WeBWorK Databases and Map

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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.

WW Software Database

Once or twice a year I will go through the whole database looking for errors, missing information, etc.

Select the WW Software database and then "View All". The URL ends with "&viewby=50" meaning you are viewing 50 entries. I usually change this to "&viewby=5000" so all entries are displayed. Click on "Date" at the top of the column and the entries will be sorted by date. Scroll to the bottom to see the latest entries. Here you will often find problems. For example if the map is not being displayed, look for bad entries, especially errors in the Lat/Long field. Typically bad entries are entries with non-numerical characters, e.g quotes or letters such as N, S E, W. Also you will probably see a lot of entries with missing Lat/Long entries. You can add them now (more on this below) but what I usually do is to first click on "University" at the top of the column to sort entries alphabetically. Then slowly scroll down. Often people setting up a new version of WeBWorK will register which will create multiple entries. If you see multiple entries you can delete all but one (I often keep the oldest checking that the info is still correct). Also you can enter any missing Lat/Long's. To edit an entry click on the row, then select "edit".

Hint if the map does not display

Select the WW Software database and then "View All". The URL ends with "&viewby=50" and change this to "&viewby=5000" so all entries are displayed. The click on "Latitude/Longitude" and scroll down through the listing looking for bad entries as described above.

Finding Lat/Long's

For "Latitude/Longitude" enter the Latitude and Longitude of the institution using the format 43.112889,-77.633944. The best way to find this is to search on Google Maps for the institution, right click on the resulting pin and select "What's here". Under the search box, an info card with coordinates will appear (Or you may have to click on the coordinates for an info box with a copyable version of the coordinates to appear). Then copy the numbers that appear. Note that on older versions of Google Maps, the coordinates will appear in the search box at the top of the page.