ua-exam 0.2.0

Moodle (GIFT) to Paper Exam Generator

ua-exam

ua-exam is a Python CLI tool designed to automate the creation of physical paper exams from Moodle question banks (GIFT format). It allows instructors to define complex exam structures via a JSON configuration, randomly select questions from hierarchical categories, generate professional LaTeX-ready documents, and support multiple randomized exam copies.

Detailed documentation is available on the GitHub Pages.

Key Features

• Advanced GIFT Parsing:
  • Support for .gift and .txt files.
  • Handles Multiple Choice, True/False, and Open Answer (Essay).
  • Support for Multiple Response (partial credits) with multi-answer solution keys.
  • Robust handling of questions containing internal blank lines and complex formatting.
• Hierarchical Question Bank:
  • Recursive scanning of questions folders.
  • Automatic indexing by the GIFT $CATEGORY directive.
  • Flexible category matching using a global category_prefix.
• Smart Randomization & Deduplication:
  • Option Shuffling: Choices are randomized for every question to ensure variety.
  • Global Deduplication: Prevents the same question from appearing twice in the same exam.
  • Reproducibility: Use the seed flag to generate the exact same exam order.
• Multiple Exam Versions (Copies):
  • Automatically generate multiple randomized copies of the same exam structure (e.g. Version A, Version B) with sequential seeds.
• Professional LaTeX Layout:
  • Native support for LaTeX Math ($...$) and Code Blocks (code).
  • Automated university branding (Logo and Header).
  • Pre-configured identifying fields (Name, Number, Classification).
  • Solutions generated as a CSV file, perfectly mapped to the shuffled choices.
• Modular Question Conversion:
  • Extensible converter registry to transform GIFT files into other Moodle or LMS formats.

Project Structure

.
├── src/
│   └── ua_exam/
│       ├── __init__.py         # Package initialization
│       ├── cli.py              # CLI entry point
│       ├── exam_generator.py   # Exam generation engine
│       ├── gift_parser.py      # GIFT parsing module
│       ├── gift_escaper.py     # GIFT escaping/markdown translation module
│       ├── pdf_renderer.py     # PDF compilation module
│       ├── converters/         # Modular question format converters
│       └── assets/
│           └── logo_ua_cropped.pdf  # Packaged default university logo
├── test/                       # Test suite
├── examples/                   # Configuration examples
└── assets/
    └── logo.svg                # Project logo

Installation

Install directly from source or via PyPI using pip or uv:

pip install .

Usage

The ua-exam command-line tool provides three primary subcommands: generate, escape, and convert.

1. Generating Exams (generate)

Generates randomized exam copies from a JSON configuration file.

ua-exam generate -c config.json -s 42 -o out/exam.md --pdf

• -c, --config: Path to the JSON configuration file (required).
• -s, --seed: Base random seed (default: 42).
• -o, --output: Base output file path (default: exam.md).
• --pdf: Automatically compile the generated Markdown file into a PDF.

Configuration (config.json)

The config file controls the exam generation logic.

Field	Description	Default
class	The name of the course or exam.	"Exam"
date	Date string to appear on the header.	Current Date
lang	Language for fixed labels (pt or en).	"pt"
exam	Exam type (e.g., "Normal", "Recurso", "Teste 01").	"Normal"
logo	Path to the university logo PDF.	Packaged Logo
questions_folder	Root directory of your GIFT/TXT files (used if questions_folders is omitted).	"."
questions_folders	Alternative array of question source folders. Each element can be a string path or an object with path and category_prefix.	Optional
category_prefix	Common prefix for all categories (used globally with questions_folder).	""
target_score	Total expected score for validation.	20.0
duration	Exam duration string.	"60 minutos"
instructions	General instructions for the exam.	(Generic)
copies	Number of randomized copies of the exam to generate.	1
parts	Array of sections.	Required

Example Configurations

Example 1: Single Question Folder

{
  "class": "Laboratórios de Sistemas e Serviços",
  "lang": "pt",
  "exam": "Teste 01",
  "copies": 3,
  "category_prefix": "lss/test01/exam",
  "questions_folder": "gift/test01",
  "parts": [
    {
      "part": "Escolha Múltipla",
      "classification": 10,
      "questions": [
        { "topic": "01-terminal", "quantity": 3 },
        { "topic": "02-virtualizacao", "quantity": 4 }
      ]
    },
    {
      "part": "Resposta Aberta",
      "classification": 10,
      "questions": [
        { "topic": "open-questions", "quantity": 4 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 2: Multiple Question Folders (with prefixes)

{
  "class": "Laboratórios de Sistemas e Serviços",
  "lang": "en",
  "exam": "Exam",
  "copies": 2,
  "questions_folders": [
    {"path": "gift/test01/en", "category_prefix": "lss/test01/exam"},
    {"path": "gift/test02/en", "category_prefix": "lss/test02/exam"}
  ],
  "parts": [
    {
      "part": "Multiple Choice",
      "classification": 10,
      "questions": [
        { "topic": "01-terminal", "quantity": 2 },
        { "topic": "02-virtualizacao", "quantity": 2 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

2. Escaping and Converting MD to GIFT (escape)

Converts a formatted Markdown file into a Moodle-compatible GIFT file, handling necessary special character escaping.

ua-exam escape -i input.md -o output.gift

3. Modular Question Format Conversion (convert)

Converts GIFT question banks to other question formats (e.g. Moodle XML).

ua-exam convert -i input.gift -f xml -o output.xml

Authors

• Mário Antunes - mariolpantunes

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.