Difference between revisions of "Client Editor"
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=== External Client Editor=== |
=== External Client Editor=== |
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− | It |
+ | It is often convenient to use an external editor to write new WeBWorK questions rather than to compose them using the web browser interface. To do this your local |
editor calls the script <code>renderProblem.pl</code> which sends the current contents of the editor off to a WeBWorK server for processing and then displays the resulting |
editor calls the script <code>renderProblem.pl</code> which sends the current contents of the editor off to a WeBWorK server for processing and then displays the resulting |
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rendered problem in a browser. The question is "live" so you can enter responses and see whether they are graded correctly. The text of the new question remains on your desktop or laptop. |
rendered problem in a browser. The question is "live" so you can enter responses and see whether they are graded correctly. The text of the new question remains on your desktop or laptop. |
Revision as of 10:50, 4 November 2010
Contents
External Client Editor
It is often convenient to use an external editor to write new WeBWorK questions rather than to compose them using the web browser interface. To do this your local
editor calls the script renderProblem.pl
which sends the current contents of the editor off to a WeBWorK server for processing and then displays the resulting
rendered problem in a browser. The question is "live" so you can enter responses and see whether they are graded correctly. The text of the new question remains on your desktop or laptop.
How to use it
UnderConstruction
- Create a short screencast showing the external client in action.
Configuring renderProblem.pl
The configuration section for the client is at the top of the renderProblem.pl file.
- A valid local path must be entered for the TEMPOUTPUTFILE.
- A valid command line string must be entered for the DISPLAY_COMMAND.
- Choose a server site to render the questions for display.
# Sample path to a temporary file for storing the output of renderProblem.pl on a Mac. use constant TEMPOUTPUTFILE => '/Users/gage/Desktop/renderProblemOutput.html'; # Sample command lines for displaying the temporary file in a browser on a Mac. use constant DISPLAY_COMMAND => 'open -a firefox '; #browser opens tempoutputfile above # use constant DISPLAY_COMMAND => "open -a 'Google Chrome' ";
my $use_site; $use_site = 'test_webwork'; # select rendering sitetest.webwork.maa.org
#$use_site = 'local'; # select rendering sitelocalhost
#$use_site = 'rochester_test'; # select rendering site128.151.231.2
(at Rochester)
Configuring the client editor
- BBEdit on the Mac
For BBEdit (on the Mac) the renderProblem.pl
must be copied from webwork2/clients/renderProblem.pl
to ~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Unix Support/Unix Filters/renderProblem.pl
on the Mac. I also assign this filter a key command ^R
so that a problem can be rendered with a single stroke.
- Unix editors
Most modern browsers have facilities for passing their contents through a command line filter.
- Command line
From the command line
renderProblem.pl <TextInputFileName
- grabs the contents of the file
TextInputFileName
- ships it to the WeBWorK server site for rendering,
- stores the result in the TEMPOUTPUTFILE and then
- executes the DISPLAY_COMMAND to display the TEMPOUTPUTFILE.
Configuring the server
Every WeBWorK site is automatically configured to be a server for external client editors. The site
will return an error message unless the course "daemon_course" has been created. The default name of the course can be changed in the renderViaXMLRPC.pm
file (see below).
IMPORTANT: The line defining the server url must be completed. It should appear
near the top of global.conf
and should be copied from global.conf.dist
if it does not.
$apache_server_url = ""; # http://your.server.edu
Other changes, such as modifications to the password and to the name of the "daemon_course" associated with the external client editor are made in webwork2/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator/renderViaXMLRPC.pm
. (These configuration lines may be moved to global.conf
at a later date.)
When working correctly a reboot of the apache server should print to the command line several messages specifying the location of the top directory (e.g. /opt/webwork/webwork2
) of the WeBWorK source code.
webwork.apache2-config: WeBWorK root directory set to /opt/webwork/webwork2 WebworkWebservice: webwork_directory set to /opt/webwork/webwork2