The Report Creator is a program that allows you to create, save, and distribute Classque Reports. It is meant to run as a standalone program that run without use interaction. It will normally be run from a cron job after each class to generate reports for that class.
The ClassQue Report Creator communicates with the ClassQue Master Server. With the appropriate configuration, it allows you to create and send reports for a given class. It must be provided with information needed to communicate with the master server, including the name of the host running the master server, the port number used by the master server, and a password that grants access to one or more courses.
Configuration information is stored in a file. Two cofiguration files are used. Today's configuration file is check first. If it exists, it is used and then deleted. If not, the normal configuration file is used. Each of these files has a default name which can be changed using command-line parameters. The default name of the normal configuration file is cqreportconfig.txt and the default name of today's configuration file is cqreportconfigtoday.txt. A configuration file will contain a sequence of keywords with optional arguments, one keyword per line. The first four lines should specify the host, port number, password and course to be used. Additional entries specify default values for other parameters until the type keyword is found. Subsequent entries refer to reports of this type until another type keyword is encountered.
Three command-line arguments are supported. If the ‑version command line argument is given, the program will just display version information and exit. If the ‑configfile command line argument is given, the following token will be used as the name of the configuration file. If the ‑configfiletoday command line argument is given, the following token will be used as the name of today's configuration file.
The following table gives all of the possible keyword values, their arguments, and a discription. Also shown are the report types that the option can apply to. If an option if given that is not appropriate for a give report type, it is ignored.
The different report types are described in Classque Reports.
An option whose parameter is listed as none or boolean indicates that with no parameter the option is turned on. With a parameter, the option is turned on with parameter true, on, or yes. Any other parameter turns the option off.
| Option | Key word | Parameter | Description |
| Sever | server | string | The name of the host running the ClassQue Master Server. |
| Port | port | integer | An integer giving the port number that programs will use to communicate with the ClassQue Master Server. |
| Password | password | string | The password that will be sent to the master server. If this matches a teacher password, it grants access to those courses with that teacher password. If it matches the ClassQue Master Server Password, it grants access to all courses. |
| Course | course | string | The name of the course as it will appear in generated reports. |
| Distribute | distribute | none or boolean | This determines whether emails are sent. See the note below on the special intterpretation of this option. |
| Set Latest Processed | processedlatest | none | If this appears anywhere in the configuration file, the latest unprocessed log (and all of its ancesters) will be set as processed. This is done after all reports have been created. |
| Set All Processed | processedall | none | If this appears anywhere in the configuration file, the all unprocessed logs will be set as processed. This is done after all reports have been created. |
| Report Type | type | Attendance Summary Individual Attendance Individual Log Individual Participation Participation Summary Single Log Summary Query Log Report Log |
The type of the report to be generated. | Save as text | createtext | none or boolean | If this option is set, text reports will saved. |
| Save as HTML | createhtml | none or boolean | If this option is set, HTML reports will saved. |
| Save as CSV | createscv | none or boolean | If this option is set, CSV (comma separated list) reports will saved. This option is ignored except for the Attendance Summary and Participation Summary reports. |
| Individual Report | individual | none or boolean | If this option is set, an indiviudal report will be generated, either one per student or one per log file, depending on the type of report. At least one of the options: individual, compendium, or privatecompendium must be set or no reports will be generated. |
| Compendium Report | compendium | none or boolean | If this option is set, a compendium report will be generated which combines all information for indiviudal reports. At least one of the options: individual, compendium, or privatecompendium must be set or no reports will be generated. |
| Private Compendium Report | privatecompendium | none or boolean | If this option is set, a compendium report will be generated in which all student names have been removed. At least one of the options: individual, compendium, or privatecompendium must be set or no reports will be generated. |
| Log Order | reverse | none or boolean | If this option is set, a compendium report list entries in reverse order. Usually this means that the logs will be processed with earlier logs appearing first. |
| Grades | grades | none or boolean | If this option is set, reports will include information about the grades when appripriate. |
| Reviews | reviews | none or boolean | If this option is set, reports will include information about the reviews when appripriate. |
| Shares | shares | none or boolean | If this option is set, reports will include information about the shares when appripriate. |
| Messages | messages | none or boolean | If this option is set, reports will include information about the messages sent to students when appripriate. |
| Send To Students | tostudents | none or boolean | This option must be set in order to generate email messages to all students. |
| Send To Others | toothers | none or boolean | This option must be set in order to generate email messages to the send list. |
| Blind Send To Others | blindtoothers | none or boolean | This option must be set in order to generate email messages to the blindsend list. |
| Latest Log Only | latest | none or boolean | If this option is set, only the latest log file will be used. |
| Processed | processed | none or boolean | If this option is set, all logs that have already been processed will be used, unless the latest option is in effect. |
| Unprocessed | unprocessed | none or boolean | If this option is set, all logs that have not been processed will be used unless the latest option is in effect. |
| Output Directory | outputdir | string | The name of the output directory for storing the reports other than student reports. |
| Student Output Directory | studentoutputdir | string | The name of the output directory for storing the reports other than student reports. |
| No Body | bodynone | string | If set, the body of the email will be empty. This is only appropriate if reports are included as attachments. Of the four body options, the last one encounted will be used. |
| Text Body | bodytext | string | If set, the body of the email will be a text report. Of the four body options, the last one encounted will be used. |
| HTML Body | bodyhtml | string | If set, the body of the email will be an HTML report. Of the four body options, the last one encounted will be used. |
| CSV Body | bodycsv | string | If set, the body of the email will be a comma separated list. This option is ignored except for Attendance Summary and Participation Summary reports. Of the four body options, the last one encounted will be used. |
| Text Attachment | attachtext | string | If set, a text version of the report will be included as an attachment to the email. |
| HTML Attachment | attachhtml | string | If set, an HTML version of the report will be included as an attachment to the email. |
| CSV Attachment | attachcsv | string | If set, a comma separated list version of the report will be included as an attachment to the email if the report type is Attendace Summary or Participation Summary. |
| Sender | sender | string | The email address for the from field of emails. |
| Send To | send | string | Add this address to the list of recipients of emails. |
| Blind Send To | blindsend | string | Add this address to the list of blind recipients of emails. |
A special note on the distribute option:
The distribute option is treated differently form other options to make it less likely that emails will be inadvertantly sent. No emails willbe sent unless this option is set before the first type key word. It must also must be set again for each report type that will generate email messages.
Today's configuration file
The Report Creator is run on a host that the teacher might not have access to. ClassQue allows the teacher to modify either the normal or today's configuration file. Today's configuration file allows the teacher to change how the next report will be distributed without modifying the default report configuration. One of the report files is modified by having the teacher send the contents of the file to the server. If the Report Creator is not using the default file names for these configuration files, the ClassQue Server must be configured with these file names so that it can stire the configuration files appropriately.
Starting the Classque Report Creator
This program can be started from any network-connected machine, but it will normally be started on the same host as the ClassQue Server. Normally it will be started from a cron job after each class has completed.Return to the ClassQue setup page
