Moodle

Attached a patch. However it must be applied after the MDL-18004 patch, because it uses code from that patch. Don't complain and don't ask me why, just apply the other patch first, and we'll all be happy little vegemites.

Done in HEAD.

I just had a look at this and wasn't sure what 'Weight or extra credit' meant (never did know). The help pop-up wasn't a lot of use and really needs expanding by someone who knows what's going on.

Questions in my mind:

• What does a weighted grade actually do?
• Do all of the boxes have to have a value in them?
• Do all the weights have to add up to 100 or some similar number?
• What is the difference between weight and extra credit?
• What is the unit of the number in the box? does it depend on what is selected in the dropdown?

Also, the max grade thing is a little unclear and could do with a pop-up help thing. What happens if I manually change it on one of the category totals to be more or less than the actual sum of the category items?

Also, if I set a calculation for the category total, does this make the dropdown for that category redundant? If so, it should grey out or something.

Matt, thanks for your comments.

I'm not sure about 'Weight or extra credit' either - see MDL-16416.

Nicolas, thanks for answering Matt's questions in http://docs.moodle.org/en/Grades_FAQ

Please could you answer the max grade question, and perhaps suggest some text for a help pop-up.

Maybe we need a new 'Weight or extra credit' help file, rather than using the 'Item weight' help file. How about the following text (based on Nicolas' FAQ and checking I've understood it correctly!)

<h1>Weight or extra credit</h1>

<h3>Weight</h3>

<p>A weight is used to give a grade item more or less importance in the computation of the category total, compared with the other items of the same category.</p>
<p>Weight is only available for grade items within a category with weighted mean of grades aggregation type.</p>

<h3>Extra credit</h3>

<p>For Mean of grades (with extra credits), extra credit is the factor by which the grade value will be multiplied before adding it to the total after the computation of the mean.</p>
<p>For Sum of grades, extra credit is a checkbox to indicate that the item's grades should be added to the category total's maximum grade.</p>
<p>Extra credit is only available for grade items within a category with either Mean of grades (with extra credits) or Sum of grades aggregation type.</p>

Matt, do you think this explanation is sufficient, or should it go into more detail?

OK, let's forget a new 'Weight or extra credit' help file! In a chat with Nicolas, Petr and Martin, we came up with the following solution:

Firstly, check whether either weight or extra credit can be used by any of the categories in the gradebook.

• If weight can be used, show a weight column
• If extra credit can be used, show an extra credit column
• If neither can be used, omit the weight column and the extra credit column from the table

I have some suggestions for this interface:
1) row with the Category Name has Hide and Lock icons; row with Category Total has Calculator, Hide and Lock icons. The last two are the same icons that Category Name has. May be we can move all icons to one place/row, since they do the same?

2) I suggest to simplify the interface more, and allow an option to hide the Calculation icon. I guess I will post it in a wiki http://docs.moodle.org/en/Simplifying_the_gradebook_by_changing_permissions

3) Some gradebooks can be rather large, so we may want to reduce the need to scroll to the bottom by repeating controls at the top, like Save Changes, Move, Add Category and Add Item buttons.

4) Whenever I go to the Full View in this interface, then go somewhere else, and then return, I am reverted back to a Simple view. Is this expected behavior?
It would be nice if my last choice would be remembered, at least for the duration of my login session.

P.s. I have switched between different aggregation methods but "Drop the lowest" stays at 0 for me. I mean I cannot get a entry box displayed where I can type the number. Am I doing something wrong?

ops, re #2, wiki page is not for that.
So it is just a suggestion then: Develop a capability with permission to either use the Calculation icon or not.

sorry to consume the tracker, I just believe I have found some bugs.

1. Category totals do not update right away after saving (tried FF and IE)

• e.g. check "Weight or extra credit" box for some assignment . Click Save.
• Screen wil be refreshed automatically, but the Total for the category will not be updated, so it seems that nothing had changed.
• Now manually refresh the screen, and you will see that categoty total is updated properly.

2. "Aggregate only non-empty grades" checkbox does not work properly for me.
I try check or uncheck it, but my choice is not getting saved.

3. I have tried to use Multiplicator and Offset . None of them worked.
e.g. I have 100-point item.
I have typed 2 for multiplicator, then 3 for offset. I believe I should have received 100x2+3 = 203. But it stayed at 100.

Thanks for the bug reports Elena. I've fixed these, except the last one which I'm struggling with. I'm creating a new tracker issue for it: MDL-18693

I have filed new issue for the multiplier problem - see MDL-19014
the rest should be fixed, thanks a lot!

closing.