Re: Buttons in CDFs Created for Homework Assignments
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- Subject: [mg128109] Re: Buttons in CDFs Created for Homework Assignments
- From: David Reiss <dbreiss at gmail.com>
- Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 03:24:54 -0400 (EDT)
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CDFs can have different levels of digital signing. The default one that is available directly through one's Mathematica license has the restriction that you have encountered -- the inability for the user to save the CDF. You should contact Wolfram to see about the costs (if any) with a different level of digital signing that permits saving. I agree with you that this feature should be included in the default (lowest) level of digital signing. --David On Sep 15, 3:46 am, Gregory Lypny <gregory.ly... at videotron.ca> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I'm using CDF as the format for a series of undergraduate multiple-choice= quizzes and graduate assignments that I am developing. Both generate un= ique homework exercises for each student by drawing random samples from rea= l-world data sets. I have already used them successfully in an intermedi= ate undergraduate theory course in financial economics. But something ca= me up yesterday when I was putting the finishing touches on a prototype for= multiple-choice quizzes, and I suppose it should have occurred to me befor= e I even started. I included radio buttons for the answer choices to eac= h question, knowing that free CDFs cannot export, but thinking that the ans= wers chosen could be dynamically updated in a table, and students could the= n use the table to enter their answers into a web form for submission. N= o problem with this as long as the quiz is completed all at once. But st= udents are not be able to come back to complete a quiz that they had starte= d earlier because free CDFs cannot save the interface state and do not allo= w importing (which, presumably, could be used to create a file to do the sa= me thing). All this being said, I was wondering if someone on the list m= ight confirm, and perhaps suggest a workaround if one exists. A volume l= icense for Player Pro is not an option at my institution. > > I think CDFs are neat, but the inability to save states, severely limits = their usefulness for homework, and I am now wondering whether I might just = as well use Mathematica to create a workflow to generate a unique PDF for e= ach student instead of a CDF. Even if a student does not print a PDF, th= ey can always annotate them, and in that way, save their work. > > I guess this is a shout-out to Wolfram to consider expanding the capabili= ties of free CDFs for these purposes. > > Regards, > > Gregory