This documents describes how to set up the ClassQue student interface.
There are two way for students to sign into ClassQue:
- A Java Application, run from a computer with a Java runtime environment
installed.
- A Java Applet, run from a Java-enabled browser.
Setting up a Student ClassQue Java Application
There are several ways of setting this up, but all have the following in common:
- Access to the classquestudent.jar file.
- A method for running this as a Java program along with
configuration information.
- Configuration information including at least the following:
- The host name of the ClassQue server
- The port number to use for communication
- A method for determining the username of the student
- A method for determining the seat number of the student (optional)
General Configuration Information
The configuration information can be supplied to the
classquestudent
program either as command-line parameters or an information in a configuration
file. A command line option consists of a token possibly followed by a
parameter. The configuration file contains one option per line, each
with a token indicating the option and a possible parameter.
The following table lists the the available options. The table shows the
File Token, the one used in a configuration file. Command-line tokens
are the same, except that they are always preceeded by a hyphen. For example,
the command line parameter to set the port number to 12345 would be
-port 12345.
Tokens on the command line not matching one of the tokens
given are interpreted as names of configuration files.
Command-line parameters that contain blanks must be surrounded
by double quotes.
Option | File Token | Parameter | Parameter Description |
Server Name | server | string |
A string representing the name of the machine running the ClassQue server. |
Server Prompt | serverprompt | none |
If this option is present, the user will be prompted to enter the name of the ClassQue
server when the program starts. |
Port | port | integer |
An integer giving the port number that the student uses for communication
with the ClassQue server. |
Port Prompt | portprompt | none |
If this option is present, the user will be prompted to enter the port number to
use for communication with the ClassQue
server when the program starts. |
Course | course | string |
A string giving the name of the course. If given on the command line
and the name contains blanks, it must be enclosed in double quotes.
|
Username | user | string |
The login name (username) of this student. |
Username File | userfile | string |
A string representing the name of a file that contains the student's username.
|
Username Environment | userenv | string |
A string representing the name of an environment variable that holds the student's username.
|
Username Prompt | userprompt | none |
If this option is present, the user will be prompted to enter a username
when the program starts. |
Seat Number | seat | integer |
An integer giving the seat number of this student.
|
Seat From IP | seatip | none |
If present, the seat number is the low order byte of the IP address of
the student machine.
|
Seat Host Name | seathost | none |
If present, the seat number is the trailing digits of the name of the machine
that the student is running on.
|
Seat From File | seatfile | string |
The name of a file containing the seat number of this student.
|
Seat Prompt | seatprompt | none |
If this option is present, the user will be prompted to enter a seat number
when the program starts. |
Window X | x | integer |
An integer giving the x coordinate of the student window when the program
starts up. It defaults to 0.
|
Window Y | y | integer |
An integer giving the y coordinate of the student window when the program
starts up. It defaults to 0.
|
Font Size | fontsize | integer |
A small integer (positive or negative) giving the relative font size to
use in the student window. The size of the font is multiplied by 1.2
raised to this power. A value of 4 approximately doubles the size of the font.
|
Ignore version | badversion | none |
Unless this option is set, the student client will not run
unless its version exactly matches the version of the ClassQue Server.
|
Version Message | versionmessage | string |
A message to be displayed if the student client version does not
agree with the version of the ClassQue Server.
|
If a given configuration option appears more than once, the last one processed
is the one used.
First, ClassQue will first look for configuration files named
cqstudentconfig.txt,
cqstudentconfig1.txt, and
cqstudentconfig2.txt in this order in the directory in which
the program was started, processing each one if it is found.
Next, the command line parameters from the above table are processed,
in the order in which they appear on the command line.
Finally, any other command line parameters are interpreted as configuration files
and these will be processed in the order given.
Determining the username and seat number
Determining the username of a student
Each student is distinguished by a unique username.
The username is just a string but it may not contain blanks, tabs, or other
special characters.
It is simplest if ClassQue uses the same name that students use to log into
the computer.
On most systems an environment variable will contain this
information.
On Linux systems, usually the
HOME environment variable is set to
the home directory of the student.
Often this directory is in the form
/home/username.
In this case ClassQue can use the
HOME environment variable to
determine the username.
Just use the configuration option:
userenv HOME
On Windows, often the
USERPROFILE environment variable has the
home directory and this ends with the user name.
On other systems a different environment variable might be used.
Ask your system administrator.
If you cannot figure out how to get ClassQue to automatically determine
the student's username, have each student create a file with a name something
like
classquesusername.txt and put this in the student's
home directory.
Then configure ClassQue to use the file with a configuration entry such as
userfile classqueusername.txt
Determining the seat number of a student
ClassQue can be run without using a seating chart or determining which
seat a student is in.
However, the added capabilities available when ClassQue can determine the
seat number of a student are sometimes useful.
ClassQue has 5 different ways for determining the seat number of a student.
The simplest way is the use the host name of the student's computer.
If the host names of the computers in the classroom end in a unique collection
of numbers, these can determine the seat number by using the
seathost configuration entry.
An alternative is to have the student create a file containing the seat number
of having ClassQue prompt the student for the seat number when the student
signs into ClassQue.
Examples is ClassQue student setup
In a Student Linux Environment
If students do not have access to a shared directory containing the ClassQue
software, each student will need a copy of the
classquestudent.jar
file.
All of the options can be put on the command line and the student can start
the program using a script or an alias. Here is a possible alias that can be
set for a given student:
alias classque=`java -jar ~/bin/classquestudent.jar -server myserver -port 12345 -userenv HOME -seatip`
Alternatively, it could be started with a script which is stored somewhere in
the student's path, as in:
#!/bin/sh
cd ~/classque
java -jar classquestudent.jar
The configuration information can be stored in the file
cqstudentconfig.txt in the ~/classque directory.
A sample file might look like this:
server myserver
port 12345
userenv HOME
seatip
x 50
y 100
If students have access to a shared directory, then only one copy of
classquestudent.jar is needed.
If the student's username and seat number can be determined automatically,
then all students can use the same configuration. The program can be
started using a global alias such as
alias classque=`java -jar /usr/local/bin/classquestudent.jar -server myserver -port 12345 -userenv HOME -seatip`
or it could be started with a script in
/usr/local/bin
as in the example above.
If students have access to a shared directory, but the username or seat
number cannot be determined automatically, then the program could be started
from a script in the student's path, such as
~/bin. A possible script
might look like this:
#!/bin/bash
cd ~/classque
java -jar /usr/local/classque/classquestudent.jar
The configuration information would then be put in a file named
cqstudentconfig.txt in the student's
classque
directory.
Many other methods can be used for starting the student program.
In a Student Windows Environment
If students do not have access to a shared directory containing the ClassQue
software, each student will need a copy of the
classquestudent.jar
file. Each student would make a directory containing this jar file
and a
cqstudentconfig.txt file. If the environment supports the
execution of jar files by clicking on the file, just make a shortcut to
the
classquestudent.jar file and put the shortcut on the desktop.
Otherwise, the program can be started from a batch file:
classque.bat
containing something like:
cd D:\myclassque
java -jar classquestudent.jar
A shortcut to this file could be put on the desktop. If the PATH environment
variable has not been set up correctly, it may be necessary to fully
qualify the path to java as in:
C:"\Program files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\java" -jar classquestudent.jar
If the students have access to a shared directory containing the ClassQue
software, they can share the
classquestudent.jar file.
If the username and seat number can be determined automatically, all students
in a given class can share the jar file and configuration. The program
can be started with a
classque.bat file like the one above
which first does a
cd to the common directory containing both the
jar and configuration files.
If students have access to a shared directory, but each student needs individual
configuration, say to set the username, you can still use a shared batch
file like the one below:
java -jar classquestudent.jar -server myserver -port 12345
Have each student make a directory containing the
a file called
cqstudentconfig.txt containing the additional
configuration information. Each student will create a shortcut to the shared
batch file and put this shortcut on the desktop. The shortcut will then be
modified to start in the student's classque directory, so that it can find the
configuration file. To do this, right click on the shortcut,
select
Properties and set the
Start in: directory.
Setting up for multiple courses
If you are using ClassQue for multiple courses, each course will need to
use a different port number. You can still use a shared copy of the
classquestudent.jar file, but for each class, prepare a
.bat
file which starts this using the appropriate options. You can do this
with command-line parameters or by starting each in a directory unique to
the course.
Setting up a Student ClassQue Java Applet
The student program can be run as an applet frmo a web browser.
The applet must be hosted on the same machine as the ClassQue Server.
Three parameters are required to set this up: the server name, the port
number and the course name. The following gives an example of the
code necessary to set up an applet for the course CS 3733
on the server
vip.cs.utsa.edu using port number 12345:
<applet code = "edu.utsa.cs.classque.student.StudentApplet"
archive="jars/classquestudent.jar"
WIDTH = 400 HEIGHT = 400>
<PARAM NAME = SERVERNAME VALUE = vip.cs.utsa.edu>
<PARAM NAME = PORT VALUE = 12345>
<PARAM NAME = COURSE VALUE = CS 3733>
This assumes that the
classquestudent.jar file is in a subdirectory
jars relative to the page containing the applet.
The applet will contain fields for entering a username, password, and seat
number. Students who sign into ClassQue from a browser are required to
use a password. The first time they sign in this way, they will be asked to
create an account with a password. Future signins from the web will require
this password. The passwords are stored on the ClassQue server. The teacher
can see the student passwords and remove them if necessary. If a student
forgets his/her password, the teacher can remove the password allowing the
student to create a new account. These accounts are used only for signing
into ClassQue for a given course and have no relationship to any other
accounts.
Return to the ClassQue setup page