2.4.2 Manual Test Creation

    In this section, we will show how to build a test without using the test creation feature of the TestTool program.  For this scenario, we will assume the user has already populated a question database.

    To create a new, blank test the user clicks File->New Test.  The user is then prompted to name his/her test as show in Figure 1 below:

Figure 1: Test naming dialog.

    The Test Name text field is a one-line string that will give a name to the user-created test.  The OK button is initially disabled until the user inputs a valid string into the Test Name text field.  Should the user click on Cancel,  then the Name A Test window closes and the user returns to his/her's original screen. Once the Test Name text field is filled with a valid value, as shown below in Figure 2, the OK button will be enabled. 

Figure 2: Naming a blank test.

    The user clicks on the OK button, and the program responds by displaying Figure 3, which shows a blank test, and the user's database:

Figure 3: A blank test and a populated question database.

    The user can now begin to manually create his/her test.  To add questions to their blank test, the user has two options: the user can either select the Add button, initializing the question creation process and add questions to their test, or they can "drag and drop" questions from a previously loaded database.  Using Figure 4, we can see the user selects a question from his/her database and then drags it to the user's test window:

 

Figure 4: Drag and dropping a question from a database to a blank test.

    The user releases the mouse click, which results in the following display:

Figure 5: A successful drag and drop of a question into a test.

    The user continues to add questions to the database which results in the test shown in Figure 6 below:

Figure 6: A completed test.

    Now that the user has assembled a test, they can begin to refine it to meet their needs.  The user clicks on the bottom scroll bar and drags it to the right.  More columns of the completed test are shown, and can be seen in Figure 7:

 

Figure 7: Expanded column displays.

    The default point value of a test is set to 100 points.  The point value of a question is generated by normalizing the duration of the question against the duration of the test and rounding to the nearest whole number.  If the test's value is under 100 points, a point is added to each question until the test is worth 100 points.  The opposite is also true if the test is worth more than 100 points.  The user edits the point value of a question by double clicking the corresponding cell.  The cell will then become enabled for editing, as show below:

Figure 8: Manually editing the point value of a question.

    The user enters the value 5 and presses enter.  The system inputs 5 into the appropriate column, and adjusts the total point value of the test accordingly, as shown in Figure 9:

 

Figure 9: Test after manual point modificiation.

    The user can also create more questions by clicking on the Add button which initiates the add question dialog as specified in 2.3. Managing Questions.  Selecting the Edit button will initiate the scenario specified in 2.3.6. Edit a Question, and enable the user to edit a specific question.  Selecting the Delete button will remove the selected question from the test, but not from the database, similar to the scenario described in 2.3.8. Delete a Question.  In this scenario, however, the user selects a question, and then clicks the Replace button.  This operation will parse the selected question of its attributes and pass these attributes to the question database in very much the same way when a user creates a test using the Create A Test feature of the TestTool program.  For our scenario, the user uses Figure 6 as their starting screen and selects Question #1, and clicks Replace.  A new question is pulled from the database and is inserted into its predecessors' position, as shown in Figure 10:

Figure 10: Performing a Replace action on Question #1

 


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