GraphSketch Flash Applet Sample Problem 1

Sample Problem with graphSketch.swf embedded

This sample problem shows how to use this versatile applet.

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. A screenshot of the applet embedded in this WeBWorK problem is shown below:

There are other example problems using this applet:
GraphSketch Flash Applet Sample Problem 2
And other problems using applets:
Derivative Graph Matching Flash Applet Sample Problem
USub Applet Sample Problem
trigwidget Applet Sample Problem
solidsWW Flash Applet Sample Problem 1
solidsWW Flash Applet Sample Problem 2
solidsWW Flash Applet Sample Problem 3
Hint Applet (Trigonometric Substitution) Sample Problem
Other useful links:
Flash Applets Tutorial
Things to consider in developing WeBWorK problems with embedded Flash applets

PG problem file	Explanation
##DESCRIPTION ## understanding derivatives graphically ##ENDDESCRIPTION ##KEYWORDS('derivatives', 'graph','Flash applets','NSF-0941388') ## DBsubject('Calculus') ## DBchapter('Limits and Derivatives') ## DBsection('Derivatives') ## Date('6/12/2012') ## Author('Barbara Margolius') ## Institution('Cleveland State University') ## TitleText1('') ## EditionText1('2012') ## 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(); loadMacros( "PGstandard.pl", "AppletObjects.pl", "MathObjects.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"); $pos = 2; #don't care whether positive or negative $inc = 1; #function should be decreasing $cup = 2; #don't care whether concave up or down $boardMessage = "Sketch a function with a positive derivative."; $showMM = 'false'; # don't display x and y ranges	The graphSketch.swf applet will accept settings for whether the function is to be positive or negative, increasing or decreasing, or concave up or concave down. A setting of '1' indicates it must have this behavior, a setting of '0' indicates it must have the opposite of this behavior and a setting of '2' indicates that this behavior is not required. $pos = 2 indicates we don't care whether the function is positive or negative. $inc=1 indicates the function must be increasing. $boardMessage is a pg variable that places a message to the student in the applet generally used to tell them what kind of function to draw. It is a good idea to also provide this information in the pg file text area since help within the applet is context sensitive and the message will not display at all times. $showMM = 'false'; tells the applet to suppress display of the minimum and maximum values for x and y within the graph window. This information is usually not needed to sketch the type of function specified. The x- and y-ranges are fixed from -5 to 5. Display of the ranges may be helpful if the student is asked to sketch a curve through a given point. This behavior is described in another graphSketch example.
################################### # Create link to applet ################################### $appletName = "graphSketch"; $applet = FlashApplet( codebase => findAppletCodebase("$appletName.swf"), appletName => $appletName, appletId => $appletName, setStateAlias => 'setXML', getStateAlias => 'getXML', setConfigAlias => 'setConfig', getConfigAlias => 'getConfig', maxInitializationAttempts => 5, # number of attempts to initialize applet answerBoxAlias => 'answerBox', height => '550', width => '550', bgcolor => '#ededed', debugMode => 0, submitActionScript => qq{getQE("answerBox").value=getApplet("$appletName").getAnswer() }, );	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.
################################### # Configure applet ################################### #initialization data - problem setup # $pos - 0 to require negative function # 1 to require positive function # 2 to not require the function to # be either positive or negative # $inc - 0 to require decreasing function # 1 to require increasing function # 2 to not require the function to # be either increasing or decreasing # $cup - 0 to require concave down function # 1 to require concave up function # 2 to not require the function to # be either concave up or concave down # the student can also be required to have the # curve go through one or two points. Syntax is # <pts><pt xval='1' yval='2' showIt='true'/></pts> # to display the point (1,2) and require the # function to go through it # # $boardMessage - instructions to # display in applet. # $showMM - displays x and y ranges. # Not usually needed. Might be # helpful if curve is to go through # particular points.	You must include the section that follows # Create link to applet. If you are embedding a different applet, from the graphSketch applet, put your applet name in place of 'graphSketch' in the line $appletName = "graphSketch";. Enter the height of the applet in the line height => '550', in place of 550 and the width in the line width => '550', in place of 550.
$applet->configuration(qq{<xml> <pos>$pos</pos><inc>$inc</inc> <cup>$cup</cup> <boardMessage>$boardMessage</boardMessage> <showMM>$showMM</showMM> <bland>true</bland></xml>}); $applet->initialState(qq{<xml> <pos>$pos</pos><inc>$inc</inc> <cup>$cup</cup> <boardMessage>$boardMessage</boardMessage> <showMM>$showMM</showMM> <bland>true</bland></xml>});; TEXT( MODES(TeX=>'object code', HTML=>$applet->insertAll( debug=>0, includeAnswerBox=>0, ))); END_TEXT	The lines $applet->configuration (qq{<xml><pos>$pos</pos> <inc>$inc</inc> <cup>$cup</cup> <boardMessage>$boardMessage</boardMessage> <showMM>$showMM</showMM> <bland>true</bland></xml></xml>}); and $applet ->initialState(qq{<xml> (qq{<xml><pos>$pos</pos> <inc>$inc</inc> <cup>$cup</cup> <boardMessage>$boardMessage</boardMessage> <showMM>$showMM</showMM> <bland>true</bland></xml></xml>}); configure the applet. The configuration of the applet is done in xml. $pos, $inc, and $cup, variables are explained above. END_TEXT The line TEXT(MODES(TeX=>"", HTML=><<'END_TEXT')); prevents the hidden fields from becoming part of the hard copy. TEXT( MODES(TeX=>'object code', HTML=>$applet->insertAll( debug=>0, includeAnswerBox=>0, reinitialize_button=>$permissionLevel>=10, ))); actually embeds the applet in the WeBWorK problem. When the submit button is pressed, the hidden form fields defined in this block are filled with information from the applet. The data from the hidden form fields is used in these simple perl subroutines to define the correct answers to the four questions that are part of this WeBWorK problem. The WeBWorK variable $answerString1 is the content of the hidden form field "func". $correctAnswer1 is the solution to the first question. The solutions for the next two questions are defined in a similar way. The final question also has 'DNE' as a possible correct answer for the student to enter. The way that the applet is designed, the left and right limits always exist.
TEXT(MODES(TeX=>"", HTML=><<'END_TEXT')); <script> if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE") > 0) { document.write("<div width='3in' align='center' style='background:yellow'> You seem to be using Internet Explorer. <br/>It is recommended that another browser be used to view this page.</div>"); } </script> END_TEXT	The text between the <script> tags detects whether the student is using Internet Explorer. If the student is using this browser, a warning is issued and the student is advised to use another browser. IE mis-sizes the applets. Some will work correctly when displayed at the wrong size, but others will fail. We do not recommend using IE with WeBWorK problems with Flash embedded.
BEGIN_TEXT $BR The graph shown is for the function \(f(x)\). $BR Compute the following quantities: $BR a) \(f($x1)=\) \{ans_rule(35) \} $BR b) \(\lim_{x\to {$x2}^+}f(x)=\) \{ans_rule(35) \} $BR c) \(\lim_{x\to {$x3}^-}f(x)=\) \{ans_rule(35) \} $BR d) \(\lim_{x\to {$x4}}f(x)=\) \{ans_rule(35) \} $BR 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. Mathematical equations are delimited by \( \) (for inline equations) or \[ \] (for displayed equations); in these contexts inserted text is assumed to be TeX code. There are a number of variables that set formatting: $PAR is a paragraph break (like \par in TeX). This page gives a list of variables like this. Finally, \{ \} sets off code that will be executed in the problem text. Here, ans_rule(35) is a function that inserts an answer blank 35 characters wide.
############################# # # Answers # ## answer evaluators ANS( $correctAnswer1->cmp() ); #checks AnSwEr00001 ANS( $correctAnswer2->cmp() ); #checks AnSwEr00002 ANS( $correctAnswer3->cmp() ); #checks AnSwEr00003 ANS(num_cmp($correctAnswer4, strings=>['DNE'])); #checks AnSwEr00004 ENDDOCUMENT();	This is the answer section of the problem. The problem answer is set by the ANS( $correctAnswer1->cmp() );, ANS( $correctAnswer2->cmp() );, ANS( $correctAnswer3->cmp() );, and ANS(num_cmp ($correctAnswer4, strings=>['DNE'])); lines. These compare the student's answer with the answers returned from the applet. Answers 1-3 follow the same basic structure. The fourth answer allows for either a numeric answer or the string 'DNE' for limits that do not exist. The solution is embedded in the applet and becomes available when the due date has passed. The ENDDOCUMENT(); command is the last command in the file.