ccaprani / genmq

A Moodle quiz generator

genmq

A Moodle quiz generator using LaTeX and the moodle.sty package with jinja2 templates

Generates Individualized Moodle Quizzes based on a LaTeX Template

Author: Colin Caprani, [email protected]

Overview

genmq is a python package that performs mail-merge like functionality to generate a Moodle quiz XML file for bulk upload. It uses a template latex file based on the moodle.sty package, and populates placeholder variables with entries from a prepared csv file to generate many variants of the template question. It can include the answers, precision, and feedback; all as described in the documentation for the moodle.sty package.

genmq can also split larger Moodle XML files into multiple files to facilitate uploading when there are file size limits.

Installation

genmq installs as a command into your system.

Using pip

pip install genmq

For development

Clone or download this repository to a local directory. Open a terminal in that directory (where this README will be found) and run:

pip install -e .

Typical Usage

For generating quizzes:

genmq -t [template].tex -c [database].csv

For splitting an existing large XML file:

genmq -s [moodle_quiz].xml

To see all arguments, run genmq --help.

genmq's Issues

Project is missing dependency information

Perhaps I am incorrect, but this project seems to be completely missing all the dependency information required for anyone to successfully use it.

Dependencies can be added to a pyproject.toml file as explained here.

This is important information, as (a) without it, a user has to look through the Python source code and laboriously work out what the dependencies were, and (b) often, a Python package will only work with particular versions of its dependencies.

Unnecessary triple compilation for pythontex-less templates.

In genquiz.py Line 170 calls for pdflatex, pythontex, and then pdflatex (conventional). However, if the latex template file has no pythontex environments present, the file is unnecessarily complied three times. Suggest adding a flag to indicate if file does not contain any pythontex (ie. having pythontex is default).

subprocess.call(cmd_pdflatex, shell=True)
subprocess.call(cmd_pythontex, shell=True)
subprocess.call(cmd_pdflatex, shell=True)