Talk:Show file paths Design

from http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=3127&parent=7737

A couple of observations:

I believe that site.conf is read before defaults.config, meaning that any such configuration set there would be overridden by defaults.config. The proper place to make such changes for the whole system is in localOverrides.conf. It is not advised to edit defaults.config, as it is overwritten when WeBWorK is upgraded to a new version. The following line: print_path_to_problem => "student", # see "Special" PG environment variables means that students themselves will see the filenames for problems. My understanding is that in one of the recent versions (2.7 perhaps?), the behaviour was changed so that determining whether to show the file path is based on the permissions of the effective user (who you are "acting as"), rather than the actual user.

There is a use case both for showing and not showing the file path when an instructor is acting as a student. As Dick Lane mentioned, there are times when an instructor wants to print a copy of a student's assignment to give to a student. In this case, one would not want file paths showing. I also share William's sentiment above, that having the file paths show up when acting as a student often makes troubleshooting easier.

I can't think of a scenario where I have needed to hide file paths in the web interface when an instructor is acting as a student, only in hardcopies. Does anyone have such a scenario? If not, the fix may be to always show the file path in the web interface (for users with sufficient permissions), but give an additional option in the hardcopy generator as to whether to show file paths.

Danny