Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr01/caquiz12.zip/QUIZ.DOC

Text File | 1993-04-20 | 21KB | 480 lines

                      CREATE A QUIZ

                       Version 1.2


Description:

     CREATE A  QUIZ is  a simple  yet comprehensive  program
that  can  be  used  to  create and take multiple-choice and
fill-in-the-blank quizzes.   This one  program can  be  used
by both the teacher and student.

     Teachers can create on-screen quizzes that can be  used
by  students,  or  create  hardcopy  quizzes if a printer is
available.


Special features:

     A) Pop-up menus, mouse support, full line text  editing
capabilities make using CREATE A QUIZ simple and fun.

     B)   Both   multiple-choice   and   fill-in-the   blank
questions can be used in the same quiz.

     C)  Quizzes  and/or  questions  can  be  printed out in
several  formats  to  meet  the  needs  of  both teacher and
student.  The solutions  to each question can  be suppressed
or displayed on  a printout.   Students can receive  an echo
printout of each  question they take  on- screen.   Teachers
can review their database  of questions by printing  out all
the  questions  or  by  defining  a  range  (from # to #) to
print.

     D) Several command line instructions allow the  program
to  be  "fine-tuned"  by  a  teacher  to meet the needs of a
student.   These  command  line  instructions  can  force  a
student to answer  "x" number of  questions before they  are
permitted to exit the program.  Or the teacher can set up  a
time  limit  for  the  student  where  after  "x"  number of
minutes have elapsed the program will quit.

     E) Progress  charts are  kept for  each quiz  that will
record  the  best  10  students'  quiz  results.  This is an
excellent  way  for  a  teacher  to  track the progress of a
student.  A separate  progress chart is maintained  for each
quiz created.

     F) Up to  9 students can  participate in the  same quiz
at a time.  Great for contests!

     G) Display ASCII text files prior to each question.   A
full screen display of a pre-defined ASCII text file can  be
displayed and scrolled prior  to a question, and  then after
the user  has read  the text  file, they  will be confronted
with a question dealing with that text.

     H) Businesses and organizations can use a command  line
instruction that will turn CREATE A QUIZ into a  stand-alone
display for customers or prospects.   This can make a  great
advertising tool and  counter display, testing  a prospect's
knowledge of  your product.   The program  will even  prompt
each user for  his name, address  and phone number  that can
be retrieved later for follow- ups.

     I)  The  quizzes  that  are  created  can  be  password
protected and encrypted to prevent students from altering  a
teacher's questions.


Requirements:

     No  special   requirements  are   necessary  for   most
computers.   A DOS  version of  3.0 or  higher is  necessary
(although  it  is  possible  that  some  2.x  versions  will
work,  but  not  guaranteed).   The  program  can be used on
both  monochrome  and  color  monitors.   A  printer  is the
only option  that is  required IF  you wish  to create  quiz
printouts.


To start:

     To start the  program type --->  QUIZ    then press the
[ENTER] or  [RETURN] key  at the  DOS prompt.   The  program
will  load  itself  into   memory  in  seconds.   After   an
opening screen or two, a Main Menu will appear.


Menus:

     Selections from the Main Menu (or any menu) can be made
by   moving the  highlighted bar  to the  selection of  your
choice,  then   pressing  the   [ENTER]  or   [RETURN]  key.
Selections also  can be  made by  pressing the corresponding
first  letter  for  each  option  in  the menu list.  If you
press the [ESC] key instead,  the user will be taken  to the
previous menu (if any).


To create a quiz:

     From the Main  Menu the user  can create a  NEW quiz by
choosing the "Create a quiz" selection.  The user will  then
be prompted for a  filename, under which all  questions will
be stored to disk.  The filename entered will  automatically
receive  the  extension  ".QZ".   Do  NOT  enter  the  ".QZ"
extension!  Pressing the  [ESC] key at this  filename prompt
will take the user back to the Main Menu.

     After a new  filename has been  entered, the user  must
give the  quiz a  title and  description, and  may elect  to
enter their name as the quiz creator.

     Once this preliminary information has been entered  the
user will be  prompted to enter  a question.   Questions can
be  up  to  four  lines  in  length.   You can move from one
question line to  another by using  the cursor control  keys
(the keys  with the  up and  down arrows),  or by  using the
[ENTER] key.

     To move to the  answer field, press the  [F10] function
key.   This key  will cause  the input  prompt to  leave the
question field, allowing the user to enter possible  answers
to the  previous question.   Should the  user need  to  jump
back to the previous question to make any necessary  changes
then  press  the  [F9]  function  key.   Pressing  the [F10]
function  key  from  the  answer  field  will  instruct  the
program to continue to the next step (if any).


Multiple choice questions:

     The  multiple  choice  question  format  is the default
format  when  you  enter  questions.   Each  multiple choice
question can  have up  to 5  possible answer  choices and as
few  as  2.   After  entering  the  desired number of answer
choices, the quiz creator must verify which of the  possible
answers is in  fact the correct  answer.  This  verification
step will  display the  question and  possible answers  in a
play  screen.   After  verifying  the  correct solution, the
user can enter a reference note. Such notes will be display-
ed after a student takes the quiz at play time.


Fill-in-the-blank questions:

     Fill-in-the-blank questions are different from multiple
choice  questions  in that only  one possible answer  can be
entered.   The  way  CREATE  A  QUIZ distinguishes between a
multiple choice  question and  a fill-in-the-blank  question
is that the  latter has an  UNDERSCORE "_" character  (ASCII
95) somewhere  in the  question.   This underscore character
is NOT  to be  confused with  a "dash"  or "hyphen".   If an
underscore character exists  ANYWHERE in the  question, then
that  question  automatically  becomes  a  fill-in-the-blank
question, and will as a  result accept only one answer  when
the time comes  to input an  answer when creating  the quiz.
You can enter  one "_" underscore  by itself or  a string of
underscores (e.g., "______").  The result is the same -  one
word will be prompted for during the quiz.

     The  following  are  acceptable  in creating a fill-in-
the-blank question:

     George _ was the first president of the United
States.

     George Washington was the first _____ of the United
States.

     Name the first president of the United States?: __

     Keep  in  mind  the   difference  in  formats   between
multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions:

     "DECEMBER 25 IS:"    This will result in a multiple-
                          choice question.

     "DECEMBER 25 IS _"   This will result in a fill-in-
                          the-blank question.

     You  can  enter  alternate  or  multiple  answers   for
fill-in-the-blank  questions  by  separating each acceptable
answer with a  comma ",".   For instance, if  a fill-in-the-
blank question prompts:  "How  much is 50 cents added  to 50
cents? _", the quiz creator can anticipate several  possible
answers by entering "$1, $1.00,  1 buck, 4 quarters" in  the
answer field.   Note that  each solution  is separated  by a
comma ",".  When a student in confronted with this  question
on the screen during  an interactive quiz, the  student will
receive a  "correct" response  if they  enter any  of the  4
answers:

         $1       $1.00      1 buck      4 quarters


References:

     If you would like to have a reference note appear after
each question  during an  interactive on-screen  test, enter
your notes at the "Reference:" prompt line.

     If you  (the teacher)  would like  to display  an ASCII
text  file  prior  to   a  particular  question  during   an
on-screen quiz, then enter a filename (and path, if  needed)
with a pair of {} brackets.  For instance, {MY_TEST.ASC}  is
valid, as is {DATA\HISTORY.92}.   If you would like to  have
the displayed ASCII text start at a particular line  number,
enter a comma followed by the line number.  For example,  if
you wish to have the text file {MY_TEST.ASC} pop-up on  line
8, enter {MY_TEST.ASC,8}.   We have included a  fine example
of this  extended reference  useage in  a quiz  file on this
disk.  Retrieve the file "COMMANDS.QZ" and take a good  look
at it.  Better yet, try taking this test!


Edit a quiz:

     If  the  user  wishes  to  modify,  change,  or  add  a
question  to  an  existing  .QZ  quiz  file, then select the
"Edit a quiz" option from the Main Menu.  This feature  will
permit the user  to change any  question or answer  that had
been  previously  entered.   If  the  user  has  dozens   or
hundreds of  questions in  a .QZ  file, and  wishes to  edit
just one question,  but is uncertain  as to its  position in
the file, the user can "list" all the questions in the  file
quickly by pressing  the [L] key.   A pop-up menu  list will
appear  that  will  list  all  the  questions  in sequential
order.   If  more  questions  exist  than  can appear in the
menu, use the  cursor control keys  to scroll down  the menu
list.   Once  the  question  is  located  in the menu, press
[ENTER]  and  that  question  and  its corresponding answers
will be displayed in their  entirety.  Press the [C]  key to
make any necessary "changes".

     Note: Once a question  has been entered as  a "fill-in-
the-blank" type  question, it  is possible  from within  the
program to  convert it  to a  multiple-choice question.   To
make the switch, remove the "_" underscore character.   This
will allow the  user to add  the usual five  possible answer
choices.   You can  also make  the switch  from an  existing
multiple-choice to  a fill-in-the-blank  question by  simply
inserting  an  "_"  underscore  character  anywhere  in  the
question itself.


Quiz printouts:

     There  are  two  ways  to  obtain printed quizzes using
CREATE A QUIZ:

     1) Before taking  an actual quiz,  the user can  select
the "Print  quiz:" choice  from the  "Take/use a  quiz" sub-
menu.  Once  the "Print quiz:"  option is toggled  "ON", all
questions  that  are  displayed  on  the  screen  during the
course  of  the  quiz  will  also  be  echoed  to  a printer
attached  to  port  LPT1:   The  solutions  to these printed
quizzes will appear after every two pages of questions.

     2)  From  the  "Create  a  quiz"  and  "Edit  a   quiz"
selections from the  Main Menu, the  user can press  the [P]
key to  print a  range of  questions.   The quiz creator can
then  enter  the  beginning  question  number and the ending
question  number.   This  range  will  then  be  sent to the
printer.   The   quiz  creator  also   has  the  option   of
displaying  the  correct  answer  on  these printouts, or to
suppress the correct answer.  Correct answers are marked  by
an asterisk symbol "*".


Repeat errors:

     Before taking a quiz,  the user can select  the "Repeat
errors:" option from the "Take/use a quiz" sub- menu.   When
the "Repeat errors:" option is toggled "ON", then  questions
that  have  been  answered  incorrectly  will  be saved into
memory and recalled  at random during  the remainder of  the
quiz session.


Scoreboard:

     When a  user has  finished with  a quiz  and wishes  to
exit to DOS, their score  will be entered into a  scoreboard
file and then displayed on  the screen in a "Top-Ten"  chart
if they  have one  of the  ten best  records for  that quiz.
Each  quiz  that  you  create  has its own scoreboard ".SCB"
file.   For  example,  if  you  have  a student using a quiz
named "MUSIC.QZ"  then the  student's quiz  results will  be
kept in "MUSIC.SCB" as he finishes the quiz.


Command line options:

     The "command line" refers to what was typed at the  DOS
prompt  before  loading  CREATE  A  QUIZ  into  memory.  For
example, if your CREATE A QUIZ disk is located in drive  A:,
your screen  should display  "A>QUIZ" before  you press  the
[ENTER] key to begin the program.  "A>QUIZ" can be  referred
to as the "command line".

     Additional text  can be  appended to  the command  line
after the key word "QUIZ"  that will instruct CREATE A  QUIZ
to perform certain functions not available through the  menu
selections.

     QUIZ filename.QZ

     If  a  name  of  an  existing  .QZ file is added on the
command line after the key  word "QUIZ", then that .QZ  file
will  be  automatically  read  and  used  to  quiz the user/
student.   In such  cases the  "Main Menu"  will be skipped,
and the student will be  greeted with a prompt to  enter his
name, followed by  the quiz.   In the above  example replace
the word  "filename" with  the actual  name of  the quiz you
wish to  use.   If your  quiz is  called "MATH.QZ"  then you
must  enter  "QUIZ  MATH.QZ"  on  the  command  line  before
running  the  program.   An  example  of  this  command line
option  in  action  can  be  seen  by  using  or viewing the
"QUIZ1.BAT" file on this disk.

     QUIZ filename.QZ RESTRICT

     The  additional  word  "RESTRICT"  on  the command line
will  prevent  the  student/user  from  reaching  the  "Main
Menu".  This  is useful if  you have given  the program disk
to  a  student and have  created a batch  file to force  the
student to use  a particular quiz,  but you do  not want the
student to gain  access to the  "Main Menu" where  he may be
able  to  change  your  questions  or  answers,  or peek and
cheat.

     QUIZ STOPAT=x

     The above "STOPAT=" command line option can be used  to
force CREATE  A QUIZ  to stop  and return  to DOS  after "x"
number  of  random  questions  have  been  attempted  by the
student.  You can replace  the "x" with any positive  number
that  you  wish.   For  instance,  "QUIZ  STOPAT=2",   "quiz
stopat=150",  "QUIZ  stopat=90"  are  all acceptable command
line instructions.  Do NOT  forget to separate the key  word
"QUIZ" and the "STOPAT=" option  with a space!  If  the user
wishes to see an example of a .BAT file with this option  at
work then see the "QUIZ2.BAT" file on this disk.

     QUIZ STARTAT=10 STOPAT=20

     The  above  combination  of  "STARTAT="  and  "STOPAT="
commands  instruct  CREATE  A  QUIZ  to  start at a specific
question  number   and  to   display  subsequent   questions
sequentially  (10,  11,  12,...19,  20).   Once  the  number
designated by  "STOPAT=" is  reached, the  program will exit
to  DOS.   If  you   use  "STARTAT="  without  a   "STOPAT="
statement, CREATE A QUIZ  will still proceed with  questions
sequentially  until  the  very  last  question is reach, and
then will terminate to DOS.

     QUIZ TIMEOUT=x

     The above  "TIMEOUT=" command  line option  can be used
to force CREATE A QUIZ to  stop and return to DOS after  "x"
number of minutes have elapsed since the first question  was
attempted by the student.  You can replace the "x" with  any
positive  number  that  you   wish.   For  instance,   "QUIZ
TIMEOUT=5" will cause the program to end after 5 minutes  of
play have elapsed.  An  example of this command line  option
in action can be seen in the "QUIZ3.BAT" file on this disk.

     Command line instructions can be combined or placed  in
any  order.   In  other  words,  the  following command line
instructions are all acceptable:

     QUIZ TIMEOUT=10 STOPAT=100

     The  command  line  instructions  above  will cause the
program to end after 10 minutes of play have elapsed or  100
random questions have been attempted, whichever comes first.

     QUIZ filename.QZ DISPLAY

     The above command line instructions force CREATE A QUIZ
into a continuous loop  using "filename.QZ".  When  a player
is prompted for his name,  the program will insist that  the
user input his FULL name, AND address, city, state, zip  and
phone  number  before  they  can  participate  in  the  quiz
specified  by  "filename.QZ".   This  "DISPLAY" command line
instruction  (with  .QZ  file)  turns  CREATE A QUIZ into an
excellent  sales  or  promotional  tool  for  businesses and
organizations.  For example,  a company that specializes  in
selling  and  installing  home  water  filters  can create a
"WATER.QZ" file that  presents several questions  that tests
a  prospective  client's  knowledge  of tap water, chlorine,
heavy metals, cost comparisons, etc.   If CREATE A QUIZ  has
been  started  with  the  "WATER.QZ  DISPLAY"  command  line
instructions,  then  WATER.QZ  will  be  presented  to  each
client  that  approaches  the  company's  computer  display.
Each user's  name and  address are  stored in  a file called
"USER.LST".  The "USER.LST" file can later be retrieved  and
used to print  out mailing labels  or possible client  list.
Should you  wonder how  to stop  CREATE A  QUIZ from looping
into eternity  in the  "DISPLAY" mode,  enter "GOODBYE" when
the input window prompts for a user's full name.  Of  course
you  could  reboot  your  computer,  but  that's  not   very
graceful...


Disclaimer:

     The author makes  no warranties, expressed  or implied,
as  to  the  quality  of  performance  of this program.  The
author will  not be  held liable  for any  direct, indirect,
incidental or consequential  damages resulting from  the use
of CREATE A QUIZ.  Your use of the program constitutes  your
agreement to this disclaimer and your release of the  author
from any form of liability or litigation.


Shareware and distribution:

     CREATE  A  QUIZ  is  being  distributed  as  shareware.
Shareware  is  a  "try  before  you  buy" software marketing
concept  that  allows  the  user  to obtain fully functional
copies of  programs for  evaluation.   The distribution  and
copying  fee  that  you  may  have  paid to obtain this disk
does not cover  the cost of  the software contained  on this
disk.   Shareware  programs  such  as  the  one that you are
about to try  require separate payment  to the author  if it
is found to be a useful  product and if it is used  beyond a
reasonable evaluation period.

     Individuals can  make copies  of this  program and pass
them on to friends and acquaintances as long as the  program
is NOT sold  and the concept  of shareware is  made known to
them.   Commercial distributors  and vendors  should contact
the  author  BEFORE  distributing  CREATE  A  QUIZ publicly.
Contact the author  with a self-addressed  stamped envelope.
Distributors  and  vendors  who  wish  to receive the latest
unregistered  version  of  CREATE  A  QUIZ  can  do  so   by
contacting  the  author  AND  SUBMITTING  A  COPY  OF  THEIR
PRODUCT CATALOG.


Site licenses:

     Businesses,  groups  and  schools  must  obtain  a site
license for  CREATE A  QUIZ.   Teachers who  plan on  making
more than one copy of  their registered version of CREATE  A
QUIZ  must  likewise  obtain  a  site  license.  Contact the
author for more details.   We also have a student's  version
of CREATE  A QUIZ  that can  provide a  teacher with  a very
inexpensive  way  of  distributing  (or  even selling) their
on-screen quizzes.


Program Author:

     Philip Kapusta  P.O. Box 5423  Falmouth, Va. 22403  USA


Other programs:

     If you are interested in other programs written by  the
author, a demo disk and  catalog is available.  Most  of our
programs are family or  Bible oriented and very  affordable.
Mail six U.S. first class postage stamps to cover  materials
and shipping to the above  address, and request a demo  disk
and catalog, and specify disk size format desired.


Your feedback:

     We welcome all  feedback - positive  and negative.   We
will   consider   your   suggestions   for   future  program
enhancements.   If  you  desire  a  reply,  enclose  a self-
addressed stamped envelope when writing.