CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2024 - E2484. Reimplement participants controller.rb
About Expertiza
Expertiza is an open source project based on Ruby on Rails framework. Expertiza allows the instructor to create new assignments and customize new or existing assignments. It also allows the instructor to create a list of topics the students can sign up for. Students can form teams in Expertiza to work on various projects and assignments. Students can also peer review other students' submissions. Expertiza supports submission across various document types, including the URLs and wiki pages.
Introduction
This project aims to reimplement the participants_controller.rb and participants_helper.rb in the new Expertiza system. The participants_controller.rb manages participants within assignments, and this reimplementation focuses on streamlining its methods, eliminating redundancy, and enhancing code readability and maintainability.
Requirements
participants_controller.rb Methods: Fully implement each controller method with the same functionality as the current controller. participants_helper.rb : Integrate relevant helper methods to streamline functionality and remove redundancy. Existing Issues
Reimplement participants_controller.rb while addressing the following:
Design
Pattern(s)
Facade: "A simplified interface that performs many other actions behind the scenes."
The participants_controller.rb uses the Facade Design Pattern to streamline interactions with the Expertiza backend, abstracting away complex logic and data handling tasks into a simplified API layer. A lot of calls to various services, objects, and features are abstracted, providing a unified, cohesive interface. By centralizing these calls, the controller can reduce dependencies on specific backend structures, making it easier for the front end to perform actions with minimal knowledge of what is going on in the backend, enhancing the maintainability and scalability of our codebase.
SOLID Principle(s)
Open and Closed Principle: "Software entities should be open for extension, but closed for modification."
Currently the code directly checks the type of curr_object to determine whether it’s an Assignment or Course, which can make it challenging to extend or modify. We plan on implementing polymorphism which could allow each class (e.g., Assignment, Course) to handle participant-related logic through inheritance or composition.
API Calls
| # | Method | Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | index | GET /participants
|
Return a list of participants |
| 2 | show | GET /participants/:id
|
Return a specified participant |
| 3 | inherit | GET /participants/inherit
|
Copy all participants from a course to an assignment |
| 4 | bequeath | GET /participants/bequeath
|
Copy all participants from an assignment to a course |
| 5 | create | POST /participants
|
Create a participant |
| 6 | update_authorization | PATCH /participants/:id/authorization
|
Update the permissions of a participant |
| 7 | update_handle | PATCH /participants/:id/handle
|
Update the handle of a participant |
| 8 | destroy | DELETE /participants/:id
|
Delete a specified participant |
Testing Plan
rswag
We will use rswag to test and document our project’s API endpoints. Rswag integrates RSpec testing with Swagger, allowing us to define test cases in RSpec to validate functionality while automatically generating interactive Swagger documentation. This documentation, accessible through Swagger UI, provides developers and stakeholders with a user-friendly way to explore and interact with our API endpoints.
Tests
| Test ID | Test Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Test 'index' with valid model (Assignment) and ID - Should list participants |
| 2 | Test 'index' with invalid model (Assignment) and ID - Should return an error message |
| 3 | Test 'show' with valid participant ID - Should return the specified participant details |
| 4 | Test 'show' with invalid participant ID - Should return participant not found |
| 5 | Test 'inherit' with valid assignment ID but no course participants - Should display a message indicating no participants were found to inherit |
| 6 | Test 'inherit' with invalid assignment ID - Should return assignment not found message |
| 7 | Test 'inherit' with valid assignment ID and course with participants - Should copy participants from course to assignment |
| 8 | Test 'bequeath' with valid assignment ID with no assignment participants - Should display a message indicating no participants were found |
| 9 | Test 'bequeath' with invalid assignment ID - Should return assignment not found message |
| 10 | Test 'bequeath' with valid assignment ID and course with participants - Should copy participants from assignment to course |
| 11 | Test 'create' with valid user detail - Should successfully create a new participant |
| 12 | Test 'create' with duplicate user information - Should return an error message indicating that the participant already exists |
| 13 | Test 'update_authorization' with valid participant ID and permissions - Should update participant’s permissions successfully |
| 14 | Test `update_authorization` with invalid participant ID - Should return not found message |
| 15 | Test 'update_handle' with valid participant ID and unique handle - Should successfully update |
| 16 | Test 'update_handle' with duplicate handle - Should return an error message indicating handle is in use |
| 17 | Test 'destroy' with valid participant ID - Should delete the specified participant |
| 18 | Test 'destroy' with invalid participant ID - Should return participant not found message |
Team
Mentor
- Jay Patel <jhpatel9@ncsu.edu>
Students
- Pierce Whelan <pwwhelan@ncsu.edu>
- Calvin Jiang <crjiang@ncsu.edu>
- Hechun Zhang <hzhang56@ncsu.edu>
Relevant Links
Pull Request [1]
GitHub Repository [2]
GitHub Project Board [3]
participants_controller.rb in Old Expertiza [4]