CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2017/E1776 Enhance Imports

Team Contact

MEMBERS

Pushpendra Patel: ppatel16@ncsu.edu

Tanay Kothari: tkothar@ncsu.edu

Timothy Dement: tmdement@ncsu.edu

MENTOR

Ferry Pramudianto: fferry@ncsu.edu

Topic Description

Backgroud

Expertiza is an open-source web application devloped on the Ruby on Rails platform that helps students to create reusable learning objects through peer review, and also supports document submission and team projects.

Expertiza includes several variations of import functionality, and allows the instructors to import following data:

• A list of users.
• A list of participants for an existing assignment.
• A list of participants for an existing course.
• A list of teams for an existing assignment
• A list of teams for an existing course.
• A list of reviewers (reviewing contributors to assignments).
• A list of meta-reviewers (reviewing reviewers).

These imports are done by uploading a file containing rows of data, with each individual value of a row separated by a given delimiter.

Expertiza allows four specifications for delimiters:

1. Comma
2. Space
3. Tab
4. Other (any custom delimiter provided by the user as text)

All of these import functions are routed through the Import File Controller, which is responsible for parsing file data and delegating the import process to the appropriate model.

Problem Statement

The following is an Expertiza based OSS project which deals primarily with the Import File controller. This project is associated with fixing issue #110 on the Expertiza Github. The problem with these imports is that they are not implemented consistently. There are restrictions to how the columns should be ordered in the import file. In the current implementation, rows are taken is arrays and the column number of specific fields required in imports are hardcoded in the helper methods of different imports. This is the reason, why order of columns is restricted during an import. The aim of this project is to improve the import functionality as well as provide a flexible and user-friendly user-interface to the users so that they are able easily import users, participants, topics, etc.

Solution

To resolve this issue we have changed the interface and the import process to an extent, keeping the core methods of import intact with just few required minor changes. In the new interface, upon importing, the system would then display what was imported, and let the user choose from a dropdown which field was which. The default ordering is the same as what is currently required by Expertiza unless a specific order is provided by the user as a header in the import file.

In our implementation of the import method, we have made the use of hash data structure. We create an array of hashes, in which each row of the array corresponds to a row inside the import file. In each hash, its key is the field name and value is the actual value of that field which will be entered in the database corresponding to the model being imported. This helps in making the sequence of columns flexible while saving the data as we no longer depend on the position of fields of data being imported from the file.

Added Features

Files Changed

Assets

To implement the functionality of non-duplicate column names, we created two new methods checkIfUserColumnDuplicate() and checkIfParticipateColumnDuplicate() in the shared.js . We have also fixed the checkIfFileExist() method so that if the user doesn't select the file and click on import button it gives him/her an error stating that "No file has been selected to import".

Config

We needed to change the routes.rb so that the new partial views can be implemented.

Controllers

For the enhancement of the import functionality, we modified the import_file_controller. In this controller, we modified one existing method import(), other than that we had to declare some additional methods import_from_hash(), hash_rows_with_headers(), parse_to_hash(), parse_to_grid() and show().

Helpers

As we changed the original implementation from array to hash we need to also modify the import_file_helper a little bit.

Models

Here is a list of models and their respective methods that we had to modify to enhance the import functionality:

1. assignment_participant : self.import()
2. course_participant : self.import()
3. course_team : add_member()
4. metareview_response_map : self.import()
5. review_response_map : self.import()
6. team : import_team_members() and self.import()
7. user : self.import()

Views

To use the import functionality in a new and enhanced way, we modified one of the existing view and added new views, listed below:

Views Modified:

1. start.html.erb

Views Created:

1. _metareviewer.html.erb
2. _participant.html.erb
3. show.html.erb
4. _reviewer.html.erb
5. _team.html.erb
6. _user.html.erb

Demonstrations

User Import

User Import Demo

This video demonstrates the enhanced import features for the User model with several varying examples, and also demonstrates that the original error messaging system is preserved with our new implementation.

Assigment Participant and Course Participant Import

Participant Import Demo

This video demonstrates the enhanced import features for the Assignment Participant and Course Participant models with several varying examples.

Assignment Team and Course Team Import

Team Import Demo

This video demonstrates the enhanced import features for the Assignment Team and Course Team models with several varying examples.

Reviewer and Meta-reviewer Import

LINK TO YOUTUBE VIDEO

This video demonstrates the enhanced import features for the Review Response Map and Metareview Response Map models with several varying examples.

Navigating Expertiza

User Import

To begin the User import process, first select the "User" link from the "Manage" drop-down menu.

Manage Users

Next, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Import Users" link.

Import Users

You will then be redirected to the User import page.

Participant Import

There are two types of Participants, Assignment Participants and Course Participants.

Assignment Participant Import

To begin the Assignment Participant import process, first select the "Assignments" link from the "Manage" drop-down menu.

Manage Assignments

Make sure that "Assignments" is highlighted on the "Manage content" page, then locate the appropriate assignment and click the "Add Participants" button.

Add Assignment Participant

Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Import assignment participants" link.

Import Assignment Participant

You will then be redirected to the Assignment Participant import page.

Course Participant Import

To begin the Course Participant import process, first select the "Courses" link from the "Manage" drop-down menu.

Manage Courses

Make sure that "Courses" is highlighted on the "Manage content" page, then locate the appropriate course and click the "Add Participants" button.

Add Course Participant

Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Import course participants" link.

Import Course Participant

You will then be redirected to the Course Participant import page.

Team Import

There are two types of Teams, Assignment Teams and Course Teams.

Assignment Team Import

To begin the Assignment Team import process, first select the "Assignments" link from the "Manage" drop-down menu.

Manage Assignments

Make sure that "Assignments" is highlighted on the "Manage content" page, then locate the appropriate assignment and click the "Create Teams" button.

Create Assignment Team

Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Import Teams" link.

Import Assignment Teams

You will then be redirected to the Assignment Team import page.

Course Team Import

To begin the Course Team import process, first select the "Courses" link from the "Manage" drop-down menu.

Manage Courses

Make sure that "Courses" is highlighted on the "Manage content" page, then locate the appropriate assignment and click the "Create Teams" button.

Create Course Team

Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Import Teams" link.

Import Course Teams

You will then be redirected to the Course Team import page.

Reviewer and Metareviewer Import

To begin the Reviewer and Metareviewer import process, first select the "Assignments" link from the "Manage" drop-down menu.

Manage Assignments

Make sure that "Assignments" is highlighted on the "Manage content" page, then locate the appropriate assignment and click the "Assign reviewers" button.

Assign Reviewers

Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click either the "Import reviewer mappings" link or the "Import meta reviewer mappings" link.

Import Reviewer Mappings

Import Metareviewer Mappings

You will then be redirected to either the Reviewer import page or the Metareviewer import page.