RandAssign: Randomized assignments with PythonTeX

Author:	Geoffrey M. Poore
License:	BSD 3-Clause

Create randomized assignments with solutions/keys using Python and LaTeX.

Contents

• Installation
• Standard usage
• Error handling
• Customization

Installation

Python 2.7 and 3.2+ are officially supported.

For the latest version, download the source from GitHub, then run:

python setup.py install

The package is also available on PyPI (the Python Package Index). Install via:

pip install randassign

Or use:

easy_install randassign

Requires the PythonTeX package for LaTeX. PythonTeX is part of the full TeX Live installation; it may also be installed via the TeX Live package manager, or using the Python installation script that is bundled with PythonTeX (this supports MiKTeX).

Standard usage

The steps to create a typical randomized assignment are listed below. Or consult the available complete examples.

• Create a LaTeX document, with \usepackage{pythontex}. Have this file \input a file name.tex that contains a placeholder name for the person who will take the assignment. Also \input a file attempt.tex that contains a placeholder integer for the number of attempts the person taking the assignment has made (optional; depends on keyword argument multipleattempts, described below).

• Write the assignment within the LaTeX document, using PythonTeX as desired to generate random values for parameters.

• At the beginning of each PythonTeX session:

  from randassign import RandAssign
  ra = RandAssign()
  

  Within the session, add solutions via ra.addsoln(). This takes an arbitrary number of arguments, corresponding to the solutions for a single problem; if multiple arguments are received, they are treated as the solutions to a multi-part problem. The optional, keyword argument info is used to pass information about the problem into the solutions. The keyword argument number may be used to set the problem number manually when the problems created in a session are not directly sequential. When solutions are created with addsoln(), solutions are formatted automatically; only the actual answers and any accompanying info need be provided.

• Alternately, solutions may be created by appending text to the list ra.soln. Solutions created in this way will not be automatically numbered and formatted; the user has complete, direct control over the form of the solution text. Any desired linebreaks must be included explicitly as \n in the text that is appended to ra.soln. This method of creating solutions may not be mixed with ra.addsoln().

• Create a text file students.txt that contains the names of all individuals for whom assignments are to be generated, with one name per line. Commas should only appear in names in "Last, First" format. Put this file in the same directory as the LaTeX file.

• Run the command-line utility randassign:

  randassign <tex_file>
  

  By default, this will create a directory randassign in the LaTeX file's directory. Within this will be an assignments directory that contains an assignment for each student, and a solutions directory that contains complete solutions for all students within a single PDF document, as well as a data file in JSON format.

  Run the randassign utility again as desired to create additional assignments to allow for additional attempts. Solutions will be updated automatically. Use the --student <student> command-line flag to generate an additional assignment for only a single student.

Error handling

The randassign utility (and make() function) is carefully designed so that if an error occurs during a run, all assignments generated during that run will automatically be discarded. If an error occurs, it should typically be adequate to resolve the error and then run randassign again, without performing any manual cleanup from the failed run.

In the event that automatic cleanup somehow fails, randassign also creates backups of the data file in which raw assignment data and metadata are stored. These are saved in the same directory as the data file, which is by default in the directory with the solutions.

Customization

The randassign utility accepts a limited number of command-line arguments to customize settings. Run randassign --help for a list of available options.

Further customization is available by creating a Python script and passing arguments to randassign's make() function:

from randassign import make
make(texfile='<tex_file>', <kwargs>)

The make() function accepts the following keyword arguments. Note that all paths (including all *dir keywords) are interpreted relative to the LaTeX file's directory, rather than relative to the current working directory. This ensures that LaTeX functions smoothly and does not attempt to write to directories outside the document directory and its subdirectories. Absolute paths may be used when this behavior is not desired.

Unix-style paths with forward slashes, and with leading ~ expanding to the user's home directory, will work under all systems, including Windows.

argv (bool) default: True

Whether to supplement supplied arguments from sys.argv, using the parser from the randassign command-line utility.

verbose (bool) default: False

Verbose output.

silent (bool) default: False

Suppress all output.

texfile (str)

LaTeX file from which to generate assignments.

texcmd (str or list of str) default: pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode

Command for compiling LaTeX file (does not include file name).

pythontexcmd (str or list of str) default: pythontex --rerun always

Command for running PythonTeX (does not include file name).

randassigndir (str) default: randassign

Root directory for saving created assignments and solutions.

subdirs (bool) default: True

Whether to create subdirectories under randassigndir for assignments and solutions.

assigndir (str) default: assignments

Subdirectory for assignments.

solndir (str) default: solutions

Subdirectory for solutions.

namefile (str) default: name.tex

LaTeX file containing the name of the current student.

attemptfile (str) default: attempt.tex

LaTeX file containing the number of the current attempt.

student (str) default: None

An individual student for whom to generate assignments.

studentfile (str) default: students.txt

File containing the names of all students. txt files with names in "Last, First" or "First Last" form are accepted, as well as CSV files with the first column containing last names and the second column containing first names (with no header row).

parsestudentfile (function)

Function for parsing the student file and returning a list of student names in the form needed for assignments. See _parsestudentfile in make.py for an example.

parsestudentname (function)

Function for parsing individual lines/rows of the student file into student names in the desired format.

onlysolutions (bool) default: False

Only generate solutions; do not generate any assignments. Useful for regenerating solutions in a different format or with a different template.

solnfile (str) default: solutions.tex

Solution file.

solnfmt (str) default: tex

Solution file format. tex and md/markdown are accepted.

solncmd (str or list of str, or None) default: pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode

Command for post-processing solution file (does not include file name). Should be None/evaluate to False if no post-processing is desired.

writesoln (function)

Function for writing the solutions, given the solution data, templates, and other parameters. See _writesoln() in make.py for an example.

msgfilepattern (str) default: _randassign.*.json

Pattern for identifying "message" files, files containing solutions, that are saved by PythonTeX and used to pass data to RandAssign.

onlylastsoln (bool) default: False

Solutions include all solutions for all attempts for each students, or only the solutions from the most recent attempt (all solutions are still saved in the data file).

multipleattempts (bool) default: True

Whether multiple attempts will be given for an assignment; this determines whether attempts are listed/numbered in solutions.

randassigndatafile (str) default: <solndir>/<tex_filename>.<randassigndatafilefmt>

File for saving raw solution data and associated metadata.

randassigndatafilefmt (str) default: json.zip

Format for data file. Accepted options are json, json.zip, and pickle/pkl.

solntemplatedoc (str)

Template for overall solution document; see examples in make.py.

solntemplatestudent (str)

Template for overall solutions for each student.

solntemplatesolnsattempt (str)

Template for attempt heading.

solntemplatesolnswrapper (str)

Template for wrapping a set of solutions, if the set of solutions needs to be preceded and followed by markup.

solntemplatesolnsingle (str)

Template for a one-part solution.

solntemplatesolnsingleinfo (str)

Template for a one-part solution that includes additional info from the problem.

solntemplatesolnmultiwrapper (str)

Template for wrapping a multi-part solution.

solntemplatesolnmultiwrapperinfo (str)

Template for wrapping a multi-part solution that includes additional info from the problem.

solntemplatesolnmulti (str)

Template for each piece of a multi-part solution.