This is a work in progress, compatibility has been tested on Linux as well as a personal, unmanaged machine running Windows 10.

DSAT Trimmer: Trim a full DSAT DT/IT PDF to only the pages containing missed responses.

Current Version: eMFdTrimmer v1.0.2

• If program does not display a build version upon execution, please download the latest build. Essential bugfixes have been implemented as of v1.0.0

Known Issues

• Recent reports are using a new method of storing responses. Trimmed tests may have incorrect questions included. This issue only appears to impact the Math sections.
  • Both RW modules appear to be unaffected
• Company owned/managed machines do not permit the required Python version to be installed without Admin priveleges.
  • One option if attempting installation of Python on a Company managed machine is to skip checking the box to add Python to PATH. I have not tested this and cannot speak to its viability.
• Equations are not rendered in final missed questions page

Obtaining Necessary Brightspace DSAT Files

• The program requires two components to operate, the responses.json file and a blank DSAT template
• To download the responses file:
  • Navigate to the student you are attempting to generate the trimmed test for
  • Using the Content Browser, choose any option. This will lead you to a new page containing all assignments supported by Brightspace
  • Select the appropriate test from the column on the left side of the screen
    • The box for the selected item will open, showing a second option for the same test just below the original box, there will be a gray icon that looks like a puzzle piece to the left of the title. Click this box
  • Near the top of the area where the test information is displayed, there will be four icons, a pencil, bar graph, eye, and three vertical dots.
    • If you are unsure of what the student's most recent test is, you can check by clicking the bar graph icon, choosing the Outcomes tab, and checking the summary. The most recent test will be displayed directly under the student's name.
  • Click the icon with the three vertical dots. On the resulting menu, select the option "Download Responses"
    • This will download the zipped responses.json file.
• The template DSAT file can be downloaded by following the same steps as outlined above, instead choosing the option to "Print Assignment"

Basic usage:

1. Ensure Python 3.10.9 or greater is installed on your machine.
   • The Windows installer can be found here
   • When installing, ensure that you select the option to add Python to PATH on the initial splash screen.
2. Clone the repository to your machine using your preferred method
   • For Windows machines downloading and extracting the zip file will be the simplest method.
   • I recommend creating a directory to house both the current report you are using, full DSAT, and the DSAT-Trimmer-main folder.
3. Install dependencies
   • Windows Users skip to next A requirements.txt file is included. To install requirements, run the following in your terminal:
     • pip install -r requirements.txt
   • For Windows:
     • Open PowerShell. You can find it by using: Windows Key > PowerShell
     • Navigate to directory containing the scripts. This is done using the command 'cd'. Tab can be used to autocomplete directories, directories are separated by ''.
     • Example usage for scripts saved to desktop directory DSAT_trimmer:
       • cd .\Desktop\DSAT_trimmer\DSAT-Trimmer-main
       • pip install -r requirements.txt
   • This will install the dependencies required for proper operation of the program. At the time of writing, the only dependencies not part of the Python standard library is pypdf
4. Run the program. Required arguments, in order of appearance are:
   1. -r/--responses: responses.json file containing student responses
   2. -t/--template: Filepath of blank DT/IT to be trimmed. This argument requires you to include the full filepath, including the .pdf file extension
   3. -o/--output: Name to save trimmed test to. Do not include the .pdf file extension here. The program handles that
   • Example Windows Usage:
     • .\DSAT-Trimmer-main\dsat_trimmer.py -r responses.json -t name of your blank DSAT -o name of output pdf
   • The resulting PDF file will consist of two pieces, the first page will list student errors and their original answers. The remainder of the document will contain pages corresponding only to the missed problems.
     • Some of the missed questions will have a statement saying that the question is worth zero points. Some questions are not worth any points, and at this time there is no way to retrieve the correct answer without also downloading the answer key corresponding to the test.

Notes and Planned Updates

• There is no current method in place to modify the output file to display the student's original answer. I will work on adding this feature as I am able to.
• I understand that the inconsistent requirement of when to add file extension is confusing, I am working on changing this as well.

Feedback

• Please direct any and all feedback on the functionality to Enzi at my work email, or in person, so I can work on implementing it. I am aware that the current output of the missed answers is not in the most readable format, and I am open to any suggestions on how to optimize it for readability. I'll work on implementing a GUI at some point if this tool ends up being used very much.

Bug Reporting

• When a bug is inevitably, and probably frequently found, please report it using any of the following methods:
  • Email Enzi's work email address
  • Open an issue on this repository
  • Lmk next time you see me at work

Changelog:

• eMFdTrimmer v1.0.0
  • Fix bug causing some questions and/or their associated answer choices to not be included when running on to a new page
  • Implement version/display system
• eMFdTrimmer v1.0.1
  • Fix bug causing unnecessary pages to be added to trimmed PDF when ensuring questions with answer choices that run on to next page are included