With some inspiration from a chemistry lecturer here, I've been able to create a new question type (using Moodle 1.6 architecture) in which students must create a molecular structure using the "JME" molecule editor.
I'm having trouble accessing contrib CVS at the moment but when I do I will add it as "qtype_jme". I've obtained permission from the author (Peter Ertl) to distribute the applet as a Moodle add-in (it is not open-source, but is free).
The screenshot attached shows two examples of the qtype in action.
Yes, it's a very specialized but very interesting question type.
I've often been thinking about new useful question types for Moodle, and I concluded that, at least in my field (circuit theory) it would be very nice to have a broader type of calculated questions, in which the grading of student's answers are left to an external program, such octave or scilab. The teachers should be responsible to create an octave function with some input parameters (the student's answers to several sub-questions), and with one return value between 0 and 1, indicating the grade of the question in a "fuzzy" manner. Later, this function would be called from whithin Moodle at (re)grading time.
Gustav, as you are involved in Moodle development, do you know if a question type like this is planned in Moodle 1.6 or beyond? If not, I'll try to find some funding/manpower here in my university to develop this.
And, of course, I'd like to know if anyone find this question type useful.
Thanks.
I've often been thinking about new useful question types for Moodle, and I concluded that, at least in my field (circuit theory) it would be very nice to have a broader type of calculated questions, in which the grading of student's answers are left to an external program, such octave or scilab. The teachers should be responsible to create an octave function with some input parameters (the student's answers to several sub-questions), and with one return value between 0 and 1, indicating the grade of the question in a "fuzzy" manner. Later, this function would be called from whithin Moodle at (re)grading time.
Gustav, as you are involved in Moodle development, do you know if a question type like this is planned in Moodle 1.6 or beyond? If not, I'll try to find some funding/manpower here in my university to develop this.
And, of course, I'd like to know if anyone find this question type useful.
Thanks.
Dear Orestes,
that question type did exist, but now needs to be upgraded to work under Moodle 1.6. It is using the Stack system that uses Maxima to render the question and process the student responses. I was going to spend this weekend to update the Stack question type to work under Moodle 1.6 but now Sourceforge CVS is down so I can't get at the Stack code
.
In any case, once I have put that question type back, there will be much scope for improvement, so if you could mobilise some manpower and resources to work on it that would be great.
that question type did exist, but now needs to be upgraded to work under Moodle 1.6. It is using the Stack system that uses Maxima to render the question and process the student responses. I was going to spend this weekend to update the Stack question type to work under Moodle 1.6 but now Sourceforge CVS is down so I can't get at the Stack code
In any case, once I have put that question type back, there will be much scope for improvement, so if you could mobilise some manpower and resources to work on it that would be great.
This question-type is now downloadable - see details here.
Thanks!
Marvin is interesting but I don't like developing things with it because I'm not allowed to freely distribute it. But someone else did create a Marvin filter - see this discussion.
Marvin is interesting but I don't like developing things with it because I'm not allowed to freely distribute it. But someone else did create a Marvin filter - see this discussion.
Dan
A big thanks for yet another cool Moodle molecule edit/display function.
One other option to consider would be JChemPaint. At the moment, it does not seem to be as sophisticated as JME, but in the longer term may be a good option as it belongs to the same open source CDK (Chemistry Development Kit) 'family' as Jmol.
Geoff
A big thanks for yet another cool Moodle molecule edit/display function.
One other option to consider would be JChemPaint. At the moment, it does not seem to be as sophisticated as JME, but in the longer term may be a good option as it belongs to the same open source CDK (Chemistry Development Kit) 'family' as Jmol.
Geoff
Yes the download link for the JME questiontype is broken since last CVS re-organisation (as is the download link for the DragDrop questiontype) but I don't have the permissions to correct it (only the original creator of the record in the "Module and plugins" database can correct it's own submissions).
In the meantime, you can use this link to download the latest version.
You can also find all the files for the JME questiontype here : CVS for the JME questiontype . Of course you need to download each latest version of each file including the ones in subdirectory.
Also please that as nobody seems to be maintaining this questiontype it will no more work in Moodle 1.9. I hope somebody will make the required changes because this is an interesting questiontype.
In the meantime, you can use this link to download the latest version.
You can also find all the files for the JME questiontype here : CVS for the JME questiontype . Of course you need to download each latest version of each file including the ones in subdirectory.
Also please that as nobody seems to be maintaining this questiontype it will no more work in Moodle 1.9. I hope somebody will make the required changes because this is an interesting questiontype.
Hi Jean-Michel,
I installed the JME as per your link (looks the same as the link in "modules and plugins"). Searching for some tutorials for JME, i found this one.
But i noticed that their JME editor has 2 more buttons: NEW and 123.
(see attached file).
Any idea how to turn on these 2 buttons or am I using an old version of JME?
Thanks for any advice.
Regards,
G
I installed the JME as per your link (looks the same as the link in "modules and plugins"). Searching for some tutorials for JME, i found this one.
But i noticed that their JME editor has 2 more buttons: NEW and 123.
(see attached file).
Any idea how to turn on these 2 buttons or am I using an old version of JME?
Thanks for any advice.
Regards,
G
Hello Ghassam,
Sorry it tooks several months to answer your question !
To display the missing buttons in JME, you need to change a parameter in the applet tag.
Open the jmelib.php file and search for a line with
param name="options" value="list of keywords"
in it. You need to replace the "list of keywords" string with some actual options to customize JME. For instance replacing "list of keywords" with "number" will display the "123" button.
Be carefull, depending on the Moodle (and jme questiontype) version you use the "list of keywords"may appear in several places in the jmelib.php file. You need to edit all places in a similar way. If not, some options will be available for the teacher during question editing but not for the student during test attempt (or available for the student but not during question editing).
You can add several options by separating them with commas, for instance "xbutton, rbutton, number".
The list of available options is on this page : http://www.molinspiration.com/jme/doc/jme_functions.html near the end of the page.
Sorry it tooks several months to answer your question !
To display the missing buttons in JME, you need to change a parameter in the applet tag.
Open the jmelib.php file and search for a line with
param name="options" value="list of keywords"
in it. You need to replace the "list of keywords" string with some actual options to customize JME. For instance replacing "list of keywords" with "number" will display the "123" button.
Be carefull, depending on the Moodle (and jme questiontype) version you use the "list of keywords"may appear in several places in the jmelib.php file. You need to edit all places in a similar way. If not, some options will be available for the teacher during question editing but not for the student during test attempt (or available for the student but not during question editing).
You can add several options by separating them with commas, for instance "xbutton, rbutton, number".
The list of available options is on this page : http://www.molinspiration.com/jme/doc/jme_functions.html near the end of the page.
I upgraded jme to use with 1.8 (it works for me but be careful until you have tested on a non production server).
Please download from here: http://www.jitt.dk/moodle/jme.zip
If someone will put it in cvs sometime be my guest. Every credit goes to the originator; I just upgraded to fulfill the needs for my chemistry colleages.
Morten
The right place in CVS for third-party modules is http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:contrib, and there is already a version of the JME question type there. http://moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net/moodle/contrib/plugins/question/type/jme/
Do you want to have write access to that folder?
Also, when you finish you drag-math question type, it would be good to upload it to contrib too.
Do you want to have write access to that folder?
Also, when you finish you drag-math question type, it would be good to upload it to contrib too.
I have upgraded the JME question type to work with Moodle 1.9
This work is closely based on Morten Brydensholt code.
I hope it is OK but I need some other Moodlers to test it.
If you have a Moodle 1.9 test site ready, can you please download the questiontype from contrib CVS and report here if you found anything wrong.
Of course testing from people with chemical knowledge would be appreciated as I don't know anything on chemical formulas
.
Tested with IE7 and FireFox 2.0.
This work is closely based on Morten Brydensholt code.
I hope it is OK but I need some other Moodlers to test it.
If you have a Moodle 1.9 test site ready, can you please download the questiontype from contrib CVS and report here if you found anything wrong.
Of course testing from people with chemical knowledge would be appreciated as I don't know anything on chemical formulas
.Tested with IE7 and FireFox 2.0.
Hi Jean-Michel - and many thanks for keeping this question type alive.
I have added JME to my Moodle 1.8, but have got some error messages:
When writing the question - "Could not insert quiz JME options!" and "Error: missing quiz options!"
When running the quiz - "Could not load question options", then "Couldn't find this course module".
Any ideas?
Mike
Hi Jean-Michel,
I tried to use the jme question type with my 1.8.3+ local testing installation (downloded from the Modules and Plugins page and installed in moodle18/questions/type). When editing a question of JME type, everything works fine with the applet until I try to save, then I get the message: "Could not insert quiz jme options!". This error message obviously comes from the questiontype.php script inside the jme folder.
I did login as administrator and visited the start page but, may be, this is not enough to create the necessary entries in the db?
How can I verify that these files (tables) have been generated?
I am teaching chemistry and have used JME as an applet from a separate server so far, which requires that the students copy/paste the SMILES code. The jme question type would be much more convenient - if I could get it to work.
Thanks for any help
Bernhard Jaun
I tried to use the jme question type with my 1.8.3+ local testing installation (downloded from the Modules and Plugins page and installed in moodle18/questions/type). When editing a question of JME type, everything works fine with the applet until I try to save, then I get the message: "Could not insert quiz jme options!". This error message obviously comes from the questiontype.php script inside the jme folder.
I did login as administrator and visited the start page but, may be, this is not enough to create the necessary entries in the db?
How can I verify that these files (tables) have been generated?
I am teaching chemistry and have used JME as an applet from a separate server so far, which requires that the students copy/paste the SMILES code. The jme question type would be much more convenient - if I could get it to work.
Thanks for any help
Bernhard Jaun
Hi Mike,
i'm using moodle 1.9.2 and deployed JME as said in the README.txt file, that is, downloaded the zip file, extracted the contents and move the jme folder into the folder question/type.
When i visit the administration site i get a blank page, if i remove the jme folder, the page is loaded. Althought php has the display_errors on, nothing is shown.
Any idea?
thanks,
tito
i'm using moodle 1.9.2 and deployed JME as said in the README.txt file, that is, downloaded the zip file, extracted the contents and move the jme folder into the folder question/type.
When i visit the administration site i get a blank page, if i remove the jme folder, the page is loaded. Althought php has the display_errors on, nothing is shown.
Any idea?
thanks,
tito
Hello :
As for any new question type do the following steps
- download the JME latest version form the Modules and Plugins database
- unzip the jme.zip file and check that the unzipping process hasn't added an unwanted layer or a jme folder (you should only have one jme folder with all the files inside not two)
- copy or transfert the jme folder in your server question/type folder depending if you have phisical access to the server or ftp access
- login to your Moodle site as administrator and visit Administration > Notifications to create the database tables for the JME question type (you should see somme screen message indicating that table are successfully created)
Other Moodle users : please note that JME questiontype has not been upgraded for Moodle 2.0 and will only work with Moodle 1.9.x until code has been upgraded
Well,
I don't really know.
My own Moodle website is still at 1.9 version and I use several third party plugins that have not been upgraded and I don't know when their respective authors will publish a 2.0 version.
So I think I will not upgrade my own website before Q3 or Q4 2011.
The tast to upgrade the JME questiontype to 2.0 is not a complicated one because jme is only a variation of the shortanswer question type. Basically what you need to do is
- take a fresh copy of the shortanswer files from CVS
- search and replace all "shortanswer" with "jme" in file contents and in filenames
- supress all the code dealing with the usecase field
- add the files specific to jme : JME.jar, jmelib.php icon.gif
- and this is the most uneasy part add the lines to display the editor. This is only a few lines but I don't know if the code used for Moodle 1.9 will work in Moodle 2.0.
- Modify the way students responses are tested for correctness because jme is not exactly the same as shortanswer
- add the import_from_xml and export_to_xml functions to questiontype.php so that users can share their JME questions
Unfortunately I don't think I will find the time to do that very soon so if this question type is important for you, stick to Moodle 1.9
Well infact it was easier and faster than I expected, so here is a first version of JME questiontype for Moodle 2.0 to test.
Warning : this is a first version done in less than 2 hours so TEST, TEST, TEST before using on a production server. And report any problem to vedrine AT univ-st-etienne DOT fr so that I can correct them.
Warning : this version will NOT work with Moodle 1.9 it REQUIRE Moodle version 2.0 !
I have Problems with the JME-Questiontype, from the JME-Package in Moodle 1.9.9.
While I have no Problems to see the JME in the Block, I cant get the jme in a question. I have no problems with Geogebra and other Java-Applets. I have already twice uploaded the extracted jme-questiontyp vie FTP (which takes a moment with its 92mb) Any Idea what might gone wrong, or what might help to get the java app of the jmequestion working?
best Steffen
Hello Steffen,
Do you have this problem
- When you create the question
- When you (or your student) take the quiz (you can create the question even if the applet if it is not working by writting yourself something in the answers boxes, and then testing if the applet is displayed when you preview the question)
- both
Also my knowledge of german is not vey good, but it seems that the message displayed where the applet shoud be says to click to have some information displayed. If you click, what is displayed ?
Thank you for your kind response,
The only reaction is, that the Errormessage disapears. I know this message, from situations, when the path to the .jar-File is not correct. but I checked the code and found no problem.
Here are the details:
Java Plug-in 1.6.0_23
Verwendung der JRE-Version 1.6.0_23-b05 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
Home-Verzeichnis des Benutzers = C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Steffen Fahl
----------------------------------------------------
c: Konsole löschen
f: Objekte in Finalisierungswarteschlange finalisieren
g: Speicherbereinigung
h: Diese Hilfemeldung anzeigen
l: ClassLoader-Liste ausgeben
m: Speicherbelegung anzeigen
o: Protokollierung auslösen
q: Konsole ausblenden
r: Richtlinien-Konfiguration neu laden
s: System- und Bereitstellungseigenschaften ausgeben
t: Threadliste ausgeben
v: Thread-Stack ausgeben
x: ClassLoader-Cache löschen
0-5: Trace-Stufe auf <n> setzen
----------------------------------------------------
Laden: Klasse JME.class nicht gefunden
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: JME.class
at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadClass0(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadCode(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager.createApplet(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: open HTTP connection failed:http://www.ohg.sh.schule.de/campus/question/JME/class.class
at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.getBytes(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.access$000(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
... 9 more
Ausnahme: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: JME.class
I have checked the package. And there was no File: "JME.class" at all in the question/type/jme folder. I also wonder why ever JME is looking for a Folder http://www.ohg.sh.schule.de/campus/question/JME/class.class since the Installation instruction demands to copy the jme Folder in the Folder question/type/ so there is definitly no Folder "question/JME" at all!
So what can I do to give or make Java find the missing information?
best
Steffen
Well definitely the java loader don't find the JME.jar file (note : .jar not .class)
Look at the sourcecode of the webpage in your browser you should see something like
archive="http://www.ohg.sh.schule.de/campus/question/type/jme/JME.jar" (I tested to download it so I already know that the file is not missing on your website ! )
if you don't see exactly this you have a problem in your config.php
and if you see exactly this can you send me the whole sourcecode of the page by mail to vedrine AT univ-st-etienne DOT fr so that I can study the problem.
You didn't answer my question : do you see this when you create the question or when you preview it (the code used isn't exactly the same) ?
Sorry, for missing the other question: Actually in any way I dont see any JME in questions. As I told bevor it is no Problem with JME in Blocks, but neither when Editing or saving an edited Question nor when opening a question as learner JME appears as I would expect it.
Here is the sourcecode from the Page when if I just edited a question. The path seems to be (as far as it is related to the root folder) correct:
Let me know which file you exactly need to make jme find the JME.jar
best
Steffen
<!--[if !IE]> -->
<object classid="java:JME.class"
type="application/x-java-applet"
archive="/question/type/jme/JME.jar"
height="335" width="460"
id="JME1">
<param name="code" value="JME.class" />
<param name="java_arguments" value="-Xmx64m -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true">
<param name="classloader_cache" value="false">
<!-- For Konqueror -->
<param name="archive" value="/question/type/jme/JME.jar" />
<param name="persistState" value="false" />
<center>
<img src="/question/type/jme/JME.gif" />
<p><strong>Java Molecular Editor content requires Java 1.6.0 or higher, which your browser does not appear to have.</strong></p>
The code you posted definitely don't come from JME for Moodle 1.9 ! Where did you downloaded it ? Please try this one or go to the page in the Modules and plugins database here : http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=296&filter=1 and click on the "Download the latest version" link.
Delete the question/type/jme folder on your server and replace with the new one and report.
Thank you for your enduring help!
Ok the smal version works right now. The questiontype I installed before came from the jme_package including a Block and a filter. The questiontype folder contains alone already 92mb (chemAxon, openbabel) files I assumed that it would perhaps be some interesting material thats why I preferred it. Do you know anything about and why this does not work in 1.9.9?
best
Steffen
It is also called molecular toolkit and it is definitly said to be compatible with Moodle1.9. But perhaps my problems derive from the fact, that I perhaps first tried it with the latest version which might be made for 2.0.
best
Steffen
Hello, I looked at the code of the molecular toolkit and your problem was not a version problem. It was caused because your Moodle is installed in a subdirectory of your webserver : http://www.ohg.sh.schule.de/campus/
If it was http://www.ohg.sh.schule.de without the /campus, the molecular editor would have worked correctly. If you prefer use it rather than the version I pointed you to, it is quite easy to correct the code so that it works:
in the jme_package\block\jme\jme.php file line 76 replace :
xmlhttp.open("GET", "/question/type/jme/smiles2mol.php?mol="+_urlencode(smiles),true);
with the line
xmlhttp.open("GET", $CFG->wwwroot."/question/type/jme/smiles2mol.php?mol="+_urlencode(smiles),true);
And replace the file jme_package\question\type\jme\jmelib.php with the one i am adding (unzip it first !) to this message.
(I hope I didn't made any typo, I didn't tested it ! as I am not at home and I don't have access to a Moodle test install)
I will contact the molecular editor authors to report the problem.
I am sorry to report that I missed one of the changes to do in the question\type\jme\jmelib.php that I posted in my previous message, because line 116 should also be changed from :
<param name="archive" value="/question/type/jme/JME.jar" />
to :
<param name="archive" value="'.$CFG->wwwroot.'/question/type/jme/JME.jar" />
so that the full path is also added if the user browser is IE (what a strange idea to use such a browser anyway ! )
Hello!
I would like to ask you if you know if this question type works for moodle 2.2, as I had donwloaded last version I have found on this post, 2.0 from Jean-Michel, and it gave me back several problems, not being able to create a new question any longer until I erase the question files.
As I am really interested in this type of java-question, I would like to ask how complicate could it be to update it to 2.2 version?
Hello Miguel,
I am very sorry, this is entirely my fault: rather than submitting this question type in the Moodle plugins Directory I keep posting various versions in this forum which is very bad as people don't know what version is good for their Moodle version.
I even managed to confuse myself and I don't really know where is my latest version for Moodle 2.2
. But I am quite sure I have made one at some point.
I will try to tidy my development setup and post links to versions for Moodle 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 ASAP.
Hello,
As promised there is now a repository for the latest version of the Java Molecule editor question type for Moodle 2.2.x:
https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_jme/tree/MOODLE_22_STABLE
and also for Moodle 2.3.x:
https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_jme/tree/MOODLE_23_STABLE
If you don't use git, I have provided instructions to download as a zip archive and install (See README.md). Post a message here if you encounter any problem.
Unfortunately, if I have permission from ahtor Peter Ertl, to include the JME.jar file in a zipped archive of the question, I don't think I can post it to a public git repository.
So you will have to get it separately (instructions to do so are also included in the README.md file) and put it in question/type/jme/jme/
I will create a MOODLE_24_STABLE branch later but I am quite sure the version from the MOODLE_23_STABLE branch can be used with Moodle 2.4.x too.
On the contrary don't try to use the master branch with Moodle 2.5dev, it is not ready and it will not work.
Please report any problem with one of these versions here, as I am commited to maintain this plugin.
Note: The XML import/export is working in these versions. I think it was broken in some earlier versions.
Hello,
so... there is no version for Moodle 2.5? Do you know if we will have one soon? (Sorry, I don't really know how difficult it could be)
In my University, we're thinking of upgrade to Moodle 2.5 but a lot of my teachers use the JME question type...
I'd like to have all possible information before we make a decission.
Regards,
Maria
Hello María José,
there is a version of the jme question type for Moodle 2.5, just use the master branch in my github account.
https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_jme
or download the zip archive https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_jme/archive/master.zip
On the contrary, users of Moodle 2.3 and Moodle 2.4 must use the MOODLE_23_STABLE branch here: https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_jme/tree/MOODLE_23_STABLE or use the download link https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_jme/archive/MOODLE_23_STABLE.zip