The Edit commands are accessed from the menu toolbar. These commands are used for editing texting and controlling changes made in the Grader.
When the user selects Undo from the Edit menu, the system undoes the effect of the most recent modification of the Gradebook, or the effect of a previously executed Undo command. For any of these actions, the precise definition of Undo is that the Grader workspace is restored to the state that existed immediately prior to the confirmed execution of the action. If no action has been executed since the Grader was invoked, Undo has no effect.
Each execution of Undo with no intervening actions between two executions restores the tool to the state that existed immediately prior to the most recent Undo. Undo can be consecutively executed ten times before it has no effect, meaning the tool can be restored up to ten states prior to when the first Undo in the series was executed.
Specifically, Undo does not apply to:
When the user selects Redo from the Edit menu, the system returns to the state immediately before an Undo command was executed. The Redo command is only available immediately after an Undo action has been executed.
Operating systems typically provide a "clipboard" area through which cut and paste editing commands operate. This clipboard holds values that are cut, copied, and pasted in tools such as the Grader. Hence, the Grader Cut, Copy, and Paste commands operate through such a clipboard. This section explains the use these operations on a segment of text, though they can also be use on an entire cell in the Gradebook.
To execute the Cut or Copy command, the user must first select a segment of text in a text box. Text selection is performed using click and drag with the mouse, through the context menu, or by other environment-specific means such as double or triple clicking in a text box.
After text selection, when the user selects the Cut command from the Edit menu, the system removes the selected text from the edit box and copies the text into the clipboard. When the user selects the Copy command, the selected text is copied to the clipboard, but is not removed from the display in which it is selected and the text remains selected. A particular segment of selected text is unselected by selecting another text segment or by single-clicking the mouse anywhere in the tool. Other environment-specific means of unselecting text may be available.
The Cut command can only be executed in the context of a display where the text boxes are editable, i.e., where the user may type in the text boxes. In contrast to Cut, the Copy command can be executed in any dialog in which text boxes appear, including read-only text boxes.
To execute the Paste command, the user must first execute a Cut or Copy and then place the typing cursor within some editable text box. After these steps, when the user selects the Paste command from the Edit menu, the text stored in the clipboard is inserted at the point of the typing cursor, as if it had been entered by the user from the keyboard. Pasted text appears in normal font, i.e., it is not highlighted as selected text.
If the user attempts to execute a Cut or Copy command without first selecting text, the commands have no effect. If the user attempts to execute a Paste command without having executed either a Cut or Copy, the Paste command has no effect. The Cut, Copy, and Paste commands operate only on plain text strings within a single displayed text box. In particular, the commands do not apply to a scheduled item.
The use of the clipboard for communication between the Grader and the outside operating environment depends on the capabilities of the environment. Specifically, the environment must support the insertion and removal of plain text to and from the clipboard. If this requirement is met, and the operating environment permits inter-tool clipboard communication, then plain text copied to the clipboard from a another tool can be pasted in the Grader using Paste. Similarly, plain text cut or copied in the Grader can be pasted or otherwise accessed as plain text in another tool, via the clipboard.
The Delete command removes the selected text/cell from the Grader.
The Fill command allows the user to quickly enter multiple cells with the same value. This is useful when a large portion of students receive the same grade on an assignment. To use this feature, the user enters in the topmost cell the value they want repeated. The user then selects that cell and all others below it that they want to have that value. The user selects the Fill command from the Edit menu item and the system responds by filling all the selected cells with the same value.
Note: The Fill command only works when filling in cells that are immediately below each other.