 06/14/2007 09:19 AM Michael Gage said the following:

> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually  
> since I believe it is a one time
> data loss caused by the move.  The posts in the archive forum still  
> have the date preserved on the internal
> data.  The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
> 
> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be  
> that we'll need direct access to the mysql database
> on the maa machine in order to transfer the posts over with data.   
> Except for the archived posts there are only a few hundred entries so  
> it could be done somewhat manually.
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm wondering if it's possible to post each Frontier message as a
separate message in Moodle, rather than having an entire discussion end
up as a single Moodle message.

The one snag I can think of is that each message needs to have a user
associated with it, and we probably don't want to deal with the headache
of importing all the old users from the Frontier site.

As far as the posting dates go, dates seem to be part of the exported
XML file format -- the <POST> structure has <CREATED> and <MODIFIED>
field, and the <DISCUSSION> structure has a <TIMEMODIFIED> field (which
should probably match the <MODIFIED> parameter of the most recently
modified <POST> within it).

So I guess I'm unclear on how the post times got lost in the first place.
-sam

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Arnold P. <ap...@ma...>]

Yep, sorry about that.  I looked at a bad example forgetting that I
had put all messages through 2006 in the archive but had put 2007
messages in the individual forums.  As you say in any event, the most
useful information is on the thread listing page.

Arnie

On 6/14/07, P. Gavin LaRose <gl...@um...> wrote:
>
> The date is in the message only for those messages copied from the old
> site, not for any message that was posted to the MAA site since the forums
> moved there.  In any event there are no usable dates on the thread listing
> pages of the forums, e.g.,
>    <http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/view.php?id=22>.
> Another example, a newer post with no date:
>    <http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1497>
>
> Gavin
>
> --
> P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you have
> Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone who can
> Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if they
> http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -Milne
>
> On 2007-06-14 [09:54] Arnold Pizer wrote:
>
> > On 6/14/07, Michael Gage <ga...@ma...> wrote:
> >
> > Mike writes "The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any
> > dates."  Actually if you look at the message itself, the posting date
> > does appear near the top, e.g.
> >
> > user Michael Gage - WeBWorK in the Middle East  blueArrow
> > 1/3/2007; 8:33:31 PM (reads: 126, responses: 0)
> >
> > Arnie
> >
> >> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually since
> >> I believe it is a one time data loss caused by the move.  The posts in
> >> the archive forum still have the date preserved on the internal data.
> >> The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
> >>
> >> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be that
> >> we'll need direct access to the mysql database on the maa machine in
> >> order to transfer the posts over with data. Except for the archived
> >> posts there are only a few hundred entries so it could be done somewhat
> >> manually.
> >>
> >> Anyone have any suggestions?
> >>
> >> Take care,
> >>
> >> Mike
>


-- 
Prof. Arnold K. Pizer
Dept. of Mathematics
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627
(585) 275-7767

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

There were two moves.  I'll post a note -- only posts between  
sometime in December 2006 and June 2007 are affected by the second move.

Take care,

Mike


On Jun 14, 2007, at 9:24 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>
> Are there two moves?  That is, I know the entire thing moved  
> several months ago from Rochester to the MAA.  Did they move it  
> again, thus causing the loss of the data information?  I think I'm  
> just confused here, but if I'm right about this (finally) it might  
> be worth putting a note on the forum front page to say that the  
> dates on forum posts are all messed up, and why.  Otherwise my  
> inclination is to look at the forum and think that it's at best out  
> of date and at worst nonfunctional.
>
> Thanks,
> Gavin
>
> -- 
> P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you  
> have
> Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone  
> who can
> Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if  
> they
> http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. - 
> Milne
>
> On 2007-06-14 [09:19] Michael Gage wrote:
>
>> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually  
>> since I believe it is a one time
>> data loss caused by the move.  The posts in the archive forum  
>> still have the date preserved on the internal
>> data.  The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
>>
>> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be  
>> that we'll need direct access to the mysql database
>> on the maa machine in order to transfer the posts over with data.   
>> Except for the archived posts there are only a few hundred entries  
>> so it could be done somewhat manually.
>>
>> Anyone have any suggestions?
>>
>> Take care,
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> On Jun 14, 2007, at 9:07 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Mike,
>>> I was mainly interested that the site seems to have lost all date
>>> information from posts since the site moved to the MAA.  If they  
>>> did a
>>> restore from a backup that wiped out all of the old information  
>>> that's
>>> understandable, but it's also really annoying---if I can't tell  
>>> if a forum
>>> post was from 2000 or 2007 it makes it hard to tell if it's  
>>> useful or not.
>>> Gavin
>>> -- 
>>> P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454   
>>> |  ...you have
>>> Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone  
>>> who can
>>> Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even  
>>> if they
>>> http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right.  
>>> -Milne
>>> On 2007-06-14 [09:03] Michael Gage wrote:
>>>> Hi Gavin,
>>>> I'm not sure that it can be for the old messages.  It appears  
>>>> that there is
>>>> data loss when transferring the forums around.
>>>> I still have the original forums saved (including the ones from  
>>>> webhost) --
>>>> however we'll need to figure out a way to transfer the  
>>>> information in such a
>>>> way that it preserves dates.  Backup and restore in moodle --  
>>>> the usual way
>>>> to transfer module data from one course to another does not  
>>>> preserve dates --
>>>> this must be a bug but I don't see it mentioned in the moodle  
>>>> forums.
>>>> The dates on the archived messages will not be accurate in any  
>>>> case since
>>>> they were re-entered by Arnie.  I still have the original data  
>>>> on webhost if
>>>> someone can come up with a better transfer method.
>>>> Take care,
>>>> Mike
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>> -----
>>> This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
>>> Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
>>> control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
>>> http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> OpenWeBWorK-Devel mailing list
>>> Ope...@li...
>>> https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[P. G. L. <gl...@um...>]

The date is in the message only for those messages copied from the old 
site, not for any message that was posted to the MAA site since the forums 
moved there.  In any event there are no usable dates on the thread listing 
pages of the forums, e.g.,
   <http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/view.php?id=22>.
Another example, a newer post with no date:
   <http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1497>

Gavin

-- 
P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you have
Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone who can
Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if they
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -Milne

On 2007-06-14 [09:54] Arnold Pizer wrote:

> On 6/14/07, Michael Gage <ga...@ma...> wrote:
>
> Mike writes "The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any
> dates."  Actually if you look at the message itself, the posting date
> does appear near the top, e.g.
>
> user Michael Gage - WeBWorK in the Middle East  blueArrow
> 1/3/2007; 8:33:31 PM (reads: 126, responses: 0)
>
> Arnie
>
>> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually since 
>> I believe it is a one time data loss caused by the move.  The posts in 
>> the archive forum still have the date preserved on the internal data. 
>> The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
>> 
>> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be that 
>> we'll need direct access to the mysql database on the maa machine in 
>> order to transfer the posts over with data. Except for the archived 
>> posts there are only a few hundred entries so it could be done somewhat 
>> manually.
>> 
>> Anyone have any suggestions?
>> 
>> Take care,
>> 
>> Mike

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Arnold P. <ap...@ma...>]

On 6/14/07, Michael Gage <ga...@ma...> wrote:

Mike writes "The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any
dates."  Actually if you look at the message itself, the posting date
does appear near the top, e.g.

user Michael Gage - WeBWorK in the Middle East  blueArrow
1/3/2007; 8:33:31 PM (reads: 126, responses: 0)

Arnie

> I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually
> since I believe it is a one time
> data loss caused by the move.  The posts in the archive forum still
> have the date preserved on the internal
> data.  The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.
>
> As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be
> that we'll need direct access to the mysql database
> on the maa machine in order to transfer the posts over with data.
> Except for the archived posts there are only a few hundred entries so
> it could be done somewhat manually.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions?
>
> Take care,
>
> Mike
>
> On Jun 14, 2007, at 9:07 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:
>
> > Hi Mike,
> >
> > I was mainly interested that the site seems to have lost all date
> > information from posts since the site moved to the MAA.  If they did a
> > restore from a backup that wiped out all of the old information that's
> > understandable, but it's also really annoying---if I can't tell if
> > a forum
> > post was from 2000 or 2007 it makes it hard to tell if it's useful
> > or not.
> >
> > Gavin
> >
> > --
> > P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you
> > have
> > Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone
> > who can
> > Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if
> > they
> > http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -
> > Milne
> >
> > On 2007-06-14 [09:03] Michael Gage wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Gavin,
> >>
> >> I'm not sure that it can be for the old messages.  It appears that
> >> there is
> >> data loss when transferring the forums around.
> >>
> >> I still have the original forums saved (including the ones from
> >> webhost) --
> >> however we'll need to figure out a way to transfer the information
> >> in such a
> >> way that it preserves dates.  Backup and restore in moodle -- the
> >> usual way
> >> to transfer module data from one course to another does not
> >> preserve dates --
> >> this must be a bug but I don't see it mentioned in the moodle forums.
> >>
> >> The dates on the archived messages will not be accurate in any
> >> case since
> >> they were re-entered by Arnie.  I still have the original data on
> >> webhost if
> >> someone can come up with a better transfer method.
> >>
> >> Take care,
> >> Mike
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
> > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
> > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
> > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/
> > _______________________________________________
> > OpenWeBWorK-Devel mailing list
> > Ope...@li...
> > https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel
> >
>
>


-- 
Prof. Arnold K. Pizer
Dept. of Mathematics
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627
(585) 275-7767

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

I agree.  There is some hope that we can recover this eventually  
since I believe it is a one time
data loss caused by the move.  The posts in the archive forum still  
have the date preserved on the internal
data.  The newer posts from the last 6 months don't have any dates.

As I said I'm still saving all of the original forums -- it may be  
that we'll need direct access to the mysql database
on the maa machine in order to transfer the posts over with data.   
Except for the archived posts there are only a few hundred entries so  
it could be done somewhat manually.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Take care,

Mike

On Jun 14, 2007, at 9:07 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>
> I was mainly interested that the site seems to have lost all date
> information from posts since the site moved to the MAA.  If they did a
> restore from a backup that wiped out all of the old information that's
> understandable, but it's also really annoying---if I can't tell if  
> a forum
> post was from 2000 or 2007 it makes it hard to tell if it's useful  
> or not.
>
> Gavin
>
> -- 
> P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you  
> have
> Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone  
> who can
> Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if  
> they
> http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. - 
> Milne
>
> On 2007-06-14 [09:03] Michael Gage wrote:
>
>> Hi Gavin,
>>
>> I'm not sure that it can be for the old messages.  It appears that  
>> there is
>> data loss when transferring the forums around.
>>
>> I still have the original forums saved (including the ones from  
>> webhost) --
>> however we'll need to figure out a way to transfer the information  
>> in such a
>> way that it preserves dates.  Backup and restore in moodle -- the  
>> usual way
>> to transfer module data from one course to another does not  
>> preserve dates --
>> this must be a bug but I don't see it mentioned in the moodle forums.
>>
>> The dates on the archived messages will not be accurate in any  
>> case since
>> they were re-entered by Arnie.  I still have the original data on  
>> webhost if
>> someone can come up with a better transfer method.
>>
>> Take care,
>> Mike
>
>
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Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[P. G. L. <gl...@um...>]

Hi Mike,

I was mainly interested that the site seems to have lost all date 
information from posts since the site moved to the MAA.  If they did a 
restore from a backup that wiped out all of the old information that's 
understandable, but it's also really annoying---if I can't tell if a forum 
post was from 2000 or 2007 it makes it hard to tell if it's useful or not.

Gavin

-- 
P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you have
Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone who can
Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if they
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -Milne

On 2007-06-14 [09:03] Michael Gage wrote:

> Hi Gavin,
>
> I'm not sure that it can be for the old messages.  It appears that there is 
> data loss when transferring the forums around.
>
> I still have the original forums saved (including the ones from webhost) -- 
> however we'll need to figure out a way to transfer the information in such a 
> way that it preserves dates.  Backup and restore in moodle -- the usual way 
> to transfer module data from one course to another does not preserve dates -- 
> this must be a bug but I don't see it mentioned in the moodle forums.
>
> The dates on the archived messages will not be accurate in any case since 
> they were re-entered by Arnie.  I still have the original data on webhost if 
> someone can come up with a better transfer method.
>
> Take care,
> Mike

Re: [WWdevel] maa webwork site? -- archived forum posts have bad dates.

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi Gavin,

I'm not sure that it can be for the old messages.  It appears that  
there is data loss when transferring the forums around.

I still have the original forums saved (including the ones from  
webhost) -- however we'll need to figure out a way to transfer the  
information in such a way that it preserves dates.  Backup and  
restore in moodle -- the usual way to transfer module data from one  
course to another does not preserve dates -- this must be a bug but I  
don't see it mentioned in the moodle forums.

The dates on the archived messages will not be accurate in any case  
since they were re-entered by Arnie.  I still have the original data  
on webhost if someone can come up with a better transfer method.

Take care,

Mike

On Jun 14, 2007, at 8:35 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> When I hit the MAA webwork discussion site, I'm seeing every  
> message listed at Wed 31 Dec 1969 at 7pm.  Can this be fixed?
>
> Thanks,
> Gavin
>
> -- 
> P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you  
> have
> Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone  
> who can
> Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if  
> they
> http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. - 
> Milne
>

[WWdevel] rel-2-4-dev branch created

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

Hello All,

I just created the rel-2-4-dev branch for both webwork2 and pg. This
branch will become WeBWorK 2.4.0 some time this summer.

This release will include:
- NewSQL
- Moodle 1.7+ compatibility
- Gavin's GatewayQuiz improvements
- IP restriction code
- other stuff

We'll probably switch over to running rel-2-4-dev here at Rochester
sometime soon, to get more testing.

If you have changes that you think belong in 2.4.0 (i.e. bugfixes or
small features), note this in your commit message when you commit them
to HEAD.
-sam

Re: [WWdevel] OpenWeBWorK-Devel Digest, Vol 8, Issue 3

[William H. W. <wh...@in...>]

Dear Mark,

At Indiana University (Bloomington), we have several large enrollment 
courses (enrollment > = 1900)
that are taught in 12-20+ sections.  Each such course is supervised by a 
faculty "course coordinator".
But we do not attempt to create a "super" WeBWorK course that combines
all sections, because of the inefficiencies that would create in running 
WeBWorK.  Instead, we
give each instructor her/his own WeBWorK site and then put the course 
coordinator
into each course with "teacher" privileges.  (Actually, we have created 
several
"super-teacher" permission roles, including one for "coordinators".)
This has the advantages of (i) giving each instructor her/his own gradebook,
(ii) giving each instructor flexibility in making  assignments (although
they are required to include the problems designated by the course 
coordinator),
and (iii) making the email arrangement you want a triviality.

If the primary reason for having a "super" WeBWorK site that includes
all sections is so that the course coordinator can view unified 
statistics and gradebook,
then that might be easier to accomplish by SQL retrievals using the MySQL
interface to the databases.  Alternatively, one could write Perl programs
that would use the WeBWorK software to access the databases and
generate the desired reports; the programs in   .../system/bin, for 
instance, wwsh,
can be used as models/starting points.

Sincerely,

Bill Wheeler

=======


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>
>    1. Adding features... (Hamrick, Marshall)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------ve 
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 01:18:05 -0400
> From: "Hamrick, Marshall" <mmh...@un...>
> Subject: [WWdevel] Adding features...
> To: <ope...@li...>
> Message-ID:
> 	<A01...@EX...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hello all,
>  
> Several features have been requested from my users, and I wanted to make sure that they were not available and I had missed them before I start coding.  I am also open to any suggestions anyone may have about implementation.
>  
> Many sections of a course have been combined into a large course with one faculty member overseeing it.  However, all of the professors teaching a section using Webwork have professor accounts.  
>  
> The first change I need to make is the ability to for a reply from a student to only be sent to the overseeing faculty member, and a the professor in charge of a section.
>  
> The second one is the ability for a professor to see only their section of a course when they login.  This is a minor issues, since one can filter the students out, but it would be nice to set the default.
>  
>  
> Thanks,
> Mark
>  
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>   

[WWdevel] Adding features...

[Hamrick, M. <mmh...@un...>]

Hello all,
=20
Several features have been requested from my users, and I wanted to make =
sure that they were not available and I had missed them before I start =
coding.  I am also open to any suggestions anyone may have about =
implementation.
=20
Many sections of a course have been combined into a large course with =
one faculty member overseeing it.  However, all of the professors =
teaching a section using Webwork have professor accounts. =20
=20
The first change I need to make is the ability to for a reply from a =
student to only be sent to the overseeing faculty member, and a the =
professor in charge of a section.
=20
The second one is the ability for a professor to see only their section =
of a course when they login.  This is a minor issues, since one can =
filter the students out, but it would be nice to set the default.
=20
=20
Thanks,
Mark
=20

Re: [WWdevel] What branch to use for development

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi,

I have a request -- or perhaps it's there already.  I'd like to be  
able to make temporary
changes to the context when calling a cmp routine from an object -- e.g.

$a = Real()
$a->cmp(tol=>10,tolType=>'relative);

I think I could do that now if I use
num_cmp($a->eval, tol=>10, tolType=>'relative');

(I haven't looked things up so I may have the syntax off by a bit.)

btut i seems to me that the first method would be easier to remember  
and if it existed it would
probably make it easier to write the macro that has num_cmp call  
mathObjects to preform its function.

The idea is that extra options added to the cmp arguments would be  
temporarily added to
the context for the comparison operation.

A more complicated syntax such as   cmp(flags=> 
{tol=>10,tolType=>'relative})  would probably be ok too.

What do you think? Or are you already way ahead of me? :-)

Take care,

Mike

On May 13, 2007, at 2:17 PM, Davide P. Cervone wrote:

>>> This is really for Sam, I guess, but I thought we should all know  
>>> the
>>> answer:  what branch of the CVS tree should we be using for
>>> development work these days?  I've been putting jsMath changes in
>>> HEAD, and letting Sam deal with backports to wherever they are
>>> supposed to really go, but I'm not sure of that is the way it is
>>> supposed to work.
>>
>> That's how it's supposed to work. You can give me a hint in the CVS
>> commit message if you think something should be backported, otherwise
>> I'll use my own judgment or ask you.
>
> OK, thanks for the clarification.  Glad I haven't been going about it
> the wrong way.
>
>> HEAD is for bleeding-edge development -- perfect for large
>> architectural
>> changes or disruptive user-visible changes. rel-2-3-dev is the 2.3.x
>> development branch, which should only get bug fixes and small feature
>> non-disruptive enhancements.
>
> Very good.
>
>> Pretty soon I'm going to create rel-2-4-dev from the current HEAD. I
>> think that should probably happen before you start with the
>> MathObjects
>> work. No need to wait on that though if you want to get started, I  
>> can
>> branch off of some arbitrary point, before you started with that.  
>> Then
>> we can merge the MathObjects changes back in after things have
>> calmed down.
>
> No problem.  There may be a few small changes first, before I start
> the larger-term structural changes.
>
> Davide
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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Re: [WWdevel] What branch to use for development

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

>> This is really for Sam, I guess, but I thought we should all know the
>> answer:  what branch of the CVS tree should we be using for
>> development work these days?  I've been putting jsMath changes in
>> HEAD, and letting Sam deal with backports to wherever they are
>> supposed to really go, but I'm not sure of that is the way it is
>> supposed to work.
>
> That's how it's supposed to work. You can give me a hint in the CVS
> commit message if you think something should be backported, otherwise
> I'll use my own judgment or ask you.

OK, thanks for the clarification.  Glad I haven't been going about it  
the wrong way.

> HEAD is for bleeding-edge development -- perfect for large  
> architectural
> changes or disruptive user-visible changes. rel-2-3-dev is the 2.3.x
> development branch, which should only get bug fixes and small feature
> non-disruptive enhancements.

Very good.

> Pretty soon I'm going to create rel-2-4-dev from the current HEAD. I
> think that should probably happen before you start with the  
> MathObjects
> work. No need to wait on that though if you want to get started, I can
> branch off of some arbitrary point, before you started with that. Then
> we can merge the MathObjects changes back in after things have  
> calmed down.

No problem.  There may be a few small changes first, before I start  
the larger-term structural changes.

Davide

Re: [WWdevel] What branch to use for development

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

on 05/13/2007 11:48 AM Davide P. Cervone said the following:

> This is really for Sam, I guess, but I thought we should all know the  
> answer:  what branch of the CVS tree should we be using for  
> development work these days?  I've been putting jsMath changes in  
> HEAD, and letting Sam deal with backports to wherever they are  
> supposed to really go, but I'm not sure of that is the way it is  
> supposed to work.

That's how it's supposed to work. You can give me a hint in the CVS
commit message if you think something should be backported, otherwise
I'll use my own judgment or ask you.

> Last summer (if I remember right) we had a development branch and a  
> stable branch, and there was a fairly complicated means of updating  
> these, but after the release of 2.3.1 (I think) that seemed to go  
> away.  Sam, can up refresh us on the protocol for making changes?  I  
> have some fairly substantial updates that I want to make to the  
> MathObjects internals, and I'd like to do it in the safest way  
> possible.  These should not change the author or end-user experience,  
> but the internals will undergo some adjustments that may take some  
> shaking down.  I'm hoping to streamline a few things in preparation  
> for the conference this summer, and make some changes based on a  
> better understanding of things now that MathObjects have been around  
> for a while.

HEAD is for bleeding-edge development -- perfect for large architectural
changes or disruptive user-visible changes. rel-2-3-dev is the 2.3.x
development branch, which should only get bug fixes and small feature
non-disruptive enhancements.

Pretty soon I'm going to create rel-2-4-dev from the current HEAD. I
think that should probably happen before you start with the MathObjects
work. No need to wait on that though if you want to get started, I can
branch off of some arbitrary point, before you started with that. Then
we can merge the MathObjects changes back in after things have calmed down.
-sam

[WWdevel] What branch to use for development

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

Folks:

This is really for Sam, I guess, but I thought we should all know the  
answer:  what branch of the CVS tree should we be using for  
development work these days?  I've been putting jsMath changes in  
HEAD, and letting Sam deal with backports to wherever they are  
supposed to really go, but I'm not sure of that is the way it is  
supposed to work.

Last summer (if I remember right) we had a development branch and a  
stable branch, and there was a fairly complicated means of updating  
these, but after the release of 2.3.1 (I think) that seemed to go  
away.  Sam, can up refresh us on the protocol for making changes?  I  
have some fairly substantial updates that I want to make to the  
MathObjects internals, and I'd like to do it in the safest way  
possible.  These should not change the author or end-user experience,  
but the internals will undergo some adjustments that may take some  
shaking down.  I'm hoping to streamline a few things in preparation  
for the conference this summer, and make some changes based on a  
better understanding of things now that MathObjects have been around  
for a while.

Davide

Re: [WWdevel] replacing PGcomplex.pm with Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl

[P. G. L. <gl...@um...>]

Hi Davide, Mike, et al.,

We've had trouble with the non-parser PGcomplexmacros.pl, and have been 
using the Parser based version for the last year or so.  We're not putting 
it under any real stress (just checking ordinary boring complex numbers), 
but it's worked well for us.  So I'm for making the change to using that 
as the default.

Gavin

-- 
P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you have
Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone who can
Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if they
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -Milne

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Davide P. Cervone wrote:

>> I'd like to propose replacing the current PGcomplexmacros.pl  in pg/
>> macros   with the one in
>>
>> pg/lib/Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl  for rel-2-3-dev
>> distribution of PG.
>
> That's fine by me.  The various strict modes haven't had a lot of
> testing, so you might find some issues there, but they probably
> aren't used very much.
>
>> The files look to be completely compatible and I'll be surer of
>> that once
>> I use the new one in my course.
>
> I'm pretty sure I implemented everything from the traditional complex
> answer checker; it just hasn't had much field testing.
>
>> Does anyone see a downside to replacing the the PGcomplexmacros.pl
>> file with the one at Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl ?
>
> I think Gavin might have used these last fall (I vaguely remember him
> having the sqrt() trouble and my suggesting he try it out).  Perhaps
> he has some experience he could share.
>
> Davide

Re: [WWdevel] replacing PGcomplex.pm with Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

> I'd like to propose replacing the current PGcomplexmacros.pl  in pg/ 
> macros   with the one in
>
> pg/lib/Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl  for rel-2-3-dev    
> distribution of PG.

That's fine by me.  The various strict modes haven't had a lot of  
testing, so you might find some issues there, but they probably  
aren't used very much.

> The files look to be completely compatible and I'll be surer of  
> that once
> I use the new one in my course.

I'm pretty sure I implemented everything from the traditional complex  
answer checker; it just hasn't had much field testing.

> Does anyone see a downside to replacing the the PGcomplexmacros.pl  
> file with the one at Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl ?

I think Gavin might have used these last fall (I vaguely remember him  
having the sqrt() trouble and my suggesting he try it out).  Perhaps  
he has some experience he could share.

Davide

[WWdevel] replacing PGcomplex.pm with Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi Davide,

I'm glad you reminded me about this because I'd completely forgotten  
that there was a new replacement file
for PGcomplexmacros.pl.

I'd like to propose replacing the current PGcomplexmacros.pl  in pg/ 
macros   with the one in

pg/lib/Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl  for rel-2-3-dev    
distribution of PG.

The current version which I've been inadvertently using for my course  
is buggy anyway and doesn't
run the complex variable problems in the Rochester library very  
well.  As far as I know no-one else
has been doing much with complex numbers and complex variables -- I  
expect if they were I'd be
hearing more complaints.  The files look to be completely compatible  
and I'll be surer of that once
I use the new one in my course.

Does anyone see a downside to replacing the the PGcomplexmacros.pl  
file with the one at Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl ?

Take care,

Mike




> PS, I remind you that the pg/Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl  
> avoids the sqrt()
> problem.  It uses the Parser complex objects to do the checking,  
> but that is
> behind the scenes, so you can stil use the normal Complex objects.   
> The problem
> could would not change; you would just move
> pg/lib/Parser/Legacy/PGcomplexmacros.pl into the pg/macros folder  
> (of the
> course macros folder).
>
> Davide

[WWdevel] macro documentation

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi Davide, Sam and other interested parties,

Here is the framework that I have started in order to document the  
existing macros.  This is the first step towards
consolidating many of the existing macros into a smaller core that is  
easier to remember, use and maintain.

In addition to macros stored in pg   I also plan to  convert to pod  
documentation many of the code comments from
the union macros file.  As Davide has pointed out even a few of union  
macro constructs are likely to be replaced by the new MathObjects
constructs (the new name for "parser" objects unless someone can  
think of something better quickly. :-) ), but they already
provide an improvement on earlier constructs and will help provide a  
smooth transition as well as an indication of
the direction in which the language is heading.  In order allow  
Davide to continue to maintain the union_problib/macros repository
I have made the pod documentation changes on the    rel-2-3- 
experimental branch of union_problib/macros.

I believe that this is transparent.  If you want to get the files  
with the new pod documentation issue, in union_problib macros

cvs update -r rel-2-3-experimental

If you want Davide's latest version of the macro files use

cvs update -r HEAD
or
cvs update -A

Hopefully this will work without interfering with each other and will  
make it a bit  easier to consolidate the code and the documentation
changes when the time comes.

For an example of how the union macros improve on the old constructs  
read the buglist reports related to multi_cmp and list_cmp.  I think  
I've established that list_cmp is a drop in
replacement for multi_cmp.  There are still a few issues with  
list_cmp and/or the old Complex structures that need to be investigated.
(One possible solution is to drop the old Complex structure, but it's  
a bit premature to be sure of that.)

Davide has pointed out that he likes to have comments set off by # so  
that it is easy to tell whether one is in the pod section or the
code section of a file.  (My recent version of BBedit has learned to  
read pod documentation and subtly grays out the print in the commented
out sections -- including pod documentation.  I hadn't realized quite  
how useful that's become.)
In any case I've modified Sam's program wwdocs2html.pl   to add a  
filter.   If a line has initial white space followed by a # then the
section from the beginning of the line to the # is deleted and the  
resulting file is passed to the pod2html program.

This means that a section such as:

=head3 num_list_cmp

#####################################################################
#
#Usage:  num_list_cmp(ans,options)
#
#  where ans is the string indicating the list (e.g., "10, -3, 5")
#  and options are any of those that can be passed to std_list_cmp.

=cut

will create an html page that has the information above but with the  
initial #'s removed.  By
using global search and replace to  replace    initial # by a space  
followed by a #  i.e.  $_ =~ (s/^#/ #/)
you can even run the .pl file through a standard pod processor and  
get reasonable HTML output, although the initial
#'s on each of the lines doesn't look great and probably not all of  
the standard pod features work.

Sam -- you'll find my version in ~/admintools.  I'm using a temporary  
file and I'm quite sure that the code can be modified to feed
the pod files through a filter and into the STDIN of pod2html -- then  
no obvious temporary file is written.  You may see other improvements
as well.

To see how this works  -- go the PGeditor on any problem,  click on  
"pod documentation" and navigate to
union_macros/listAnswer.pl.html

There only a few other files that have been converted to pod  
documentation so far, but there will be more as Spyro Roubos
gets working on the files and as I continue to use them to write  
homework problems for my complex variable course.

We will also link this urls into the twiki page reached by clicking  
on "macro list" from the PGeditor.  That hasn't started yet.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Take care,

Mike

Re: [WWdevel] testing and showing results

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

on 11/29/06 9:25 AM P. Gavin LaRose said the following:

> Hi all,
> 
> I'm in the process of converting our old (MapleTA) on-line placement test 
> into a new (WeBWorK) version, and have come across the following: MapleTA 
> allows a homework set (or test) to show the score or not, and the correct 
> answers, or not, once the set (or test) has been submitted for a grade. 
> For our placement test this is a good thing: we don't want people printing 
> out copies of the test, and because the score on the test is just one of 
> several factors determining a student's placement it's generally regarded 
> as a good thing to avoid having the student see how s/he did on the test 
> before talking with an advisor about her/his math placement.
> 
> This is, of course, not what WeBWorK does.  The easiest way I can see to 
> add this capability to WeBWorK, and/or the WeBWorK gateway tests, is to 
> add (another) column to the set table in the database.  Let's call it 
> hide_results.  Then if this column has the value 0 (or null, if that's 
> still allowed in the database) we behave as usual.  Other settings could 
> include 1 - hide the problems but report a score (for a gateway assignment 
> this should be easy to implement; for a homework, it might be a little 
> harder, but I think it shouldn't be bad); or 2 - just report that the 
> score was saved but return no data about the score.
> 
> (1) Does anyone else have a use for something like this, or see it as
>    potentially useful?  In particular, should it be a gateway/quiz feature
>    to the exclusion of homework?

I think this should apply to all types of problem sets, not just gateway 
tests. Should probably apply to individual problems as well as entire 
sets as well.

Giving the professor more control over WeBWorK's behavior is generally a 
good thing (as long as the defaults are reasonable).

I'd suggest having separate fields for each facet of this behavior, or 
at least more descriptive values than 0, 1, and 2.

> (2) Is it a problem to add another field to the database tables?  (i.e.,
>    has Sam's fevered work in the background to deal with those of me who
>    keep adding fields finally made it extensible to the point of dealing
>    with these gracefully?)

Yes, it's pretty easy since 2.3.0 -- the procedure is as follows:

(1) Add code to bin/wwdb_upgrade to add the field(s).
(2) Add the field(s) to the appropriate record classes.

The code in wwdb_upgrade will look something like this:

$DB_VERSIONS[++$i]{desc} = "adds my_new_field field to set and set_user 
tables of each course.";
$DB_VERSIONS[  $i]{course_code} = sub {
	my $course = shift;
	$dbh->do("ALTER TABLE `${course}_set` ADD COLUMN `my_new_field` INT")
		if exists $sql_tables{"${course}_set"};
	$dbh->do("ALTER TABLE `${course}_set_user` ADD COLUMN `my_new_field` INT")
		if exists $sql_tables{"${course}_set_user"};
};

> And, for the purposes of development
> (3) If I update my test WeBWorK install from HEAD in the CVS, will it
>    break everything (in particular, database access) at this point?  I've
>    been sending my gateway revisions to HEAD, which suggests that I might
>    want to start with an up-to-date copy before playing with this.

HEAD is pretty stable at the moment, and I encourage you to update. 
You'll have to run wwdb_upgrade to get up-to-date on the database format.

Most of the existing database code is ported over to NewSQL, with the 
exception of the versioning code, which still has some architectural 
issues to work out. It works, it's just not in its final form.
-sam

[WWdevel] testing and showing results

[P. G. L. <gl...@um...>]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of converting our old (MapleTA) on-line placement test 
into a new (WeBWorK) version, and have come across the following: MapleTA 
allows a homework set (or test) to show the score or not, and the correct 
answers, or not, once the set (or test) has been submitted for a grade. 
For our placement test this is a good thing: we don't want people printing 
out copies of the test, and because the score on the test is just one of 
several factors determining a student's placement it's generally regarded 
as a good thing to avoid having the student see how s/he did on the test 
before talking with an advisor about her/his math placement.

This is, of course, not what WeBWorK does.  The easiest way I can see to 
add this capability to WeBWorK, and/or the WeBWorK gateway tests, is to 
add (another) column to the set table in the database.  Let's call it 
hide_results.  Then if this column has the value 0 (or null, if that's 
still allowed in the database) we behave as usual.  Other settings could 
include 1 - hide the problems but report a score (for a gateway assignment 
this should be easy to implement; for a homework, it might be a little 
harder, but I think it shouldn't be bad); or 2 - just report that the 
score was saved but return no data about the score.

(1) Does anyone else have a use for something like this, or see it as
   potentially useful?  In particular, should it be a gateway/quiz feature
   to the exclusion of homework?
(2) Is it a problem to add another field to the database tables?  (i.e.,
   has Sam's fevered work in the background to deal with those of me who
   keep adding fields finally made it extensible to the point of dealing
   with these gracefully?)

And, for the purposes of development
(3) If I update my test WeBWorK install from HEAD in the CVS, will it
   break everything (in particular, database access) at this point?  I've
   been sending my gateway revisions to HEAD, which suggests that I might
   want to start with an up-to-date copy before playing with this.

Thanks,
Gavin

-- 
P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you have
Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone who can
Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if they
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -Milne

Re: [WWdevel] [WWcvs] pg: SECURITY: tighter constraints on which macro files can be loaded without restriction.

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

on 11/28/06 2:34 PM Davide P. Cervone said the following:

>> This is the second attempt to close this hole. The previous attempt
>> assumed that | binds tighter than ^ and $, which is not true. (Noticed
>> by dpvc). It also failed to escape metacharacters in the file names.
> 
> One last thing with this:  I don't know if quotemeta does anything  
> with dots, but the dots in the file names will match any character  
> unless they are quoted to \. So "IO-pl" would load in unsafe mode.

Hi Davide,

quotemeta is pretty conservative. It escapes any non-word character. Just to check:

[sh002i@devel] ~/work/pg/lib/WeBWorK/PG$ perl -e 'print quotemeta("."), "\n"'
\.

Cool.
-sam