Hi,
I had difficulty uploading quizzes from TestGen to Moodle. I contacted TestGen and was told they are working on a plugin/patch for this issue and it may be ready in a month or so. However, I've found a way to upload my tests with accompanying graphics/images.
I'm using TestGen 7.4.4 and Moodle 1.9.8 and Mac OS 10.5.8
1. Create a test in TestGen (paper version/test)
2. Go to "File" and Export the test as "Blackboard 6.x-9.x" (Don't save before exporting.)
3. When prompted, just type "pool" for your question pool.
4. Save the exported file to your desktop using the name of your course (example math101)
5. Go into your Moodle course (math101) home page. Find the Moodle assigned course ID. This is listed in the url. (Example www.moodle.yourschool.edu/course/view.php?id=255). In this example, 255 is the course ID number. Write this number down or just remember it.
6. Go back to your desktop and open the zipped file. Then open the .dat file.
7. Open the find menu and search for src="ppg/pool
8. Enter a search and replace. Search for src="ppg/pool. Replace with src="http://moodle.yourschool.edu/file.php/[courseIDnumber]/[name of your course]/ppg/pool
9. After searching and replacing all, save the .dat file.
10. Delete the old zipped file and create a new zipped file with your new .dat.
11. Go to your Moodle course home page to "Files" and upload the zipped file to your course files. Unzip the file.
12. Go back to your course home page and go to "Questions". Click on "Import", Blackboard V6+. Go to the bottom and "import from file already in course". Browse and select your .dat file.
You should immediately see all of your questions, along with images.
Good Luck!
Daa'iyah Na'im
The AGVI Academy for Gifted Youth
http://Moodle.AGVIgifted.org
Hi,
We've moved now to Moodle 2.x and I followed all steps necessary to import a testGen exam into Moodle but failed...
the following error always occurs:
Please help
thanks
Marwa
Capture_moodle.PNG
In reply to Marwa Mansour
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Jean-Michel Védrine -
Hello,
I already reported this issue, see MDL-28364.
Blackboard V6+ is part of the formats currently broken in Moodle 2.1.x
In reply to Jean-Michel Védrine
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Jean-Michel Védrine -
If you are in a hurry to import this file, you can do a temporary fix.
Open the question/format/blackboard_six/format.php file and after the lines :
function provide_import() {
return true;
}
Add the lines
public function mime_type() {
return 'application/zip';
}
Now the import of the zip file should works.
The only drawback of this method is that now it will no more be possible to import a .dat file as it was possible in Moodle 1.9 Blackboard 6 import.
Unfortunately currently you can't make an import format for Moodle 2.1 accept several file types as it was possible in Moodle 1.9.
In reply to Jean-Michel Védrine
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Noah Wallace -
I realalize that this post is almost a year old but I have spent the last several hours pouring over this site and this thread is the closest to a solution to my problem. Actually I have 2 problems; I cannot get TestGen questions into my Moodle 2.0 or 2.3 and I do not know how to change or even access the question/format/blackboard_six/format.php file. I am not a programmer. I am just a lowly instructor.
Can you or anyone please help me?
In reply to Noah Wallace
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Jean-Michel Védrine -
Hello,
Unfortunately almost a year later I am still working on the blackboard_six import format !
The first problem is : are you able (you or your server's administrator) to replace a file on your Moodle server installation by a new one ?
If the answer is no, you will have to wait that this problem is fixed in a future (not too far away I hope) version of Moodle and that your server is updated with this new version. Your only option until that is to use Gary Blackburn MoodleXMLBuilder to convert your testGen files into Moodle XML files that you will be able to import into Moodle 2.2/2.3.
If the answer is yes, then I can send you the current version of my work that (I think) is able to import nearly all TestGen files. But as I said you need to be able to replace some files on your Moodle server by the ones I can send you.
If something is unclear in my answer don't hesitate to ask further explanations.
In the meantime it woulf be very usefull if you can send me some of the files you want to import because the more examples files I can gather, the more I can improve my code to make it better. You can send the files to vedrine _at_ vedrine _dot_ org.
In reply to Jean-Michel Védrine
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Marwa Mansour -
Dear Jean.
after doing the fixes and it actually worked, I received another test file from the intructor, followed same steps, but an error message occured as attached...
Can you please help us in resolving this issue?
thank you
Marwa
anothererror.PNG
In reply to Marwa Mansour
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Jean-Michel Védrine -
Hello,
If the 2nd file doesn't work and the first import OK, most probably they aren't of the same exact format.
If you can send me the 2 files (the one that works and the one that doesn't) I can have a look to see if I find any advice for your instructor to produce files that import successfully.
Send me a private message and I will give you my mail adress privately to send the files.
In reply to Jean-Michel Védrine
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Gary Blackburn -
I'm using TestGen 7.4.5. This version has only one Blackboard export format which is "Blackboard 6.x-9.x" This option exports with the newer version of Blackboard XML not the older version as found in the Examview export "Blackboard 6.x-7.x". The TestGen "Blackboard 6.x-9.x" is equivalent to theExamView "Blackboard 7.1 Plus" export format.
Still haven't reached any solution for this problem. I still have difficulty in uploading TestGen tests into moodle.
Kindly view the error I got after trying to upload an exam today
Parsing questions from import file.
Importing 40 questions from file
1. Evidence for comorbidity suggests that ADHD is likely to co-occur with each of the following disorders, except
Error writing to database
Debug info: Incorrect integer value: 'l' for column 'answerformat' at row 1
UPDATE mdl_question_answers SET question = ?,answer = ?,feedback = ?,answerformat = ?,fraction = ?,feedbackformat = ? WHERE id=?
[array (
0 => 636,
1 => 'l',
2 => 'i',
3 => 'l',
4 => 0,
5 => 'i',
6 => 2509,
)]
UPDATE mdl_question_answers SET question = ?,answer = ?,feedback = ?,answerformat = ?,fraction = ?,feedbackformat = ? WHERE id=?
[array (
0 => 636,
1 => 'l',
2 => 'i',
3 => 'l',
4 => 0,
5 => 'i',
6 => 2509,
)]
Stack trace:
- line 397 of \lib\dml\moodle_database.php: dml_write_exception thrown
- line 984 of \lib\dml\mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to moodle_database->query_end()
- line 1016 of \lib\dml\mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->update_record_raw()
- line 92 of \question\type\multichoice\questiontype.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->update_record()
- line 416 of \question\format.php: call to qtype_multichoice->save_question_options()
- line 121 of \question\import.php: call to qformat_default->importprocess()
for the error description, please visit
http://docs.moodle.org/20/en/error/moodle/dmlwriteexception
thank you
Marwa
In reply to Marwa Mansour
Re: Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)
by Michael J. Frith -
Hi there,
I am having the same difficulty importing from TestGen. I have attached a quiz that exported from TestGen 7.4.5 so you have a file to work with.
Thanks for your efforts trying to correct this.
Mike
Just to add to my earlier post. My questions do not have any graphics or images.
I am trying to import into Moodle 2.1.2+ (Build 20111019) on Linux server.
Mike
Hello,
This message just to say that I am working on upgrading the blackboard_six import format so that it works again in Moodle 2.1.x but unfortunately there are several changes needed so I am progressing slowly. I started with a file without graphics and will add graphics support later. But for the moment even files without graphics have problems.
So if you are in a hurry I have nothing better to offer than importing in Moodle 1.9, exporting as XML and re-importing in Moodle 2.1. I know it's not a long term solution so I will post as soon as I have something better.
Hello,
here is my first try at solving this problem.
Please can people having TestGen files to import test this : unzip the fine attached to this message and replace the question/format/blackboard_six/format.php file on your server with the one included in this zipfile.
I tested it on the only 3 examples testGen files that I have (2 files from Marwa Mansour and 1 file from Michael J. Frith) and it seems to work rather well on these files but there are many limitations :
- I only modified multichoice questions import because all the questions in these examples files seems to be multichoice ones. If you want me to work on other questiontypes, you will have to send me examples files with such questions because I can only work with examples files. Most probably other question types import is still broken.
- Currently graphics and images are not imported. This part also will need a complete rewrite. But here again, i can only work if I have an example file to understand how it works and test my code.
But I think that even with such limitations given the high percentage of multichoice questions used by teachers (see Tim's survey figures this summer !) this format can be of some help.
Of course it would be best not to try it on a production Moodle server first !
Report all problems you encounter (done forget to enable debugging first and post complete error messages).
I have replaced the php file, however, it is still not working. I get the error (with the zip file and dat file):
"The type of the file you selected (application/zip) does not match the type expected by this import format (text/plain)."
Just to be sure, what is the process for importing the test questions and how should the file be exported from TestGen?
Thank You!
Hello,
If you are choosing the right radio button on the import screen "Blackboard V6+" you should certainly not receive this message as i have taken care of this problem in my code.
Either you didn't put the file in the right place (question/import/blackboard_six/import.php) or you didn't choose the right import format Blackboard V6+
Please note that due to actual limitations in the Moodle 2.1 code it was not possible to accept 2 differents files format so I had to choose : this version will only accept .zip files, and not .dat ones.
My fault I replaced - a file that was too deep.
It did import most of the questions. Thank you.
Hello evan,
You said : "It did import most of the questions", can you send me a file with some questions that are not correctly imported ?
My goal is that all the questions get imported !
I get the farthest by exporting as a WebCT file. It at least recognizes the file and says:
"Parsing questions from import file.
Importing 5 questions from file"
However, Then it reads this:
1. In the following list, only __________ is not an example of matter.
Notice: Uninitialized string offset: 0 in /moodle/question/type/questiontypebase.php on line 1079 Notice: Uninitialized string offset: 0 in /moodle/question/type/multichoice/questiontype.php on line 90
Error writing to database
Debug info: Incorrect integer value: 'p' for column 'answerformat' at row 1
UPDATE mdl_question_answers SET question = ?,answer = ?,feedback = ?,answerformat = ?,fraction = ?,feedbackformat = ? WHERE id=?
[array (
0 => 44,
1 => 'p',
2 => '',
3 => 'p',
4 => 0,
5 => 0,
6 => 136,
)]
UPDATE mdl_question_answers SET question = ?,answer = ?,feedback = ?,answerformat = ?,fraction = ?,feedbackformat = ? WHERE id=?
[array (
0 => 44,
1 => 'p',
2 => '',
3 => 'p',
4 => 0,
5 => 0,
6 => 136,
)]
Stack trace:
- line 397 of /lib/dml_database.php: dml_write_exception thrown
- line 999 of /lib/dml/mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to moodle_database->query_end()
- line 1031 of /lib/dml/mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->update_record_raw()
- line 92 of /question/type/multichoice/questiontype.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->update_record()
- line 418 of /question/format.php: call to qtype_multichoice->save_question_options()
- line 119 of /question/import.php: call to qformat_default->importprocess()
hello, apparently this is a "fill in the blank" question so this problem is quite to be expected as I have not upgraded this question type (I only did multichoice question type import). If you can send me the file I can try to upgrade this question type import too, then we will have both multichoice and fill in the blank working
my mail is vedrine _AT_ univ-st-etienne _DOT_ fr
Hi Jean-Michel,
Sorry I did not get back to you sooner but thank you for get my multiple choice questions to get imported. Where you still looking for fill in the blank questions formatted by TestGen to work with? I can send you a quiz that has them.
Mike
Hello Mike,
Nobody has send me a file with some fill in the blank questions made with TestGen. So yes, if you send me some example I think I should be able to modify the blackboard_six format so that they are correctly imported.
Also nobody has answered my question about questions' names. That'sinfortunate as I would also solve this issue.
Without help I can't do any progress as I don't use TestGen so I am entirely dependant of examples and reports of testGen users. So here is my message to all testGen users : If you want this import format to be upgraded, please participate.
Hi Jean-Michel,
Thank you for your work on this. It is great appreciated.
I have included one of each type of question from TestGen. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need my questions.
Mike
Hello Mike,
Thanks a lot for this QuestionAssortment file. It will help a lot.
But I already have a problem : to import matching questions, the code for Moodle 1.9 was using a conributed plugin : Rendered Match question type.
Unfortunately this plugin has not been upgraded for years (suprisingly when I looked at contrib CVS I discovered that the last guy to upgrade this plugin 4 or 5 years ago was me ! I had forgotten all about this !) so it is not even working with current version of Moodle 1.9 !!
I don't really know what to do :
- upgrading Renderedmatch question type to Moodle 2.1 would be doable but is it worth the needed work ? Are people still using it ?
- I need to look to see if this is a working solution but maybe we could use drag drop matching to import TestGen matching questions ? The avantage is that there is already a version of drag drop matching question type for Moodle 2.1 available
But my first question is : do someone remember why Blackboard import doesn't import matching questions as Moodle core match questions ? If I remember well this has something to do with the number of subquestions or answers (core match questions need at least 2 subquestions and 3 answers I think) or maybe it's the problem that moodle core match questions use a menu for answers so doesn't support any html in answers (this would make dragdrop matching a good candidate to import such questions but i think it also need 2 subquestions and 3 answers) ?
Anyway I am working on making all other question types import working and I will look at matching questions after that.
What would be really cool would be if someone can send me an example file with images in question text and answers (I only need 1 question not many, for instance a multichoice question) so that I can add images support at the same time.
As soon as i have something working I will post it here.
For the question name I will take the first words of question text stripped from all html tages.
Hello Mike and other users of Testgen,
Thanks to the examples file provided I made a new blackboard_six import format.
This time a lot more questions types should be imported correctly :
multichoices (both with 1 or many good answers), fill in the blank, essay, short answer (they are imported as essay question because TestGen don't provide any answer), matching, true/false.
Some comments :
import of fill in the blank questions is untested as I don't have any example. Should be easy to correct if it is not working.
to import matching question you will need to install the drag and drop matching question (ddmatch) plugin. Be sure to install the right version for moodle 2.1 that you will find here : https://github.com/andreev-artem/moodle_question_type_ddmatch/
Also currently, only matching questions with at least 3 subquestions (and of course 3 answers !) can be imported. I have asked Itamar and Andreev if they are OK to change this so that all blackboard matching questions are imported. It's only a few lines change so hopefully this can be done soon. The example in Mike's file is not imported correctly because of this limitation, but I think import of matching question with more than 3 subquestions is working.
I have also included a completely untested import of images (ported from what I have done for Examview import) in most fields that support images. I doubt it is already working as I don't have any example file with images, but it is here, and hopefully I can correct bugs when people send me the examples I need
Test and report as usual.
Hello,
Sorry to post a new version only 1 day after but I think I finally got it
What I have done is that I requested an access from Pearson to be able to download TestGen. I installed it, so I was able to generate all the examples files I wanted.
I know I should have done that earlier but when I requested an access from Pearson back in September, I was never able to activate my account. But now it works.
An the good new is that this permitted me to correct my code and import of images is now working.
So until someone report a bug, I think that this problem "Import TestGen into Moodle (with Graphics/Images)" is solved.
To Tim,
Tim, I know you have a lot of work, but if you can have a look at this and tell me what corrections I need to do (I tried to improve the coding style of the question/format/blackboard_six/format.php with the help of the codechecker plugin but this is surely not perfect even if it is a lot better than current version !) maybe you can replace the file in 2.1 and 2.2 branches with these (the lang files are needed also as I added some strings) this will permit you to close MDL-25492 (blocker, 40 votes, moodlerooms, partner, and all that kind of things )
I have commented in the bug a bit.
One thing that confuses me is: This tread is about something called TestGen. The plugins is called blackboard_six. You also attached a plugin called examview_something to the bug. What are all these different things, and what code deals with what formats. I would really appreciate a clear and simple explanation. (Ideally added as PHP doc comments at the top of the appropriate format.php files, so that what the plugin does is properly documented for ever more.)
Oh yes I think everybody is confused and searching for messages asking for help in these forums clearly show that many moodle users are confused. I will write what I know, please if I made any mistake, people knowing better can correct me.
As we "all know" Blackboard is a LMS and Blackboard people defined several formats to import questions in it. I don't think they were really interested in exporting questions from it, apart to claim compliancy to standards like IMS-QTI
I don't know anything on recent formats but there are 2 widerly used "blackboard formats"
Similarities
- all files are zipped
- there is a manifest.xml
- questions are in files with names like res00000.dat, res00001.dat
- images are in a folder hierarchy
Differences
- the manifest.xml dont have quite the same structure
- the folder hierarchy for the images is not the same
- in the manifest.xml res00000.dat, res00001.dat files are not declared of the same type, in one case they are declared of type "assessment/x-bb-qti-test" and in the other "assessment/x-bb-pool". Maybe we can call them the QTI type and the POOL type ?
- as can be expected from the previous point, the structure of the *.dat files is completely different between POOL type and QTI type
Several vendors have used these formats to produce questions generators and questions banks for teachers
- TestGen (current version : 7) distributed by Pearson produce the QTI type variant when you choose to export as "Blackboard 6.x-9.x". Pearson also distribute ready made TestGen banks for teachers using their books.
- Examview (current version : 7.5) distributed by eInstruction produce the POOL type variant but I know nearly nothing about examView as it is a product I can't afford, I have only worked for examples files people have send to me. apparently a lot of book's editors produce questions banks in ExamView format for teachers.
For "historical reasons" I think, import of these 2 types of files has always been separated in Moodle. It has been suggested (MDL-9408) to unify this in one unique import format, wich would prevent users from choosing the wrong one, and then complaining in the forums that import is broken.
This would be quite possible as parsing the manifest.xml file we can extract the type of the *.dat files and use the appropriate code to extract questions.
Unfortunately, I have not yet searched the web to find reference documents describing these format, but I have read several times people saying that in fact both ExamView and TestGen don't produce "real" blackboard files, but only files that blackboard is able to import wich is not quite the same thing ! We all know that standard compliancy is often not as good as it should, so I decided when I began investigating this problem to work from real ExamView and TestGen files rather than use the standard description.
Maybe blackboard_six can be described as a format that can import the QTI blackboard files made by TestGen
And the examview_bbsixplus as a format that can import the POOL blackbord files made by examview ?
I am wondering if there has been any progress made importing TestGen files into Moodle 2.1? I see the last post was on December 8. Could you please give an update of where this sits? thank you.
Hi Jean-Michel,
Thank you so much for all your hard work getting this fix. You are the MAN.
Mike
Dear Jean
I am attaching one multiple choice question with an image attached to the question, and images attached to the answers
I am not able to upload the zip file here, it is giving me JSON error. i will send it directly to your email
Hope this would help, and thanks for your assistance
best
Marwa
Hi Jean-Michael,
WIth this file, I had question names that was a string of numbers and letter that was discussed in one of the other posts. I know that test gen does not have me give an option to label the question. Is there anyway to leave this field blank on import or call it question 1, etc.
Mike
Hello Mike,
Leaving the question name blank is not an option : in Moodle question name is mandatory (but not necessary unique).
So some options I can think of are :
- strip all HTML tags from question text and take the n-th first characters as question name (this is what is currently done by some other import formats with n =250 wich I find rather large, by the way !) .
- call it question 1, question 2, ... as you suggest. The drawback of this method is that if, later, you import another file it will start again at question 1, question 2, ... so you can have several questions with the same name. This is not a problem for Moodle, but maybe this is not very good for teachers.
- any other method for creating a question name that readers of this forum can suggest ... and that I am able to code
For what my opinion is worth, I think using a snippet of the question text would be best.
I'll second that suggestion. That thought did not cross my mind but makes great sense.
Mike
Hi Jean Michel,
Thank you for contibuting this. We have one textbook in out schools that uses TestGen. I was able to upload over 100 questions successfully withour problem. I did notice the question names come out as large blobs of text and numbers. Please see the image below. Would it be possible to make the questions names more logical?
Rob
Hello Rob,
Yes, I noticed this too, and I find it strange too
Note i didn't change anything in that area so this is how the version of the TestGen import format was supposed to work before I began to upgrade it for Moodle 2.1. The format use the "id" of the question as name.
Can people using the TestGen import format in Moodle 1.9 confirm that the 1.9 version has this problem too ?
I did some research in the tracker and this seems to have been introduced in 2007 because there is a note from Howard Miller in MDL-10317 saying :
"The question name is now taken from the id, not the question text as requested - good idea"
But maybe at that time the id field was not a large and meaningless blob of letters and numbers.
So I am quite ready to change that but the problem is that I don't know where to look in the xml file for the name of the questions.
Of course I can take the first characters of the question text, remove all html tags and truncate to create a question name (this si how a lot of import formats are working)
But maybe there is a better solution. Do you know if question have a name in TestGen ? if yes and if you can craete for me a small zip with just a single question and tell me what his name was in Testgen I would know where it is in the xml file.
Anyway we must solve this problem.
I do not have access to the software. I will need to contact one of my teachers to see what he can find out. If nothing else, taking the first characters from the question text is better than what we get now. Thank you again for contibuting this modification.
Rob
The question ID in Testgen is a randomly created GUID that resides in the <bbmd_asi_object_id> XML element for each question. Examview uses a different approach for this value. ExamView uses something like "question_1_1" for each question ID. As you are aware the TestGen GUID makes a poor question name. In the software I wrote, which is discussed in the thread http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=191506, I chose to name each question by providing a question number and adding truncated question text with the HTML tags stripped, e.g. "q1 This is the question text." I have attached an export with one TestGen question. This question also includes an image.
I am just wondering if there is any way to combine the ExamView and TestGen plugin into one? ExamView has two Blackboard export formats, "Blackboard 6.0-7.0" and "Blackboard 7.+." TestGen has one Blackboard export "Blackboard 6.x-9.x." The Examview "Blackboard 7.+" and the TestGen "Blackboard 6.x-9.x." use the same XML structure. In MoodleXMLBuilder I use the same parsing routine for both. The main differenece is file naming. I'm not a php guy and don't have the energy right now to try and figure it out, but has anyone explored the possibility? In fact I use the same parsing routine for tests exported directly from Blackboard. It would be really nice put all these Blackboard exports into one export option to resolve confusion.
Hello Gary,
Yes I am currently working on this idea : one unique format to import all so-called "blackboard" zipfiles. This is MDL-25492. I already have a code to decode the data files of Examview "Blackboard 6.0-7.0" and one other for TestGen "BlackBoard 6.x-9.x" but I still need to finish combining them and the parsing of the xmlmanifest is not finished (the one currently included in the"blackboard_six" import format in Moodle is broken). Import of all images in Moodle is working.
I have also downloaded your MoodleXMLBuilder and I find that it is also a very interesting approach. If I understand you well, you said that you only need 2 parsing routine to import 4 of the 5 formats that MoodleXMLBuilder accept ? I wasn't sure of that for tests exported from Blackboard (I don't have any example of such zip files). Very interesting.
Can we exchange some tips to permit me to finish my work ? I would be interested to verify that I correctly parse each XML structure and also if you have some examples files that you can share that would permit me to test my code and enhance it.
I am basicly handling all parsing with 2 routines. One for ExamView export for Blackboard 6.0-7.0 which also works for EZ Test, and another that handles ExamView export for Blackboard 7.+, TestGen, and tests exported directly from Blackboard (I think our college is using Blackboard 9.1 but the XML has been the same for quite a few versions). Our college started converting from Blackboard to Moodle this past summer and we have instructors that use ExamView, TestGen, and who currently may have numerous tests in Blackboard that need to be converted. So there is currently no one Moodle plugin that works. I'm thrilled to here that you are trying to put this together into one plugin.
I will continue to have access to Blackboard for about another year or so and I can provide you with the samples you need. When you look at some of the files I'll send you will see there are a couple of additional items that you will have to consider for image files and links that I've not seen used in Examview and TestGen.
It's probably best to take this discussion off the forum and email privately. You can email me at garyb@nashcc.edu