CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2022 - E2255. Refactor student quizzes controller.rb

About Expertiza

Expertiza is a multi-purpose web application built using Ruby on Rails for Students and Instructors. Instructors enrolled in Expertiza can create and customize classes, teams, assignments, quizzes, and many more. On the other hand, Students are also allowed to form teams, attempt quizzes, and complete assignments. Apart from that, Expertiza also allows students to provide peer reviews enabling them to work together to improve others' learning experiences. It is an open-source application and its Github repository is Expertiza.

E2255. Refactoring student_quizzes_controller.rb in Expertiza

This page is a description of Expertiza OSS project E2255, which is refactoring the student_quizzes_controller.rb file.

Controller Description

The student_quizzes_controller consists of methods involved in creating, scoring & recording responses of the quizzes taken by reviewers or students of the other teams with the same assignment. This controller has some issues that violate essential Rails design principles such as the DRY principle. There are a few methods in this controller that should have been in model classes. Some methods share code, which creates code repetition. Some method comments need to be rewritten.

Files Modified

1. app/controllers/student_quizzes_controller.rb
2. app/views/student_quizzes/finished_quiz.html
3. app/helpers/student_quizzes_helper.rb

Modifications made to the existing code

1. Modification - Added comments for custom methods in this controller explaining the purpose.

#Checks authorization for any action based on user type: Student or Teaching Assistant.

#returns quizzes to be reviewed for a participant.

#checks if logged in user is not a participant.
def index

#For Student, check if student has authorizations of reviewer & submitter.
#returns true for any action other than 'index'.
#check if user is Teaching Assistant
def action_allowed?

#Checks authorization for any action based on user type: Student or Teaching Assistant.

#returns quizzes to be reviewed for a participant.

#checks if logged in user is not a participant.
def index

# Populating Quiz Response Data.

# Populating participant response.
#Populating Quiz Response.
#Populating Quiz Questions.
#Populating ResponseMap.
#Populating participant who gave the quiz.
#Populating quiz score of the Participant
def finished_quiz

# check if there is any response for this map_id. This is to prevent student take same quiz twice.

# If there is no instance of the response of the student, create new and save.<br>
#Quiz is already taken.<br>
def record_response

#Get all teams of participants who created quizzes.
#Get all quizzes of the team.
#Populate all the questionnaires of quiz.
def review_questions

2. Modification - Removed unused function from:
student_quizzes_controller.rb:

  def graded?(response, question)
    Answer.where(question_id: question.id, response_id: response.id).first
  end

3. Modification - Line 33 - Name of function has been renamed from record_response to save_quiz_response and also renamed other variables to better understand the purpose of the function.
student_quizzes_controller.rb:

Old:

  def record_response
    map = ResponseMap.find(params[:map_id])
    if map.response.empty? # If there is no instance of the response of the student, create new and save.

New:

  def save_quiz_response
    participant_response = ResponseMap.find(params[:map_id])
    if participant_response.response.empty? # If there is no instance of the response of the student, create new and save.

4. Modification - Line 34 - Changed variable names to better understand what information they are storing.
student_quizzes_controller.rb:
Old:

calculate_score map, response
redirect_to controller: 'student_quizzes', action: 'finished_quiz', map_id: map.id

New:

calculate_score participant_response, response
redirect_to controller: 'student_quizzes', action: 'finished_quiz', map_id: participant_response.id

config/routes.rb:
Old:

post :record_response

New:

post :save_quiz_response

5. Modification - Line 34 - Changed variable names like @response to @participant_response to better understand what information they are storing.
student_quizzes_controller.rb:
Old:

    @response = Response.where(map_id: params[:map_id]).first # Populating participant response
    @response_map = QuizResponseMap.find(params[:map_id]) #Populating Quiz Response
    @questions = Question.where(questionnaire_id: @response_map.reviewed_object_id) #Populating Quiz Questions
    @map = ResponseMap.find(params[:map_id]) #Populating ResponseMap
    @participant = AssignmentTeam.find(@map.reviewee_id).participants.first #Populating participant who gave the quiz
    @quiz_score = @response_map.quiz_score #Populating quiz score of the Participant

New:

    @participant_response = Response.where(map_id: params[:map_id]).first # Populating participant response
    @quiz_response_map = QuizResponseMap.find(params[:map_id]) #Populating Quiz Response
    @quiz_questions = Question.where(questionnaire_id: @quiz_response_map.reviewed_object_id) #Populating Quiz Questions
    response_map = ResponseMap.find(params[:map_id]) #Populating ResponseMap
    @participant = AssignmentTeam.find(response_map.reviewee_id).participants.first #Populating participant who gave the quiz
    @participant_quiz_score = @quiz_response_map.quiz_score #Populating quiz score of the Participant

finished_quiz.html.erb:
Old:

<%=t ".quiz_score"%><%= @quiz_score %>
<% @questions.each do |question| %>
<%user_answer=Answer.where(response_id: @response.id, question_id:  question.id)%>
<%= link_to t(".back"), student_quizzes_path(:id => @response_map.reviewer_id) %>

New:

<%=t ".quiz_score"%><%= @participant_quiz_score %>
<% @quiz_questions.each do |question| %>
<%user_answer=Answer.where(response_id: @participant_response.id, question_id:  question.id)%>
<%= link_to t(".back"), student_quizzes_path(:id => @quiz_response_map.reviewer_id) %>

6. Modification - Controller Method calculate_score has been split into three separate functions since the original method is too big and is split to use the other methods to handle score calculation for Single choice / True or False questions and Multiple answer questions separately. Then all three methods have been moved to student_quizzes_helper.rb file since they are being reused.
student_quizzes_helper.rb:
New:

module StudentQuizzesHelper

  # This method as whole fetches the answers provided and calculates the final scores for the quiz.
  # Also calls seperate methods for handling single answer/ true or false evaluations and mulitple answer evaluations for calculating score.
  def calculate_score(map, response)
    questionnaire = Questionnaire.find(map.reviewed_object_id)
    answers = []
    has_response = true
    questions = Question.where(questionnaire_id: questionnaire.id)
    questions.each do |question|
      correct_answers = QuizQuestionChoice.where(question_id: question.id, iscorrect: true)
      ques_type = question.type
      if ques_type.eql? 'MultipleChoiceCheckbox'
        has_response = multiple_answer_evaluation(answers, params, question, correct_answers, has_response, response)
      # TrueFalse and MultipleChoiceRadio
      else
        has_response = single_answer_evaluation(answers, params, question, correct_answers, has_response, response)
      end
    end
    if has_response
      answers.each(&:save)
      redirect_to controller: 'student_quizzes', action: 'finished_quiz', map_id: map.id
    else
      response.destroy
      flash[:error] = 'Please answer every question.'
      redirect_to action: :take_quiz, assignment_id: params[:assignment_id], questionnaire_id: questionnaire.id, map_id: map.id
    end
  end

  # Evaluates scores for questions that contains multiple answers
  def multiple_answer_evaluation(answers, params, question, correct_answers, has_response, response)
    score = 0
    if params[question.id.to_s].nil?
        has_response = false
      else
        params[question.id.to_s].each do |choice|
          # loop the quiz taker's choices and see if 1)all the correct choice are checked and 2) # of quiz taker's choice matches the # of the correct choices
          correct_answers.each do |correct|
            score += 1 if choice.eql? correct.txt
          end
        end
        score = score == correct_answers.count && score == params[question.id.to_s].count ? 1 : 0
        # for MultipleChoiceCheckbox, score =1 means the quiz taker have done this question correctly, not just make select this choice correctly.
        params[question.id.to_s].each do |choice|
          new_answer = Answer.new comments: choice, question_id: question.id, response_id: response.id, answer: score

          has_response = false unless new_answer.valid?
          answers.push(new_answer)
        end
    end
    return has_response
  end

  # Evaluates scores for questions that contains only single/ true or false answers
  def single_answer_evaluation(answers, params, question, correct_answers, has_response, response)
    correct_answer = correct_answers.first
    score = correct_answer.txt == params[question.id.to_s] ? 1 : 0
    new_score = Answer.new comments: params[question.id.to_s], question_id: question.id, response_id: response.id, answer: score
    has_response = false if new_score.nil? || new_score.comments.nil? || new_score.comments.empty?
    answers.push(new_score)
    return has_response
  end

end

7. Modification -
Renamed @assignment_id to quiz_creator_user_id to clarify the values they are holding.
New

@assignment_id = params[:id]

Old

@quiz_creator_user_id = params[:id]

8. Modification - -graded? has been removed as it is no longer necessary.

9. Modification - Line 72 - The Flash message has been updated.
student_quizzes_controller.rb:
Old:

flash[:error] = 'You have already taken this quiz, below are the records for your response.'

New:

flash[:error] = 'You have already taken this quiz. Below are the responses of your previous attempt.'

10. Modification - Line 77 - The method comment for review_questions has been updated.
student_quizzes_controller.rb:
Old:

# This method is only for quiz questionnaires, it is called when instructors click "view quiz questions" on the pop-up panel.

New:

# This method is only for quiz questionnaires, it is called when instructors click "view quiz questions" on the pop-up panel.
# Using the current assignment id parameter, fetches all the questions for each quiz and finally lists all the answers and scores for each submission.

Test Plan

Manual Testing

Follow these instructions to manually test the functionality of student_quizzes_controller.
1. Log in as instructor using the credentials, username: instructor6, password: password.
2. Select the Assignments subheading. Here, create a new assignment by entering the necessary details. Enable the Has Teams? checkbox and create. Also enable the Has quiz? checkbox.
3. Set the proper due dates for submission review and evaluation by going to the Due Dates page. For Round 1: Review, enable Has Quiz using the dropdown Menu. Once you save, A Number of Quiz questions field will be visible on the Assignments page. Set this to 2 and save.
4. There will be a message inviting you to add participants at the top of the page. Several students should be added to the task using the given link.
5. After logging out as the teacher, log back in as the pupils. Before the deadline for submissions, turn in your assignment.
Note: To submit, you must first establish a team and give it a name.
6. There is a link to "Create a Quiz" at the bottom of the submission page. Select that link.
7. You are then sent to the quiz creation page. Here, you may set True/False questions, Checkbox questions, and Radio button questions along with the appropriate responses.
Then click "Create Quiz." Thus, the quiz is made.
8. Log out and re-enter the assignment as a different student who has registered. submit a document in this student's place. Review the first student's work when the submission deadline has passed, then go back to the main menu.
9. The option to "Take quizzes" will be visible. Select "Request" and then choose the quiz you made. You may now take the test that the other student made here.

Manual Testing Walkthorugh

The video below shows the steps for manually testing the controller functionality.

Manual testing video

Testing Video

Originally the student_quizzes_controller did not have any test cases, so according to the documentation, we wrote some to check if the changes we introduced have broken the functionality. Our test cases have run successfully. Here is the video for the same.

Test Video link

Pull Request

The link for our pull request - https://github.com/expertiza/expertiza/pull/2468

Team members

Priyam Swatil Shah (pshah9@ncsu.edu
Sanay Yogesh Shah (sshah34@ncsu.edu)
Subodh Gujar (sgujar@ncsu.edu)

Team Mentor

Neha Kotcherlakota (nkotche@ncsu.edu)