Need ur suggestion... Urgent!

[Jimi Rock]

Hi all,
I am planning to develop an online examination system. the system should work within an intranet. Basically, I would like to allow the instructor to enter his/her exam questions into a database system and determine the correct answers. The questions are all multiple-choiced. The system should also allow the student to do an online exams and get the result after submission.
I would like to know your suggestions regarding the system implementation. I prefer the easiest and the fastest way for development. It would be grate if html and javascript are sufficient.
Best Regards,
mac.

[Randall Twede]

i did something like that. i used a java applet, servlet, and a .txt file.
it worked in IE but I had a problem in netscape i couldnt post to the servlet
the quiz was all in the applet. the servlet just got the "score" from the quiz at the end.
[This message has been edited by Randall Twede (edited October 17, 2001).]

[Randall Twede]

import java.awt.*; 
import java.awt.event.*; 
import java.applet.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*; 
public class Quiz extends Applet implements ActionListener {
  private int total;
  private boolean correct;
  private String correctAnswer;
  private String label;
  private String location = "http://javaguy.yi.org/examples/servlet/StartingBalanceServlet";
  private Vector theQuestions = new Vector();
  private Vector theAnswers = new Vector();
  public void init() {
    setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    setBackground(Color.black);
    setForeground(Color.white);
    Label choose = new Label("Choose difficulty level");
    add(choose, "North");
    Button button1 = new Button("Easy");
    Button button2 = new Button("Medium");
    Button button3 = new Button("Hard");
    button1.setForeground(Color.black);
    button2.setForeground(Color.black);
    button3.setForeground(Color.black);
    button1.addActionListener(this);
    button2.addActionListener(this);
    button3.addActionListener(this);
    Panel choices = new Panel();
    choices.add(button1);
    choices.add(button2);
    choices.add(button3);
    add(choices, "Center");
  }
  public void start() {
    try {
      URL url = new URL(location);
      URLConnection con = url.openConnection();
      DataInputStream in = new DataInputStream(con.getInputStream());
      total = in.readInt();
      in.close();
    }
    catch(Exception e) {
      System.out.println("Cannot open connection to server");
    }
  }
  
  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    label = ((Button)e.getSource()).getLabel();
    if(label.equals("Go")) {
      displayAnswer();
    }
    else if(label.equals("Next")) {
      displayQuiz();
    }
    else if(label.equals("Quit")) {
      quit();
    }
    else {
      try {
        loadQuiz(label);
      }
      catch(IOException ex) {
        System.out.println("Cannot load question bank");
      }
    }
  }
  
  public void loadQuiz(String selection) throws IOException {
    URL url = new URL( getDocumentBase(), selection + ".txt");
    BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream()));
    String question = null;
    while((question = in.readLine())!= null) {
      String[] answers = new String[4];
      answers[0] = in.readLine();
      answers[1] = in.readLine();
      answers[2] = in.readLine();
      answers[3] = in.readLine();
      theQuestions.addElement(question);
      theAnswers.addElement(answers);
    }
    in.close();
    displayQuiz();
  }
  public void displayQuiz() {
    removeAll();
    final CheckboxGroup cbg = new CheckboxGroup();
    ItemListener il = new ItemListener() {
      public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent e) {
        if(((cbg.getSelectedCheckbox()).getLabel()).equals(correctAnswer)) {
          correct = true;
        }
        else {
          correct = false;
        }
      }
    };
    Label instructions = new Label("Select only one answer.");
    int i = (int)(Math.random() * theQuestions.size());
    TextArea question = new TextArea((String)theQuestions.elementAt(i), 6, 20, TextArea.SCROLLBARS_NONE);
    question.setBackground(Color.black);
    question.setEditable(false);
    String[] answers = new String[4];
    answers = (String[])theAnswers.elementAt(i);
    int j = (int)(Math.random()*4);
    String temp = answers[j];
    answers[j] = answers[0];
    answers[0] = temp;
    correctAnswer = answers[j];
    Button submit = new Button("Go");
    submit.setForeground(Color.black);
    submit.addActionListener(this);
    Panel choices = new Panel();
    choices.setLayout(new GridLayout(4,1));
    Checkbox cb1 = new Checkbox(answers[0], cbg, false);
    Checkbox cb2 = new Checkbox(answers[1], cbg, false);
    Checkbox cb3 = new Checkbox(answers[2], cbg, false);
    Checkbox cb4 = new Checkbox(answers[3], cbg, false);
    cb1.addItemListener(il);
    cb2.addItemListener(il);
    cb3.addItemListener(il);
    cb4.addItemListener(il);
    choices.add(cb1);
    choices.add(cb2);
    choices.add(cb3);
    choices.add(cb4);
    add(instructions, "North");
    add(question, "West");
    add(choices, "Center");
    add(submit, "South");
    validate();
    theQuestions.removeElementAt(i);
    theAnswers.removeElementAt(i);
  }
  
  public void displayAnswer() {
    removeAll();
    Label answer = new Label("The correct answer is: " + correctAnswer); 
    String bal = "You still have " + total + " Gold Pieces.";
    String result = "Sorry";
    if(correct) {
      result = "Yes";
      total += 10000;
      bal = "You now have " + total + " Gold Pieces.";
    }
    Label balance = new Label(bal);
    Panel message = new Panel();
    message.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 1));
    message.add(answer);
    message.add(balance);
    add(message, "Center");
    add(new Label(result), "North");
    Button next = new Button("Next");
    next.setForeground(Color.black);
    next.addActionListener(this);
    Button quit = new Button("Quit");
    quit.setForeground(Color.black);
    quit.addActionListener(this);
    Panel choices = new Panel();
    if(theQuestions.size() > 0) {
      choices.add(next);
    }
    else {
      choices.add(new Label("That's all the questions for now."));
    }
    choices.add(quit);
    add(choices, "South");
    validate();
  }
  public void quit() {
    try {
      URL url = new URL(location);
      URLConnection con = url.openConnection();
      con.setDoOutput(true);
      con.setUseCaches(false);
      con.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
      //con.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream");
      DataOutputStream out = new DataOutputStream(con.getOutputStream());
      out.writeInt(total);
      out.flush();
      out.close();
      AppletContext ac = getAppletContext();
      URL next = new URL("http://javaguy.yi.org/examples/MoreQuiz.html");
      ac.showDocument(next, "_self");
    }
    catch(Exception e) {
      System.out.println("Cannot open connection to server");
    }
  }
}

it is set up to always have 4 choices so is limited by that. you would have to change other things too i imagine but maybe will give you an idea how it can be done in an applet.
[This message has been edited by Randall Twede (edited October 17, 2001).]