Database-type data but without a server?

[Barry Levine]

I'm making an educational "math game" that will have a series of 
multiple choice questions. I did something like this about 12 years ago 
in HyperCard and stored the test question and the four choices in, 
respectively, one background field and four card-layer buttons. Each 
additional question required a new card. I'd like to do this in a more 
efficient manner this time around so I was thinking about using only one 
card with the one field and four buttons, and then reading the test 
questions and the four multiple choice answers from a file 
(comma-delimited?). The data then would be "put" into the field and 
buttons and the user would click on the button. We're looking at simple 
elementary math here so I would assume none of that "MOD" nonsense 
(discussed at great length recently) would affect the stack's logic in 
verifying the correct answer.

I digress...The main point of this question is whether I am thinking 
"correctly" about managing the test data (and also saving the results of 
the tests) by using simple text files - one for each set of test 
questions/answers (and one for each "user" [student] to store the 
results of the tests. I know there is database functionality but it 
seems as if I need to run a database server (MySQL or Valentina are 
mentioned in the Database Manager window). Again, I'd like to keep this 
as simple as possible. I do expect that will be about 50 "sets" of test 
questions, each set consisting of about 10-15 questions.

A follow-on to the above question is how the "student test results" data 
files can be processed in a report. Is there some kind of field or, 
perhaps, a group of fields that would permit me to "pretty-print" a 
report? I suppose simply processing all of the student test results 
files using a script in Rev and then sending it out to a tab-delimited 
file one could open in Excel is an acceptable solution. However, it 
would be nice to keep everything happening within the Rev environment.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If you would prefer to 
eMail me directly instead of posting to the list, I will gladly accept 
whatever advice you might offer.

Thanks,

Barry
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Barry Jay Levine
"The Mac Guy"
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