[LON-CAPA-dev] Help text

Fri, 10 May 2002 14:52:08 -0400

Hey!

Scott kinda looks like Clippy (without the glasses) and it sounds like
Scott gets paid as well as Clippy!

However, Scott has more personality than Clippy can ever dream of:=>

Helen

Gerd Kortemeyer wrote:
> 
> Good idea! A built-in Scott would certainly enhance the system. I would suggest
> that on the screen, you could manifest yourself as a paperclip - "It looks like
> you are writing a randomlabel problem."
> 
> http://www.microsoft.com/Office/clippy/default.asp
> 
> Correction: put header routine in loncommon ... better?
> 
> Anyways, besides the special help on special stuff (you all convinced me!), does
> the link to FAQ make any sense?
> 
> - Gerd.
> 
> Scott Harrison wrote:
> 
> > I was actually going to place myself inside lonnet since
> > everything else is there. :)
> >
> > Gerd Kortemeyer wrote:
> > >
> > > Hmm ...
> > >
> > > I actually had the following idea a little while ago:
> > >
> > > We will put new headers on the admin pages anyway, so there will be a
> > > header-producing routine in lonnet. It will look something like this:
> > >
> > > $r->print(&Apache::lonnet::pageheader('Spreadsheet','grading'));
> > >
> > > and puts up the correct role header. For "advanced" users, it also produces a
> > > "Help" and a "Bug" link.
> > >
> > > These do not go to a third all-new structure, but just go a the FAQ and
> > > Bugzilla. There is a table in the system like this
> > >
> > > grading    134    Instructor+Interface
> > >
> > > which means that these links will go to
> > >
> > > http://help.loncapa.org/fom/cache/134.html
> > > http://bugs.lon-capa.org/buglist.cgi?component=Instructor+Interface
> > >
> > > - Gerd.
> > >
> > > Scott Harrison wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear Matthew:
> > > >
> > > > > Well, I doubt there will be so many help pages at first that we cannot
> > > > > easily add in any tags needed for indexing.  I think it is more valuable
> > > > > at this time to actually have help pages.  What metadata do these pages
> > > > > need to have in order to be indexed automagically?
> > > >
> > > > The only "metadata" would be title and hierarchy.
> > > > The target directory location would be the hierarchy... (maybe we don't
> > > > want a hierarchy, but anyways...) for instance:
> > > > + Instructor Tools
> > > >   + Spreadsheet
> > > >   + Plotting equations
> > > >   + RAT
> > > >   + Class lists
> > > > + General information
> > > >   + Remote control
> > > >   + Roles
> > > >   + Answering Problems
> > > >
> > > > (And of course, this should be in sync ... and draw from ...
> > > >  help.lon-capa.org).
> > > >
> > > > And then, students may not want to be bothered with instructor
> > > > tools...
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > >(Ideally, the interface help pages would streamline nicely
> > > > > >down the vertical partition toward the actual documented
> > > > > >code base.  But...priorities...priorities..)
> > > > > I have no idea what that means :)
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Pressman, Rumbaugh, etc; a lot of standard books on
> > > > software engineering talk about horizontal layers
> > > > and vertical partions.
> > > >
> > > > Horizontal layers "make sense of the system".
> > > > That is to say, they are the levels of computer services
> > > > that exist.
> > > >
> > > > For example,
> > > >
> > > > ---------- LON-CAPA web interface ------------------------
> > > > ------------- Apache::* libraries ------------------------
> > > > ---------------- mod_perl --------------------------------
> > > > ----------------- apache ---------------------------------
> > > > -- shared libraries (including CPAN libraries) -----------
> > > > ----------------- kernel ---------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Contrastingly, vertical partitions are how the software
> > > > design proceeds across the horizontal layers to provide
> > > > user services.
> > > >
> > > > So, restated, ideally, there would be a clear path from each
> > > > LON-CAPA interface to the source code documentation
> > > > that was involved in presenting and processing information
> > > > from that interface.
> > > >
> > > > Testing might ask, horizontally:
> > > > * are all the kernel and shared libraries present that
> > > >   need to be present
> > > > * is the web server running in the right configuration?
> > > > * mod_perl, is it working?
> > > > * are all the CPAN libraries present?
> > > >
> > > > Vertical partitions might ask, testing-wise,
> > > > is the metadata database interface working
> > > > and what is all the source code involved with it?
> > > >
> > > > The testing strategy that I have been trying to find
> > > > time to implement is:
> > > >
> > > > Horizontal layer testing in:
> > > > loncom/build/system_dependencies
> > > >
> > > > Vertical partition testing in:
> > > > loncom/build/weblayer_test
> > > >
> > > > Anecdotally...
> > > >
> > > >     we are all part of the matrix. :)
> > > >
> > > > The blue pill or the red pill?
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Scott
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > LON-CAPA-dev mailing list
> > > > LON-CAPA-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
> > > > http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-dev
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > LON-CAPA-dev mailing list
> > > LON-CAPA-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
> > > http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-dev
> > _______________________________________________
> > LON-CAPA-dev mailing list
> > LON-CAPA-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
> > http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-dev
> 
> _______________________________________________
> LON-CAPA-dev mailing list
> LON-CAPA-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
> http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-dev

-- 
Helen Keefe
LON-CAPA/ ITR Project Manager
Laboratory for Instructional Technology in Education
111 North Kedzie Labs
East Lansing, MI 48824

E-mail: helen@lon-capa.org
Web:   http://www.lite.msu.edu/
Phone: 517-432-9867
Fax:   517-432-5653