[LON-CAPA-users] .sty file magic?

[Raeburn, Stuart]

Doug,

In course context all files for which the content handler in LON-CAPA is either lonxml.pm or lonhomework.pm have access to styles defined in a published .css file set via a cssfile parameter, made applicable to the current resource.

Those files include uploaded or published files with an html, htm, xhtml, xhtm, or xml extension, and published resources with a task, problem, exam, or survey extension (or indeed the "simpleproblem" template item in a course).

Those same files will also be impacted by styles defined in any published .sty files associated with a course via Settings > Course Settings >  Display (Display of resources checked), and included in a comma separated list of paths to style files entered in the "Default XML style file" textbox.

Standard LON-CAPA pages such as /adm/navmaps (for a Course Contents listing) do not currently include links to published .css files, and do not support modification (based on target and tag) using a published .sty file. 

I have added an enhancement request 
(see: bugs.loncapa.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6904 ) to add a course setting to allow a Course Coordinator to choose which columns should be displayed in the Contents listing. (The "Due in less than 24 hours" warning is in the "long_status" column).

On a related note, LON-CAPA 2.12 will include the ability to suppress menu links to, and display of /adm/navmaps in specific contexts, i.e., the Placement Test course container, and when LON-CAPA is launched as an LTI Provider, (when the LTI scope is a folder, or a single resource).

Stuart Raeburn
LON-CAPA Academic Consortium

________________________________________
From: LON-CAPA-users <lon-capa-users-bounces at mail.lon-capa.org> on behalf of Mills, Douglas G <dmills at illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2019 2:58:29 PM
To: Discussion list for LON-CAPA users
Cc: Mills, Douglas G
Subject: [LON-CAPA-users] .sty file magic?

HI All,

I'm probably in over my head on this one, but I'm looking at a very nice sty file example and attempting to work from that to create a sty file that simply inserts a style sheet that will not display the remaining time on a timed assessment on the content page.

I know that doesn't sound like a very good idea, but the use is very specific. We are experimenting with a stand-alone instance of Lon-Capa as an exam server. The testing facility we are using likes their proctors, not the LMS, to be in charge of the time, so ideally perhaps we would not use a timer at all for these exams. However, there are a couple of logistical reasons that push the user of the timer for these. I have hidden all evidence of the timer on the problem page itself using css, but as far as I know (and think I've been told) there is no "natural" way to attach a style sheet to the contents page.  Because the only thing in these instances of the course are the exams themselves, it looks to me like the following should hide the time remaining information that displays once the timer has been started:

<style type="text/css">
td span[title="Due in less than 24 hours!"]{display:none;}
</style>

However, so far my feeble attempts to get that inserted into the contents page via a sty file are coming up empty. I added some more obvious css into my attempted style file injection that have no effect either, so I'm guessing I'm failing so far to get the style code inserted into that (or any other) page.

If it can't be done it's not the end of the world, but there are so few things that can't be done in Lon-Capa, I thought it was worth asking about.  Thanks!

Doug

Douglas Mills
Director of Instructional Technology
Department of Chemistry
University of Illinois