CSC/ECE 517 Spring 2015/oss E1502 wwj

E1502: Questionnaire Controller Refactoring

In this project, we have done some refactoring on the questionnaires_controller. We moved some methods to where we thought suited them, and changed the format of language into ruby style, deleted debugging statement. Details are displayed in the following sections.

Introduction to Expertiza

The Expertiza project is system for using peer review to create reusable learning objects. Students do different assignments; then peer review selects the best work in each category, and assembles it to create a single unit.<ref>Expertiza</ref>

Project Description

What it does:

Used on the admin side of Expertiza for creating/ editing questionnaires (rubrics, surveys and quizzes). It helps in add/removing questions, options, etc for a questionnaire.

Very big controller that handles a lot more than the name suggests. Functionalities need to be moved to appropriate controllers.

Quiz methods are should be treated the same as any other type of questionnaire; differences between quiz questionnaires and other questionnaires should be implemented in the model class, quiz_questionnaire

Turn the questionnaire into a “form object.” The ..._questions methods: save_new_questions, delete_questions, save_questions should be in a separate class.

Other classes involved:

questionnaire.rb

quiz_questionnaire.rb

questions_controller.rb

What needs to be done:

Move quiz related functions to quiz_questionnaire.rb.

copy, update_quiz, valid_quiz methods, clone_questionnaire_details is too long.

Debug output (print statements) should be removed.

Understand the functions in the controller and comment them. Ensure that the code is understandable to the next programmer who works on it.

What We Have Done

Method Refactoring

Method Name	Changes Made	Reason For Change
copy	Extracted the content of this method as copy_questionnaires method and put it in questionnaire.rb	The content of this method is about operations on the database (coping a questionnaire), it is better to be put in the model
valid_quiz	Moved this method to quiz_questionnaire.rb	This method is about validation of the quiz, it shouldn't appear in the controller
export	Moved this method to questionnaire.rb	This method exports the questionnaires as csv file, it should't appear in the controller
import	Moved this method to questionnaire.rb	This method imports the questionnaires from csv file, it should't appear in the controller
clone_questionnaire_details	Deleted this method due to the duplication	Substituted by copy_questionnaires method in questionnaire.rb

Format Refactoring

Case 1: Loop Condition

Change all the looping conditions into one format
Before

 # Remove a given questionnaire
  def delete
  .
  .
  .
  for question in @questionnaire.questions
  .
  .
  .
  end

After

 # Remove a given questionnaire
  def delete
  .
  .
  .
  @questionnaire.assignments.each
  .
  .
  .
  end

Case 2: If Condition

Change all the if conditions into ruby format
Before

 .
 .
 if @successful_create == true
 .
 . 
 unless this_q.nil?
 .
 .

After

 .
 .
 if @successful_create
 .
 .
 if this_q
 .
 .

Case 3: Name

Change all the name from "JAVA name" to "Ruby name"
Before

 #save an updated quiz questionnaire to the database
  def update_quiz
  .
  .
  .
  questionnum=1
  .
  .
  .
 end

After

 #save an updated quiz questionnaire to the database
  def update_quiz
  .
  .
  .
  question_num=1
  .
  .
  .
 end

Refactoring Example

In models/questionnaires.rb, we add copy_questionnaires method, as shown below:

def self.copy_questionnaires(id,user)
    @orig_questionnaire = Questionnaire.find(id)
    questions = Question.where(questionnaire_id: id)
    @questionnaire = @orig_questionnaire.clone
    @questionnaire.instructor_id = user.instructor_id  ## Why was TA-specific code removed here?  See Project E713.
    @questionnaire.name = 'Copy of ' + @orig_questionnaire.name

    if user.role.name != "Teaching Assistant"
      @questionnaire.instructor_id = user.id
    else # for TA we need to get his instructor id and by default add it to his course for which he is the TA
      @questionnaire.instructor_id = Ta.get_my_instructor(user.id)
    end
    @questionnaire.name = 'Copy of '+@orig_questionnaire.name


      @questionnaire.created_at = Time.now
      @questionnaire.save!

      questions.each{ | question |

        new_question = question.clone
        new_question.questionnaire_id = @questionnaire.id
        new_question.save

        advice = QuestionAdvice.find_by_question_id(question.id)
        if advice
          new_advice = advice.clone
          new_advice.question_id = newquestion.id
          new_advice.save
        end

        if (@questionnaire.section == "Custom")
          old_question_type = QuestionType.find_by_question_id(question.id)
          if old_question_type
            new_question_type = old_question_type.clone
            new_question_type.question_id = newquestion.id
            new_question_type.save
          end
        end
      }
      pFolder = TreeFolder.find_by_name(@questionnaire.display_type)
      parent = FolderNode.find_by_node_object_id(pFolder.id)
      unless QuestionnaireNode.where(parent_id: parent.id, node_object_id: @questionnaire.id)
        QuestionnaireNode.create(:parent_id => parent.id, :node_object_id => @questionnaire.id)
      end
  end

References

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