Container for Multiple Choice Quizes
Sivakatirswami
katir at hindu.org
Tue Oct 27 20:56:03 EDT 2009
Alex Tweedly wrote:
>
> Well, I don't much like dBases, or XML, so here's what I'd probably
> do....
Ha! Alex, thank you... a man after my own heart. I've often cogitated
and cogitated and ended up using flat text files for data that runs in
the 2000 record or less category because I too had a resistance to
adding a "third" layer beyond Rev + Text" to the framework. Call it a
phobia for complexity.
And to find that indeed, it meant less over head and greater clarity in
the end, assuming one is rigorously consistent with folder, filename
nomenclature etc. The beauty of well structured plain text data is
accessibility with no "service agents" required other than some savvy
I/O (read and write) in rev...
An interesting solution.... and keeps is all on the xTalk/plain English
planet. Sometimes using the "cool new" tools like XML and SQL, only gets
you headaches. But I can see our dBase wizards shaking their heads (smile)
At any rate you show quite clearly how to build the array, whatever the
container might be. And given that I have the same penchant for avoiding
dBases as you do. I will probably follow your lead.
Another option is to use a stack to hold it on the web server. Which I
do for a number of other projects. It's quite efficient.
(http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/lexicon/ uses a 7MB/3,500
card stack on the back end to hold the dictionary... try it... I think
you will be amazed at the speed.)
But I have not heard yet if the iRevServer Engine will honor "start
using stack Quizes"
Thanks for taking the time to share your vision on this. I really
appreciate
Cheers from Kauai
Sivakatirswami
Answer (a)
>
> 1. Have a folder for each category.
> 2. in the folder, have a file (category.tx, maybe?) with the first
> line containing the category name, and subsequent lines containing the
> verbiage for it.
> 3. have a sub-folder for each quiz
> 4. within it, have file (quiz.txt ?) with the first line containing
> the title, and subsequent lines with the verbiage
> 5. within the folder, have a file per question, having
> question
> 4 lines for answers, each being :
> "answer" TAB "True or False"
> subsequent line holding the verbiage for question
>
> and then the script would do something like
>
>> local sArray -- to hold data for testing
>>
>> on mouseUp
>> set the defaultFolder to "C:/Users/Alex/Documents/Programming/RunRev"
>> put the defaultFolder
>> readfile "category1", "quiz1", "question"
>> end mouseUp
>> on readfile pCategory, pQuiz, pQuestion
>> -- the real version would use the params to set the folder /
>> subfolder
>> -- and read the appropriate question file
>> local tFile
>> put URL "file:category.txt" into tFile
>> put line 1 of tFile into sArray["category"]
>> put line 2 to -1 of tFile into sArray["category verbiage"]
>> put URL "file:quiz.txt" into tFile
>> put line 1 of tFile into sArray["quiz"]
>> put line 2 to -1 of tFile into sArray["quiz verbiage"]
>> put URL "file:question.txt" into tFile
>> put line 1 of tFile into sArray["question"]
>> put line 6 to -1 of tFile into sArray["question verbiage"]
>> repeat with i=2 to 5
>> put item 2 of line i of tFile into sArray["answer"][item 1 of
>> line i of tFile]
>> end repeat
>> printarray sArray
>> end readfile
>> on printarray pArr
>> repeat for each line K in the keys of pArr
>> put "doing " && K & CR after msg
>> if pArr[K] is an array then
>> repeat for each line K1 in the keys of pArr[K]
>> put K1 && ":" && pArr[K][K1] & CR after msg
>> end repeat
>> else
>> put K && ":" && pArr[K] & CR after msg
>> end if
>> end repeat
>> end printarray
>
>
>
> Answer (b)
> instead of a subfolder, I might have a Tab separated "spreadsheet"
> with the quiz/questions/answers. Changes would be pretty obvious
>
> -- Alex.
>
> Sivakatirswami wrote:
>> I'm trying to wrap my head around the "container" for a multiple
>> choice question quizes.
>>
>> And individual quiz will run inside a revlet eventually. We can them
>> successively from the web server.
>>
>> The GUI will have sounds and images when users make selections etc.
>> That's the easy part... the back end is still eluding me...
>>
>> XML files could work, but I would rather use a dBase, but, then I'm
>> not sure how I can push it into an array (not having yet familiarized
>> myself on the multi-dimensional arrays yet.)
>>
>> If anyone has insights please "fire away." Here are the elements:
>>
>> 1) Category of Quiz e.g. Biology -- comprising many quizes
>> 2) Verbiage for the category of quizes: e.g. some
>> introductory or descriptive text
>> 3) Title of Quiz e.g. "Let's Study Mammals" -- comprising title for a
>> single quiz containing 2 or more questions with answers.
>> 4) Verbiage for a specific Quiz: e.g. some explanatory text
>> related to a specific quiz
>> 5) Question: e.g. "Which of these are not mammals?" -- being the
>> single question "parent" of 4 answers
>> 6) Verbiage related to a specific question
>> 7) Four answers (ever more, never less) e.g.
>> Trout
>> Goat
>> Cow
>> Peacock
>> 8) Boolean Property for each answer in relation to the question e.g.
>> Trout is False
>> Goat is True
>> Cow is True
>> Peacock is False
>>
>> That's it.... OK, so, yes, I could build an XML file for each
>> individual quizes, keep these in a folders named for the category of
>> quiz, one XML file per quiz and Revolution could easily ingest this,
>> apply it to button states etc.
>>
>> but
>>
>> I *think* I could also wrap my head around created a relational data
>> base to contain all these elements as well, which is probably a
>> better idea.
>>
>> But, then, whether I use XML or a dBase, what I don't yet know how to
>> do is pull a single question and answer with all the above elements
>> into a single array... is it even possible? What would the array look
>> like? Before I run off to search the docs for how to use
>> Multi-dimensional arrays any input from all you wizards will be
>> appreciated, especially the dBase design experienced. And if anyone
>> knows of tutorials or specific places I can go to to study up
>> RunRev's new arrays, please point me in the right direction.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Sivakatirswami
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> use-revolution mailing list
>> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your
>> subscription preferences:
>> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> use-revolution mailing list
> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your
> subscription preferences:
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>
More information about the use-livecode
mailing list