online quiz Minor Bugs

[realin]

hi guys,

well my college is going to have tech fest tommorrow and i need to submit an online test module to them.. its my job for the day.. i need ur help as i am stuck in teh middle of no where and i dont have a mentor or something around me but you guys..

I have developed database and everything, the problem is.. how do i keep a track that no question is repeated .. I am picking the question in a way that..

select * from quiz order by rand() limit 1;
 

each time it answers teh question.. the query is fired and question is then displayed.. but the questions are repeating most of teh time..

second thing i want to know is.. how do i store correct answers and wrong answers,.. is it a good idea to have session variables and increment them respectively as per the situation, or using database is a better option, i will have atleast 20 students sitting and giving a test at the time.. as no server is available so will have to use a PC which has just 512 MB ram.. so please suggest me..

And the last thing i want to know is, how do i put a timer inside the test thingy.. php cant give a clock or a countdown as javascript can.. but the issue is when the form is submitted the clock will also reset, as the browser will reload..

please help me in this .. all

thanks in advacne.. wating for the reply

[pbmods]

Heya, Realin.

To solve the first problem, you'll need to keep track of which questions the User has answered.

You have two options; you can either store the data in a database, or if the Users don't have to log in, then it will probably be easier just to store the question IDs in a session variable.

For example:

$__sql = "
SELECT
        *
    FROM
        `quiz`
    WHERE
        `questionid`
            NOT
            IN
            (
                '" . implode("',\n\t\t\t\t'", $_SESSION['questionsAnswered']) . "'
            )
    ORDER BY
        RAND()
    LIMIT 1";
 

To create a timer, you can add a timeout variable to the session. At the start of the question page, add this:

$_SESSION['timeout'] = time() + 90; // 90-second timeout.
 

And at the top of the page that processes the answer:

if( $_SESSION['timeout'] < time() )
{
    // Timer expired.
}
 

[realin]

hiya pbmods,

you ma mann .. well thanks for the reply.. first query is why why we used \n and \t in implode.. and shall i store the ID numbers in the session variable as the concatenated string seperated by commas?

also i want to show the clock running down during the test... its 20 mins and 30 questions.. but if i use session variable then can javascript's function access it to show the countdown ?

also i gotta use the login thingy for users, then also i am planning to use session variable for the questions asked.. my requirement is that a single user shouldnt get the same question again, though the questions may be same for two or more users giving the test simultaneously
thanks once again.. sorry for dizzy post as i am typing on mobile
thnaks a lot

[pbmods]

Heya, Realin.

first query is why why we used \n and \t in implode.. and shall i store the ID numbers in the session variable as the concatenated string seperated by commas?

I added the "\n" and "\t"s so that the query looks nice when I look over my MySQL log file. They're not strictly necessary, but it does make your query more readable.

You'll want to store your questions as an array:

$_SESSION['questionsAnswered'] =
    array
    (
        19    => 'A',
        5    => 'C',
        28    => 'A'
    );
 

and so on.

One change to the query: you'll want to use array_keys() if you do it this way:

$__sql = "
.
.
.
    WHERE
        `questionid`
            NOT
            IN
            (
                '" . implode("',\n\t\t\t\t'", array_keys($_SESSION['questionsAnswered'])) . "'
            )
 

also i want to show the clock running down during the test... its 20 mins and 30 questions.. but if i use session variable then can javascript's function access it to show the countdown ?

Set a JavaScript variable when the page loads:

echo '<script type="text/javascript"> // <![CDATA[
    var countdown = new Number(', $_SESSION['timeout'] - time(), ');
// ]]> </script>';
 

$_SESSION['timeout'] - time() is equal to the number of seconds left until the session times out.

[realin]

i am really sorry but i am unable to do the both.. can you just edit the things for me :(

plese i know i am noob and bad.,. but this is really urgent .. thanks
[PHP]
<?php session_start();
require_once("config.php");
$obj=new quiz();
if(!isset($key)){
$key="";
}
if(!isset($sname)){
$sname="";
}
if(!isset($read)){
$read=array('1000');

}



if(false==$obj->fetch_session_data($_GET['sid'])){
echo "Invalid Session, Please <a href='login.php' >Login Again</a>";
exit();
}
else{

if(!isset($sdata)){

$sdata=$obj->fetch_session_data($_GET['sid']);
$sname=$sdata[0]['user_name'];
$key=$sdata[0]['sess_id'];

}}

/****************User modifications********************/
$noq=5;

/******************SESSION Variable *************************/
if(!isset($_SESSION['ques']))
$_SESSION['ques']="0";
if(!isset($_SESSION['cor']))
$_SESSION['cor']="0";
if(!isset($_SESSION['wrong']))
$_SESSION['wrong']="0";
/****************ENDS in here *******************************/


if($_POST){
$val=$HTTP_POST_VARS;
$ans=$obj->get_row("lit_quiz","serial_no=$val[pop]");

if($ans['ans']==$val['quiz'])
$_SESSION['cor']+=1;
else
$_SESSION['wrong']+=1;

}

if($_SESSION['ques']>=$noq)
{

Echo "Total questions answered $_SESSION[ques]<br>
Right answers $_SESSION[cor]<br>
Wrong Answers $_SESSION[wrong]";
$sql="insert into quiz_result (part_name,cor_ans,wrn_ans) values('$sname',$_SESSION[cor],$_SESSION[wrong])";
@mysql_query($sql);
exit();
}


echo "<html>
<head>
<title>$title</title>
<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript' src='script.js'></script>
<link rel= 'stylesheet' type='text/css' href='style.css' />
<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript' src='script.js' ></script>
</head>";
echo "Welcome $sname<br>";


$sql="SELECT * FROM lit_quiz order by rand() limit 1";
print_r($_SESSION['qid']);
$_result=$obj->rQuery($sql);

echo "<div id='ques'>";
foreach($_result as $ques){

$_SESSION['ques']+=1;

echo "<form name='quiz_form' action='$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]?sid=$key' method='post'>
$_SESSION[ques].$ques[ques]<br>
<input type='hidden' name='pop' value='$ques[serial_no]' />
<input type='radio' name='quiz' value=1>&nbsp;$ques[opt1]<br>
<input type='radio' name='quiz' value=2>&nbsp;$ques[opt2]<br>
<input type='radio' name='quiz' value=3>&nbsp;$ques[opt3]<br>
<input type='radio' name='quiz' value=4>&nbsp;$ques[opt4]<br>
<input type='submit' value='Next>>' ><br></form>
";

}
echo "</div>";
echo "</html>";
?>[/PHP]

[realin]

hey pbmods,

thanks a lot for the help, my application worked quite like a charm, i used cookies cause i couldnt store the array in to session variable, dont know how do we do it :P

heheheh.. also for the timer thingy i used javascript in the iframe, that is a pretty good solution... but i read somewhere iframes are not preferd, is it so ??


anyhow, you really helped me buddy.. thanks a lot

:) cheers !!