OpenQP

Introduction

OpenQP generates Question Papers by selecting questions from a collection of questions stored in a Database. The questions are stored as text (with embedded LaTex commands for equations, images etc.) in a postgres RDBMS, that can be accessed from remote computers. Some of the features of the system are:

• Capable of handling large number of courses.

• Renders mathematical equations properly (uses LaTex).

• Support for multiple languages. English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Arabic and Urdu are currently implemented.

Click Here to generate dummy Question Papers

Software

The programs are available as a Debian package or Python source code. After installing the DEB package all the programs will appear in the ‘Education’ menu, or search them by typing QB.

• A configuration file is read by all the programs to obtain the Server information. This dummy configuration file will connect to a Trial database on scischool.in, that can be used for testing.

GUI programs are available for

• Adding/Deleting/Modifying Courses to the database
• Editing Individual questions of any course
• Uploading questions from Excel file to a course
• Downloading a Course as an Excel file and image files.
• Generating Question Papers

Creating Courses

A GUI program is provided for Creating/Editing/Deleting Courses. The following details need to be provided while creating a new course.

• Course code
• Course name
• Question paper model
• Type setting language

To view a screenshot of the GUI Click Here.

Adding Questions to a Course

There are two methods available for populating a course with questions.

• Bulk uploading: Enter all the questions to an Excel (.xlsx) file and upload it to the database using
• Add/Modify one by one: Choose any existing question for editing or add a new question, using the program

The system uses LaTex for typesetting and it is necessary to make sure that the entered text does not contain any special characters that are interpreted as LaTex commands. For example characters like &, %, _ etc. should be entered as \&, \% and _. Make sure that you View the questions in the PDF format before uploading.

Bulk Uploading of Questions from a spreadsheet (.xlsx) file.

To view a screenshot of the GUI Click Here

• Open the .xlsx file
• Select the typesetting language- View questions in PDF format (for checking any LaTex errors)
• Connect to a remote Course (name is same as the filename, without .xlsx the extension). You need to provide the password. Upload, Clear and Display options work only after successfully connecting to the course.
• Upload the Questions to the remote course (course should be empty, otherwise make it empty using the Clear Remote Course button)

• You may list the contents of the Remote Course, either in the order they are entered or sorted by the Module number and Question type.

• Sample file Y2024AC_TES2CJ101.xlsx

The Excel file must be prepared carefully, the points to note are:

• The coursecode is same as that of the filename, without the .xlsx extension. For example Y2024AC_TES2CJ101
• There must be exactly 9 columns in the spreadsheet. Do not type anything beyond that.
• The sheet name should be Sheet1 (the default value, do not change it)
• The first row should be exactly like the one in the sample file.
• The Bloom’s Levels should be specified as Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate or Create.
• The course outcome fields should be CO1, CO2, CO3, CO4, CO5, CO6 or CO7.
• At present, it is not compulsory to fill the column named atext.
• If you include figures by using the \includegraphics command, the corresponding image file should be in the same directory.

Edit/Add individual questions

To view a screenshot of the GUI Click Here.

The steps to be followed are:

• Connect to the Database. This will bring a list of courses available.
• Type some characters of your coursecode to filter the list, for example ‘phy’ will restrict the list to the physics courses.
• Select a course from the pull down menu.
• Select a Module and question Type (A,B or C)
• Select an existing Question or create a new one
• Enter the Author information
• Select the Bloom’s level and Course Outcome from pulldown menus.
• Enter the question text ( copy & paste from otherr documents or by typing)
• Add any Hints about the answer, to help in evaluating the answer papers(optional).
• Press View Question to view as PDF. This ensures the LaTex compatibility.
• Update the question (write it to the remote database)
• After entering several questions, press List CurrentModule to generate a PDF rendering of the currently selected Module.

If you include figures by using the ‘\includegraphics’ command, the image file should be in the same directory.

Generating Question Papers

A GUI program is available for generating the question papers. The following details, to appear on the generated question paper are added:

• Year
• Month
• QP code
• QP number

To view a screenshot of the GUI Click Here

Design of the Question Bank

The backbone of the system is a Postgres RDBMS. A table named coursedetails stores the information about all the available courses. Each record of this table represents a course. Each Course has a Table to store the questions and related information. Name of the table is same as the course code. There is a corresponding ‘user’for every course, having access rights to it.

To create a new Course, a new record is added to the table named coursedetails. Corresponding Data table and user are created. The editor/upload programs populate questions to the data table. Qoestion paper generator program selects questions from the data table to generate question papers.

Details of the table coursedetails

Data Table for a Course

Installation, postgres RDBMS

A database and a user to own it are areated (replace mydbname below with your choice). Also two users named ‘dummy’ and ‘reader’ are created. These steps are carried out by the ‘psql’ client program, after logging into the server machine. The commands are shown below for pastegresql version 16 or later (ubunto 24.04).

$ sudo - su postgres
$ psql
postgres=# create role mydbname with createrole  login password '******';
postgres=# create database mydbname owner mydbname;
postgres=# create user dummy with password 'dum123';
postgres=# create user reader with password '******';
postgres=# \q

Enable connection using TCP/IP protocol

The postgres RDBMS should be configured for remote login, using TCP/IP protocol. The two files mentioned below need to be edited to enable TCP/IP connectivity.

The file  /etc/postgresql/16/main/pg_hba.conf  should have the following lines
host    mydbname   all      127.0.0.1/32   password
host    mydbname   all      0.0.0.0/0      password

Modify /etc/postgresql/12/main/postgresql.conf , to have the line
listen_addresses = '*'          # what IP address(es) to listen on;

Restart the database server using

$ sudo systemctl restart postgresql       

After completing these steps the program, run the program

$ python3 initQbank.py hostname mydbname

It will ask for the database password.

• Download initQbank.py

After completing these steps, the system can be accessed using any of the GUI programs provided.

About

This software is distributed under GNU General Public License version 3

Authors :

• Ajith Kumar B P (bpajith at gmail dot com)
• T K Muraleedharan (muraleedharantk at kannuruniv dot ac dot in)