Trigwidget Applet Sample Problem

Sample Problem with trigwidget.swf embedded

This sample problem shows how to use the trigwidget applet.

This applet and WeBWorK problem are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DUE-0941388.

A standard WeBWorK PG file with an embedded applet has six sections:

1. A tagging and description section, that describes the problem for future users and authors,
2. An initialization section, that loads required macros for the problem,
3. A problem set-up section that sets variables specific to the problem,
4. An Applet link section that inserts the applet and configures it, (this section is not present in WeBWorK problems without an embedded applet)
5. A text section, that gives the text that is shown to the student, and
6. An answer and solution section, that specifies how the answer(s) to the problem is(are) marked for correctness, and gives a solution that may be shown to the student after the problem set is complete.

The sample file attached to this page shows this; below the file is shown to the left, with a second column on its right that explains the different parts of the problem that are indicated above. Two screenshots of the applet embedded in this WeBWorK problem are shown above.
The screenshot above shows the applet with just a few of the label cards in place. The student must drag the labels of the basic angles into position in order for the axis labels and the labels on the unit circle to appear. The student can turn one of the label cards over by clicking the down arrow after clicking the card. The reverse side of the card provides a decimal approximation in place of the exact value on its flip side.

The screen shot above shows the applet more nearly complete. All of the labels are in place, but very few of the cosine, sine and tangent cards have been placed. The WeBWorK problem only gives credit when the entire table is completed, but it will save the student's progress if the 'Submit answer' button is pressed. It is not possible to place a card incorrectly, however, cards must be close to the correct location to snap into place.
There are other example problems using applets:
GraphLimit Flash Applet Sample Problem
GraphLimit Flash Applet Sample Problem 2
Derivative Graph Matching Flash Applet Sample Problem
USub Applet Sample Problem

PG problem file Explanation
##DESCRIPTION
##  Trigonometry review
##ENDDESCRIPTION

##KEYWORDS('trigonometry', 'basic angles')

## DBsubject('Calculus')
## DBchapter('Review')
## DBsection('Trigonometry')
## Date('7/11/2011')
## Author('Barbara Margolius')
## Institution('Cleveland State University')
## TitleText1('')
## EditionText1('2011')
## AuthorText1('')
## Section1('')
## Problem1('')

########################################################################
# This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation
# under the grant DUE-0941388.
########################################################################


This is the tagging and description section of the problem. Note that any line that begins with a "#" character is a comment for other authors who read the problem, and is not interpreted by WeBWorK.

The description is provided to give a quick summary of the problem so that someone reading it later knows what it does without having to read through all of the problem code.

All of the tagging information exists to allow the problem to be easily indexed. Because this is a sample problem there isn't a textbook per se, and we've used some default tagging values. There is an on-line list of current chapter and section names and a similar list of keywords. The list of keywords should be comma separated and quoted (e.g., KEYWORDS('calculus','derivatives')).

DOCUMENT();        # This should be the first executable line in the problem.

"PGbasicmacros.pl",
"AppletObjects.pl",
);


This is the initialization section of the problem. The first executed line of the problem must be the DOCUMENT(); command. Note that every command must end with a semicolon.

The loadMacros command loads information that works behind the scenes. For our purposes we can usually just load the macros shown here and not worry about things further.

# Set up problem
TEXT(beginproblem());
$showPartialCorrectAnswers = 1; Context("Numeric");$ans =Compute("1");


This is the problem set-up section of the problem.

The trigwidget.swf applet is either completed or not. The applet returns a "1" when the student has completed the work and pressed the "Submit answer" button. Note that any work is lost if the student does not press the "Submit answer" button even if the applet has been completed.

###################################
###################################
$appletName = "trigwidget";$applet =  FlashApplet(
codebase              => findAppletCodebase("$appletName.swf"), appletName =>$appletName,
appletId              => $appletName, setStateAlias => 'setXML', getStateAlias => 'getXML', setConfigAlias => 'setConfig', getConfigAlias => 'getConfig', #initializeActionAlias => 'setXML', maxInitializationAttempts => 5, # number of attempts to initialize applet #submitActionAlias => 'getXML', answerBoxAlias => 'answerBox', height => '700', width => '1100', bgcolor => '#ffffff', debugMode => 0, submitActionScript => qq{getQE("answerBox").value=getApplet("$appletName").getAnswer() },
);
###################################
# Configure applet
###################################

#no initialization data
$applet->configuration(qq{<XML><stat success="0"/></XML>}); #no initialization data$applet->initialState(qq{<XML><stat success="0"/></XML>});

TEXT( MODES(TeX=>'object code', HTML=>$applet->insertAll( debug=>0, includeAnswerBox=>1, # reinitialize_button=>$permissionLevel>=10,
)));



This is the Applet link section of the problem.

Those portions of the code that begin the line with # are comments and can be omitted or replaced with comments appropriate to your particular problem.

You must include the section that follows # Create link to applet. If you are embedding a different applet, from the trigwidget applet, put your applet name in place of 'trigwidget' in the line $appletName = "trigwidget";. Enter the height of the applet in the line height => '700', in place of 700 and the width in the line width => '1100', in place of 1100. The lines $applet->configuration(qq{<XML><stat success="0"/></XML>}); and $applet->initialState(qq{<XML><stat success="0"/></XML>}); configure the applet. The only information here is that the applet initially has not been completed. Compare this with some of the other Flash applet embedded WeBWorK problems: GraphLimit Flash Applet Sample Problem GraphLimit Flash Applet Sample Problem 2 Derivative Graph Matching Flash Applet Sample Problem USub Applet Sample Problem which set several variables to configure the applet. The code qq{getQE("answerBox").value=getApplet("$appletName").getAnswer() } is called when the 'Submit Answers' button in the problem is pressed. The applet saves any work that has been done to the point when the 'Submit Answers' button was pressed and checks to see if the applet is done.

The lines TEXT( MODES(TeX=>'object code', HTML=>$applet->insertAll( debug=>0, includeAnswerBox=>0, reinitialize_button=>$permissionLevel>=10, ))); actually embeds the applet in the WeBWorK problem.
actually insert the applet in the WeBWorK problem.

BEGIN_TEXT

$BR$BR Complete the table by dragging the cards into postion.
Click  'submit answers' when done or to save your work to continue later.

END_TEXT
Context()->normalStrings;


This is the text section of the problem. The TEXT(beginproblem()); line displays a header for the problem, and the Context()->texStrings line sets how formulas are displayed in the text, and we reset this after the text section. Everything between the BEGIN_TEXT and END_TEXT lines (each of which must appear alone on a line) is shown to the student. There is no answer blank provided because the student completes work inside the applet.

##############################################################
#
#

NAMED_ANS('answerBox'=>$ans->cmp()); ENDDOCUMENT();  This is the answer section of the problem. The problem answer is returned from the applet when 'Submit answers' button is pressed. It is stored in 'answerBox' and compared to $ans when 'Submit answers' button is pressed. The code NAMED_ANS('answerBox'=>\$ans->cmp());, does this comparison. The applet expects "1" to be returned when the work in the applet has been completed.

The ENDDOCUMENT(); command is the last command in the file.