CSC/ECE 517 Spring 2023 - E2337. Reimplement node hierarchy

Introduction

Packages of information are distributed based on the context that they are delivered. For courses, information and functionalities are packaged into Course nodes and team information is packaged into Team nodes. These nodes are supplemented by the base node class in order to inherit basic functionality/attributes such as the type of node, the parent id, identifying whether the node is a leaf or not, etc. This hierarchical structure allows for code reuse and custom implementations to exist alongside default implementations in order to keep functionalities modular and isolated, minimizing the risk of breakage.

Problem Statement

First off, the node models have a dry problem in two major areas. First off, Node.rb defines a number of functions to fetch a given property such as name, directory, creation_date, etc. These functions all fetch data from the same entity with the same filter parameters. Instead of having five functions, we can consolidate down to one function where a given parameter would be passed in. This parameter could specify which field we want to fetch on a given entity. For example, we could fetch the creation date of an entity by invoking a call like such: node.getProperty("creation_date"). The getProperty function would be responsible for parsing the parameter and determine which field needs to be returned back to the user.

Secondly, there are methods that are repetitive between assignment_node.rb and course_node.rb. In order to reduce repetition, the shared methods can be pulled out into a module, which then the two node models would import in order to use the methods. Some of these repetitive methods are get_instructor_id, retrieve_institution_id, get_private, etc.

Class Hierarchy

The node.rb model is the base class from which all other nodes inherit from. The children of the node model are assignment_node.rb, course_node.rb, folder_node.rb, questionnaire_node.rb, questionnaire_type_node.rb, team_node.rb, and team_user_node.rb. The functionalities of these nodes are implemented by polymorphism and the subclasses implement the specifications of the base class.

Test Plan

course_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	create_course_node	Tests if a course node is saved with data
2	get_course_query_conditions	Tests when show and current user are set and you are not a TA
3	table	Tests that the table returns courses
4	get_course_query_conditions	Tests when show and current user are set and you are a TA
5	get_courses_managed_by_user	Tests that user id is returned when you are not a TA
6	get_parent_id	Tests returning id of parent folder when parent is found
7	get_parent_id	Tests returning nil when parent is not found
8	get_children	Tests returning assignment node when children are found
9	get_private	Tests whether the course returned is private
10	get_survey_distribution_id	Tests that the course returns a survey distribution id

questionnaire_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	get	Tests the questionnaire returns when the user is a teaching assistant
2	get	Tests the questionnaire returns when the user is not a teaching assistant
3	get	Tests the questionnaire returns with association with student when the user is not a teaching assistant and show is enabled
4	get	Tests the questionnaire returns with association with student when the user is a teaching assistant and show is enabled and parent id is enabled
5	table	Tests the return of name of table
6	is_leaf	Test whether the node is a leaf
7	get_modified_date	Test when the questionnaire was last changed
8	get_created_date	Test when the questionnaire was created
9	get_private	Test when the questionnaire is private
10	get_instructor_id	Test whether the instructor id is associated with questionnaire
11	get_name	Test whether the questionnaire name is returned

questionnaire_type_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	get_name	Tests the name of the table is returned
2	get	Tests the nodes that are associated with the parent
3	get_partial_name	Tests the return of the questionnaire_type_actions
4	get	Tests the return of the name of the associated tree folder
5	get_children	Tests the return of the children

folder_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	get_name	Tests the name of the folder is found
2	get	Tests fetching of folder node where type is unknown and the parent is not known
3	get_partial_name	Tests the partial name is returned correctly
4	get_child_type	Tests the return of child type from the tree folder
5	get_children	Tests the return of children with the given parameters

assignment_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	table	Tests the return of the assignments table
2	get	Tests the list of assignment nodes are returned based on query parameters
3	is_leaf	Tests if the node is a leaf
4	belongs_to_course	Tests if the node belongs to course
5	get_instructor_id	Tests the instructor id is returned
6	retrieve_institution_id	Tests the institution id is returned
7	get_private	Tests the private field is returned
8	get_max_team_size	Tests the max team size is returned
9	get_is_intelligent	Tests the is_intelligent field is returned
10	get_require_quiz	Tests the get_required_quiz field is returned
11	get_allow_suggestions	Tests the get_allow_suggestions field is returned
12	get_teams	Tests the get_teams field is returned

team_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	table	Tests the teams table is returned
2	get	Tests that the team node is fetched by parent id
3	get_name	Tests the name is returned correctly by ip address
4	get_children	Tests the children of the node are fetched properly

team_user_node_test.rb

Test No.	Method	Description
1	table	Tests the teams table is returned
2	get_name	Tests that the team user node is fetched by parent id
3	get	Tests the name is returned correctly by ip address
4	is_leaf	Tests that the node is a leaf