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Help on this one please

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    #1

    Help on this one please

    I�m planning to create an application for students to take a GRE practice test online.
    I have the following tables:

    tblCourse
    {CourseID} (AutoIncrement �AI)
    {CourseName} (Character)

    tblThemes
    {ThemeID} (AI)
    {CourseID}(Numeric)
    {ThemeName}(Character)
    {Explanation}(Memo)

    tblExercises
    {ExerciseID}(AI)
    {ThemeID}(N)
    {Exercise}(Memo)

    I want it to be a Multiple Choice practice test and those choices presented to the student must be at random from a to d one of them being the correct one. I know I need another field or fields in the tblExercises table, but I don�t know how to accomplish this. I�m new to Alpha and I have no knowledge of XBasic� any help would be appreciate it.

    For example:
    Student 1 sees this:

    1. Find the value of X in 2x + 5 = 11
    a. 8
    b. 4
    c. 3
    d. -3


    Student 2 sees this:

    1. Find the value of X in 2x + 5 = 11
    a. -3
    b. 8
    c. 4
    d. 3
    Correct answer is 3� for Student 1 is c and for student 2 is d.
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Help on this one please

    This one's a toughy! I'm sure some smart person will give you a better answer than my conceptual one. Conceptually, I would put Qs & 4-A's all in the same table (5-fields minimum). Then you need a student [1:M] student_answer tables/set (I assume this is desktop, but same principle w. grids). Using xbasic generate 4 child records for each student question, where the 4 possible answers are randomized by some kind of algorithm (rand() function maybe?). Definitely tricky!
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

     [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Help on this one please

      you got me on the Xbasic part, but in your tables you could have something like this...

      Tables -

      tableQuestions:
      • {Id}(int/UUID)
      • {ExcerciseId}(int/UUID)
      • {QuestionText}(Character)


      tableAnswers:
      • {Id}(int/UUID)
      • {QuestionId}(int/UUID)
      • {AnswerText}(Character)
      • {Correct}(Logical)


      So the logic of this is that you can search the answers table to find all the answers for the Question that you are on by Id and get all the answers for that question. Then you can create a random number generator that selects a the positions for each answer. You also set a variable somewhere that will tell you what position you put the correct answer in.

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Help on this one please

        Thanks to both... I'll take your approach Benjamin, lets see now who can help me with the XBasic code.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Help on this one please

          You're welcome to pick this apart but I was looking at a different approach.

          tableQuestions:
          {Id}(int/UUID)
          {ExcerciseId}(int/UUID)
          {QuestionText}(Character)
          {True_answer}
          {Choices} 'like "8,4,3,-3"

          The udf scramble() returns "ABCD" in some order.

          Code:
          FUNCTION scramble AS C ( )
	choices = "ABCD"
	its  = ceiling(rand()*100)
	FOR i = 1 TO its
		choices = *transpose(choices,ceiling(mod(rand()*100,4)),ceiling(mod(rand()*100,4)))
	next i
	scramble = choices
END FUNCTION
          The function disp returns a paired up list to show.

          Code:
          FUNCTION disp AS C (tchoices AS C )
	lets = scramble()
	disp = ""
	i = 1
	for each foo in comma_to_crlf(tchoices)
		disp = disp + substr(lets,i,1)+". "+foo.value+crlf()
		i = i + 1
	next
	disp = sortsubstr(disp,crlf())
END FUNCTION
          Examples from the interactive..


          Code:
          ? disp("3,8,4,-3")
= A. 8
B. -3
C. 3
D. 4

? disp("3,8,4,-3")
= A. -3
B. 3
C. 8
D. 4


? disp("3,8,4,-3")
= A. 8
B. 3
C. -3
D. 4


? disp("3,8,4,-3")
= A. -3
B. 8
C. 4
D. 3
          The usage to generate a list of choices for a given question would be

          disp(choices)

          where choices is the field in the current record.
          There can be only one.

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Help on this one please

            That is great! I am glad to see that. I will add that little bit to my kit bag.

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Help on this one please

              Great! I'll let you know if I managed to do it! Thanks!

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Help on this one please

                Nice job, Stan.
                Peter
                AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                 [email protected]
                https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Help on this one please

                  Thanks.

                  Actually there is nothing to prevent two sequential uses of the disp function from returning the same choices. With only 24 possible combinations there is some likelihood that it will occur. I think the process will get you where you need to be though.

                  More examples should anyone else be looking.

                  Code:
                  ? disp("one,seven,nine,thirteen")
= A. nine
B. thirteen
C. seven
D. one

? disp("one,seven,nine,thirteen")
= A. seven
B. one
C. nine
D. thirteen


? disp("a,a and c,c and d,none of these")
= A. none of these
B. a
C. a and c
D. c and d

? disp("a,a and c,c and d,none of these")
= A. c and d
B. none of these
C. a and c
D. a

? disp("a,a and c,c and d,none of these")
= A. a
B. a and c
C. c and d
D. none of these
                  There can be only one.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Help on this one please

                    Yes, but when a test is generated it is almost impossible to get two exact tests.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Help on this one please

                      Very unlikely, true.
                      There can be only one.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Help on this one please

                        If you can't tell, I'm having a slow Friday.

                        Modified the scramble function to accept a numeric parameter indicating how many letter choices to use.

                        Code:
                        FUNCTION scramble AS C (cnt as n )
	choices = substr("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",1,cnt)
	its  = ceiling(rand()*100)
	FOR i = 1 TO its
		choices = *transpose(choices,ceiling(mod(rand()*100,cnt)),ceiling(mod(rand()*100,cnt)))
	next i
	scramble = choices
END FUNCTION
                        Then modified the disp function to pick up the number of choices in the tchoices parameter.

                        Code:
                        FUNCTION disp AS C (tchoices AS C )
	cnt = w_count(tchoices,",")
	lets = scramble(cnt)
	disp = ""
	i = 1
	for each foo in comma_to_crlf(tchoices)
		disp = disp + substr(lets,i,1)+". "+foo.value+crlf()
		i = i + 1
	next
	disp = sortsubstr(disp,crlf())
END FUNCTION

                        Code:
                        ? disp("one,two,three,four,five,six,seven")
= A. two
B. seven
C. three
D. five
E. six
F. four
G. one

? disp("one,two,three,four,five,six,seven")
= A. two
B. five
C. one
D. seven
E. four
F. three
G. six


? disp("red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet,mauve,cerise,vermillion,rose,crimson")
= A. violet
B. cerise
C. blue
D. yellow
E. mauve
F. rose
G. red
H. vermillion
I. indigo
J. orange
K. crimson
L. green

? disp("red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet,mauve,cerise,vermillion,rose,crimson")
= A. green
B. yellow
C. orange
D. rose
E. indigo
F. violet
G. cerise
H. vermillion
I. crimson
J. red
K. blue
L. mauve
                        You probably don't want that many choices, but you can have them if you do. Also means you can

                        Code:
                        ? disp("true,false")
= A. true
B. false

? disp("true,false")
= A. false
B. true
                        Last edited by Stan Mathews; 03-12-2010, 03:04 PM.
                        There can be only one.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Help on this one please

                          This is getting better ;) Thanks!

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Help on this one please

                            I will add that little bit to my kit bag
                            Definitely in my "Help" file as well---

                            Thank you Stan.

                            This will most likely at some time be yet another code snippet that I will use to create my own without having to reinvent the wheel---in fact it has been a rare occurence that I have NOT found code on the messageboard or help file to serve as a base for my own to modify! (now if only the webside had as many samples!....just needs a bit more time I guess to catch up).
                            Mike
                            __________________________________________
                            It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
                            It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
                            Henry David Thoreau
                            __________________________________________



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