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Opaque server setup

Opaque server setup

by Sean Fitzpatrick -
Number of replies: 7

I'm testing this summer to see if I can get the opaque server working. This is slightly tricky because I run the WeBWorK server but I do not have admin access to Moodle.

The Moodle people have set up things on the Moodle side according to the instructions on Mike's blog, and I have the opaque client installed, and daemon course set up on the WeBWorK side.

If I try to set up a question in Moodle, I get the following error:

The question engine was not able to return the maximum grades for this question. Are you sure the remote id and version are correct? (Technical information: Wrong Version)

Any ideas what we could be doing wrong?

In reply to Sean Fitzpatrick

Re: Opaque server setup

by Keir Lockridge -

I can't help you, but I have a question for you about what your Moodle people did on the Moodle side. I think that blog post is from 2017. Is it now as simple as installing this

https://moodle.org/plugins/qtype_opaque

plugin? And then having the Moodle folks do step 2 in the blog post?

In reply to Keir Lockridge

Re: Opaque server setup

by Sean Fitzpatrick -

Hmm. I will have to ask them. I sent them that blog post (couldn't find more up to date information) and I think they followed it.

In reply to Sean Fitzpatrick

Re: Opaque server setup

by Sean Fitzpatrick -
I'm also a bit concerned that using opaque requires admin access on the part of the instructor.
The last part of the blog post talks about how to import webwork set definition files as Moodle question banks.
But it indicates that you need a new question engine every time you import a homework set, and creating a new question engine requires submitting a ticket to IT.
How does a regular instructor with faculty-level privileges on Moodle set up and use Opaque?
In reply to Sean Fitzpatrick

Re: Opaque server setup

by Sean Fitzpatrick -
Also: does anyone know where to look for error logs on the WeBWorK side for opaque?
In the ww_opaque_server folder, the only thing in logs/ is an empty README.
In reply to Sean Fitzpatrick

Re: Opaque server setup

by Sean Fitzpatrick -
Apologies for the bump: we are still stuck on figuring out Opaque for our system. Is Opaque sort of dead now? We thought it would be nice if quizzes could be Moodle quizzes rather than Gateway.

But summer is running out so we might have to give up on this.

I run WeBWorK; IT and the Teaching Centre run Moodle. They lack free time and I lack any real sort of expertise when it comes to running a server.
In reply to Sean Fitzpatrick

Re: Opaque server setup

by Michael Gage -
Opaque is not dead but it hasn't had TLC recently. What version of moodle are you running? Part of the reason for the lack of TLC is that as far as I can tell the moodle Opaque module (which is the client for this) is not being actively maintained and may need minor updates for newer versions of moodle.

In the longer term I expect OpaqueServer (and also wwassignment) to replaced by some kind of LTI connector since that is a universal standard. I believe that you and a few groups in Quebec are the main users of Opaque at the moment.

I'll see what I can do in the way of quick fixes and let you know what I find out.

-- Mike
In reply to Michael Gage

Re: Opaque server setup

by Sean Fitzpatrick -

I think we are on Moodle 3.82+. That is the version number I saw quoted by one of our Teaching Centre people when we were debugging something else earlier this summer. (As far as I can tell, faculty do not have sufficient privileges to view things like version number!)

Some of the difficulty is probably that I can't sit down in the same room as someone with admin privileges on Moodle to figure this out.

Of course we know other options for injecting a WeBWorK problem into a webpage (like in PreTeXt) but I don't know of a way to do that in a way that would result in an answer being recorded by a Moodle quiz question.

I had good intentions of learning how to use your script to generate Moodle question banks from WeBWorK set definition files. But the instructions mentioned the need to create a new question engine each time, which requires admin privileges on Moodle. Our Moodle people are overworked as it is so I don't think they'll be happy if I flood them with requests for new question engines.