A package to export test questions into Moodle from python or latex
Project description
moodlexport
This Python module provides code which allows to easily generate families of questions (called categories in Moodle) that can be directly exported from either Python or Latex to Moodle, and use them to create a test. The main motivation behind this module is that :
- it is easier to define mathematical objects in Python than Moodle
- it is more comfortable to type maths in Latex
- generating random problems is simpler in Python and can go way beyond what Moodle proposes
- it is easier to store/manipulate locally a Latex or Python file than doing it on the Moodle interface. It also simplifies collaborating projects.
It can be installed with a pip command : pip install moodlexport
Some internal links within this documentation:
- Main features of this module so far
- Quick start
- Documentation
- Changelog
- Known issues/missing features
Main features of this module so far
- Creating a question. The only supported classes of questions are:
- "essay" : the student answers in a white text box.
- "multichoice" : the question comes with at least 2 possible answers.
- All the options available in Moodle are available here (defining a grade, information for the grader, feedback, etc). See more details below.
- Creating a category (family) of questions.
- Supports Unicode within python and latex : éà ê ...
- Supports Latex syntax, whether you write from latex or python, in way that Moodle understands. Supports inline latex with
$e^x$
,\(e^x\)
, and equation with$$ f(x) = \sum_i x_i^2 $$, \begin{equation*}...\end{equation*}, \begin{cases}
etc - Supports export to Moodle via a XML MOODLE file, but also to .tex and .pdf files (which allow more easily to see what you are doing)
- Supports inserting images
Quick start
Simple examples from Python:
from moodlexport import Question
question = Question("essay")
question.text("What is the derivative of $f(x) = e^x + 0.5 \Vert x \Vert^2$?")
question.grade(1.5)
question.save("my first question")
Simple examples from Latex
You can produce the same result as above by defining your question directly in a Latex file.
Suppose for isntance that you have a Latex file myquestion.tex
containing the following :
\documentclass{amsart}
\usepackage{latextomoodle}
\begin{document}
\begin{question}[essay]
What is the derivative of $f(x) = e^x + 0.5 \Vert x \Vert^2$?
\grade{1.5}
\end{question}
\end{document}
Then you can convert this myquestion.tex
file directly into a readytoexport.xml
file, by using the following Python commands:
from moodlexport import latextomoodle
latextomoodle('myquestion.tex','my first question')
Note that if you wish to compile the .tex
file without errors, you will need to place the Latex package latextomoodle.sty
in the same folder. This package can be found in moodlexport/templates
Exporting many questions at once
If you want to export more than one question, you might want to gather them within a category, which will produce a single file containing all those questions. Here is how to proceed:
In Python:
from moodlexport import Question, Category
category = Category("My little catgory name")
question = Question("essay")
question.text("What is the derivative of $f(x) = e^x + 0.5 \Vert x \Vert^2$?")
question.grade(1.5)
question.addto(category)
question = Question("multichoice")
question.text("Is every symmetric matrix invertible?")
question.grade(2.0)
question.answer("Yes", False)
question.answer("No", True)
question.addto(category)
category.save()
In Latex, followed by the python command latextomoodle('file_name.tex')
:
\documentclass{amsart}
\usepackage{latextomoodle}
\begin{document}
\begin{category}[My little catgory name]
\begin{question}[essay]
What is the derivative of $f(x) = e^x + 0.5 \Vert x \Vert^2$?
\grade{1.5}
\end{question}
\begin{question}[multichoice]
Is every symmetric matrix invertible?
\answer[0]{Yes}
\answer[100]{No}
\grade{2.0}
\end{question}
\end{category}
\end{document}
Documentation
Main commands from Python
The Category Class
category = Category(string)
creates an object of class Category. string
here specifies the name of the category, which will appear in Moodle. It comes with a few methods:
category.savexml(string)
creates an XML file under the XML Moodle format, ready to import within Moodle. The name of the file is the name of the category by default. If astring
is given, the name of the file will bestring.xml
.category.savetex(string)
creates a TEX file, containing all the questions of the category, nicely displayed. The name of the file is the name of the category by default (spaces and underscores will be replaced with-
). If astring
is given, the name of the file will bestring.tex
.category.savepdf(string)
creates a TEX file as above and then compiles it to generated a PDF file.category.description(string)
Adds a description to the category, which will appear in Moodle.
The Question Class
question = Question(type)
creates an object of class Question. The type
of the question can be essay
(default) or multichoice
. It comes with a family of methods question.OPTION(value)
where OPTION
describes every possible option that you can set in Moodle. The most important ones are:
question.title(string)
sets the title of the questionquestion.text(string)
sets the text (main body) of the questionquestion.grade(float)
sets the grade of the quesitonquestion.graderinfo(string)
sets the information to be given to the graderquestion.addto(category)
adds the question to acategory
Methods specific to the essay
type (answer via a text editor):
question.responseformat(string)
:editorfilepicker
lets the student upload a file as an answer (default) ,editor
forbids it.question.responserequired(bool)
:0
if no response is required (default),1
if a response is required.
Methods specific to the multichoice
type (finite number of possible answers):
question.answer(string, value)
: Adds a possible answer to the question.string
is the text of the answer,value
describes if this answer is correct or no. It can be described in two ways:- as a boolean
True
orFalse
(default) - as a percentage (integer between 0 and 100), which represents the fraction of the grade attributed to the answer. This is typically used for questions with more than 2 answers. A unique true answer has 100, a wrong answer has 0 (default)
- as a boolean
question.single(value)
:true
if only one answer is possible (default),false
if more than one answer can be selected by the student.
Misc.
Inserting an image: to do so, use the includegraphics
function:
from moodlexport import includegraphics
text = 'here is a cool image:' + includegraphics("./some_folder/my_image.png", width=256, height=128)
question = Question()
question.text(text)
Options:
width
andheight
(integer). Modify the size of the image, in pixels. If no argument is passed, the image is displayed in its original shape.style
(string). Two possible values:"centered"
(default). The image is displayed in a new line and centered."inline"
. The image is displayed next to the text.
Main commands from Latex
It is possible to use a similar syntax within a TEX document :
\begin{category}[name] ... \end{category}
defines the environment corresponding to a category. It is possible to write various categories within the same document.name
is the name of the category.\begin{question}[type] ... \end{question}
defines the environment corresponding to a question. It is possible to write various question within the same category.type
is the type of the question,essay
by default.- All the methods mentioned above can be used in latex. The analogue of
.OPTION(value)
becomes\OPTION{value}
in Latex (and must be placed within the corresponding environment). For instance :\description{string}
sets the description of a category\grade{float}
sets the grade of a question\answer[value]{string}
adds an answer to a multichoice question
- Inserting images is done with the command
\includegraphics[width=256px, height=128px]{./some_folder/my_image.png}
from the packagegraphicx
- for the options
width
andheight
the only supported unit ispx
- the option
scale
is not supported - if the command
\includegraphics
is called within an environment\begin{center} ... \end{center}
, the image will be centered as well in Moodle. If not it will be displayed inline.
- for the options
The corresponding latex package can be found in moodlexport/moodlexport/templates
, should be https://github.com/Guillaume-Garrigos/moodlexport/tree/master/moodlexport/templates.
To convert a .tex file into an .xml, use
from moodlexport import latextomoodle
latextomoodle('file_name.tex')
You can also import the contents of your .tex file directly into python (you might want to do some modifications before exporting to Moodle). You .tex file must contain one or more categories of questions. To do so, use :
from moodlexport import latextopython
# it outputs a list of Category objects, even if you have only one category.
list_of_categories = latextopython('file_name.tex')
Changelog
- v.0.0.25 Solves two bugs for multichoice questions from issue #6, with code from @Stivanification
- v.0.0.24 Solves issue #5
- v.0.0.23 Forgot to load some modules. https://github.com/Guillaume-Garrigos/moodlexport/pull/4 from @gregnordin
- v.0.0.22 Add a new feature to insert images.
- v.0.0.21 The parser used to handle
$
's was wayyy to slow. This is corrected now. - v.0.0.20
- I realized that depending on Moodle's version, or depending on how the administrator implements it, inline math like
$e^x$
can not be recognized. Moodle's doc says it is not supported. So, now, every inline math$e^x$
is converted into\(e^x\)
just before exporting the data into XML. This allows the user to painlessly type latex as usual with$
's. - Now TEX files are generated without spaces or
_
in the filename. Because latexmk wasn't happy when generating pdfs.
- I realized that depending on Moodle's version, or depending on how the administrator implements it, inline math like
- v.0.0.19
- Corrects bug #3 for multichoice questions, allowing now for negative grades for wrong answers. Proposed by @Stivanification.
- Corrects bug #2 caused by a broken backcompatibility from the TexSoup Module. Now this module requires the exact needed version
Known issues/missing features
- for the latex package, there is issues with
newcommand
andrenewcommand
because for instance the document classamsart
definestext
but it is not the case forarticle
. - So far I have a bad time handling breaklines in a text written in python. Using explicit
<br/>
tags should do the job.
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