WeBWorK Databases and Map

This article is under construction. Use the information herein with caution until this message is removed.

These instructions cover the maintenance of the WeBWorK Databases and Map.

Overview

There are three WeBWorK databases: "WebWork", "WeBWorK Trial" and "WW Software" and one map "http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/WeBWorK_Sites" together with a listing of WeBWorK sites. To access the databases login at http://forms.maa.org/login.aspx. The login gives one access to many MAA databases so be very careful to only look at and work on the WeBWorK databases. A script (which we have never seen and do not have access to) reads the three databases and using that information generates the map and accompanying list of WeBWorK sites every time the above map page is accessed. If a database gets "corrupted" the script may die and the map will not be generated although usually the list of WeBWorK sites will be generated. If the map is not generated usually the problem is that a recent entry in the "WW Software" databases has an invalid lat/long entry. Other problems such as bad information in the list of WeBWorK sites is usually due to conflicting information in the three databases (it's not clear how the script handles conflicting information). Usually this occurs when a school that was previously hosted at MAA decides to run WeBWorK on their own server. The solution is to inactivate all entries except the correct one which usually means inactivating entries in the "WebWork" and/or "WeBWorK Trial" databases and having one active correct entry in the "WW Software" database. Details on this and on how to keep the lists current are given below.