Overview of the PC based Test System
By Ulf Arndt, ulfa at global.co.za, March 2003
The code got 2 main software components which work independent
of each other.
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A JAVA servlet, JSP based dynamic website code
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which does interactive testing of the knowhow of a pilot
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host any master answer catalog for public view, if you want
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allow for the public to submit new questions and answers on the web to
increase the pool of questions
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A Visual Basic based Server/Client solution which provides
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for a computer based testing on a PC or Laptop platform
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an html based static test , which can be printed and processed on paper.
A multiple choice questionnaire.
The test questions and answers are defined in an XML file format.
All component share the same XML format.
XML allows that everyone can contribute questions and answers in this
text based format which is close to html.
All software components generate random sequences of questions and mix
around the answers inside a question.
This will make each test unique.
Every test will look different.
The test system can be modified to support different languages and different
organizations.
Besides providing a test platform for Paralgiding, or Hang Gliding
or PPG, the system can be used for any test environment where questions
and answers are involved along with pictures in gif , jpeg or whatever
format. Can also extended to movie clips or sound clips.
Different languages can be supported, by using xml files containing
questions and answers in another language.
The Visual Basic (VB) based PC based Test System
The objective of the VB system is to provide an auditable test system
to enable persons to be tested under supervision of a trusted person.
Test questions and final results get encrypted to avoid any tampering
with the data.
Main components are
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The server based creation of a test package as a zip file by the main office
to be emailed to the trusted person
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The client PC code which is part of the test package, and will provide
the interactive test interface on a PC ( called the client)
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The server based components which will receive the test results back from
the client and decrypt the results
The Web based Interactive Test
This code enables potential test takers to prepare themselves for the real
test.
It is Java based and provides a dynamic webpage environment to be hosted
by a webserver running Tomcat or WebSphere or WebLogic. Using XML with
JAVA and JSP and XSL.
The test on the web works on subjects.
Choose a subject , like Weather, Equipment,.. and then
the system generates a randon sequence of all the questions for thsi
chosen subject.
The end user can stop the web based version whenever he
feels like it and gets a feedback score on how he was doing.