NEWS.md

News for RTutor package

2015-11-29 preknit and show in noeval mode

• When creating the problem set, we can now already knit for each chunk the sample solution.
• A preknitted shiny based problem set can be shown with the parameter noeval=TRUE. Then user code is then only parsed but not evaluated. Tests and hints only compare the parsed expression with the parsed sample solution. The noeval mode can be useful for hosting problem sets on an own webserver, where evaluation of user code is a high security risk or the user shall have no direct access to the data. The cost is less flexibility in testing the user code, e.g. in noeval mode, x=1+2 will not be seen as correct if the sample solution is x=2+1.

2015-11-17 print data.frames as html table in shiny-based RTutor

• In the shiny interface of RTutor data.frames are now printed by default as HTML tables (and only a maximum number of rows are shown). The printing behavior can be modified on a global level in the call to show.ps or on the chunk level. See DataFramesExample_sol.Rmd for examples.

2015-11-13: hints at beginning of chunk possible

• You can now add a hint block at the beginning of a chunk, before any other command. While other hints are linked to the previous expression that will be tested, the initial hint works for the whole chunk. It will be shown in addition to any expression specific hint. It will also be shown if the code cannot be evaluated or in a chunk that has no expression to be tested.

2015-11-08: htmlwidget support

• Allow chunks that output htmlwidgets. You need to set the chunk option output="htmlwidget", and specify the widget type in the chunk option widget, e.g. widget="leaflet". An example is given in LeafletExample_sol.Rmd in the ./inst/examples folder.

2015-11-02: quiz blocks

• Added quiz blocks. You need to provide the argument addons="quiz" in create.ps, and add #< quiz quiz_name ... #> blocks. For an example, see QuizExample_sol.Rmd in the ./inst/examples folder.

2015-11-01: option for memoisation when reading data

• Added the argument use.memoise in create.ps. If set to TRUE, the functions listed in the argument memoise.funs will be memoised when running and showing a problem set. By default memoisation is done for a set of functions that read data from files. This saves time and memory if the same data set is repeatedly loaded in different exercises.

2015-06-01: awards also in web-based problem sets

• awards can now be used and will be correctly displayed also in web-based problem sets

2015-04-01: optional code chunks and notes with chunks

• Add chunk option optional=TRUE. Optional chunks don't need to be solved in an exercise and their computations will not be available in subsequent chunks.

• We can now put RTutor chunks and texts in notes using the lines

  #! start_note "Note Title"
   ...
  #! end_note

Unlike info blocks the chunks inside a note can be solved. Chunks inside a note should have the chunk option optional=TRUE.